More than two-dozen drug-related cases were dismissed in San Francisco courtrooms for a second day stemming from allegations on evidence handling in the city's crime lab. Assistant District Attorney Brian Buckelew says between 25 and 30 cases were dropped...



San Francisco - Police - Chief of police - Cocaine - Crime

President Barack Obama on Thursday assured immigration advocates frustrated by the wait for a promised overhaul of U.S. immigration laws that he remains committed to fixing a system he has said is broken. What remains unclear is whether Congress will send him...



Barack Obama - President of the United States - United States Congress - President - United States

6310 AP-BKC--Oregon-California Box CALIFORNIA 90, OREGON 74 OREGON (16-16) Jacob 0-3 0-0 0, Singler 1-9 2-2 5, Armstead 5-9 0-0 10, Porter 8-22 6-6 26, Longmire 6-11 3-4 16, Sim 1-2 0-0 3, Humphrey 1-3 0-0 3, Wilson 1-3 0-0 3, Williams 1-2 1-1 3, Dunigan 0-2...



Oregon - United States - Sports - Tajuan Porter - Shopping

The government's top securities regulator called Thursday for Congress to impose new oversight on financial derivatives, warning that allowing risky instruments like credit default swaps to continue unfettered could bring further economic damage. The chairman...



Wall Street - Derivative - Business - Investing - Financial Services

Regulators on Thursday shut down LibertyPointe Bank in New York City, boosting to 27 the number of bank failures in the U.S. so far this year following the 140 brought down in 2009 by mounting loan defaults and the recession. The Federal Deposit Insurance...



United States - Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation - Bank failure - Bank - New York City

The Obama administration accused China on Thursday of abusing its citizens' rights and maintaining currency policies that cost millions of U.S. jobs, a double-barrel attack that comes amid a growing willingness to confront and even antagonize the Asian power....



United States - China - People's Republic of China - Presidency of Barack Obama - Barack Obama

A Toyota executive said Thursday the company is "mystified" by a report that a California man's Prius gas pedal became stuck and caused the car to speed out of control on a California freeway. James Sikes quickly became the face of the Toyota gas pedal...



Toyota Prius - California - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration - Automobile pedal - Toyota

The CEO of bailed-out auto finance giant GMAC Inc. will receive no cash salary for 2010 and will be compensated in restricted stock, under a deal approved by Obama administration pay czar Kenneth Feinberg, according to people familiar with the matter. The...



GMAC - Presidency of Barack Obama - Kenneth Feinberg - Finance - Business

First baseman Todd Helton and the Colorado Rockies agreed Thursday to a $9.9 million. two-year contract extension through the 2013 season. The first baseman is earning $16.6 million this year, and he agreed to defer $13 million of his $19.1 million salary in...



Colorado Rockies - Todd Helton - First baseman - United States - Colorado

U.S. retail sales of video games declined 15 percent in February, hurt in part by an ongoing decline in sales of music games and lower sales of the Wii system. Americans spent $1.26 billion on video game systems, software and accessories during the month,...



Video game - NPD Group - Video game console - United States - Games

Just weeks after dealing with record-setting snowfall, residents in Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Jersey are preparing for the possibility of flooding. A large portion of Pennsylvania and all of New Jersey is under a flood watch. Parts of Ohio, along the Ohio...



New Jersey - Pennsylvania - United States - Ohio - Flood alert

The American Civil Liberties Union sued state prison officials and a private company Thursday, claiming violence is so rampant at the Idaho Correctional Center that it's known as "gladiator school" among inmates. The ACLU filed the lawsuit against Nashville,...



Idaho - Prison - American Civil Liberties Union - United States - Idaho Correctional Center

Agricultural products company Agrium Inc. said Thursday that it will let its offer to acquire CF Industries Holdings Inc. expire on March 22 and stop pursuing the deal. Agrium, based in Canada, also said it will no longer attempt get its nominees onto SF...



Agrium - Canada - CF Industries - Business - Business and Economy

Layoff notices have gone out to 600 employees of The Honolulu Advertiser. The notices say the workers will lose their jobs when owner Gannett Co. sells the newspaper and related assets to Oahu Publications Inc., owner of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The sale...



Honolulu Star-Bulletin - Newspaper - Honolulu Advertiser - Oahu - Hawaii

VeriSign Inc., whose technology is key to allowing Internet users to access Web sites with names ending in ".com" and ".net," plans to spend more than $300 million over the next decade to upgrade its systems. The upgrades will allow VeriSign's machines to...



VeriSign - Technology - Infrastructure - Business and Economy - Computers and Internet

U.S. exports dipped in January, the government said Thursday, but economists weren't fazed. They predict export growth will be a bright spot for American manufacturers through the rest of 2010. President Barack Obama is banking on further improvement to help...



Balance of trade - Export - United States - International trade - Business

A lawsuit accuses an employee of an oil and gas company owned by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones of aiding and abetting an alleged $15 million securities fraud under investigation by federal officials. Jones is not named in the lawsuit, which was filed...



Dallas Cowboys - Jerry Jones - NFL - Miles Austin - sport

BP is expanding its dominant oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico and dropping anchor off Brazil with a $7 billion deal to buy exploration rights from Devon Energy. BP will get the rights for 10 exploration blocks in Brazil and others in the Gulf of...



Devon Energy - Gulf of Mexico - Brazil - BP - Business