Ken Stanford

A gunman who was having financial problems held four firefighters for hours in a North Gwinnett home demanding his cable and power be turned back on, before being shot dead when SWAT members stormed the house, authorities said Wednesday.

Bipartisan immigration legislation being written in the Senate would require surveillance of 100 percent of the U.S. border with Mexico and apprehension of 90 percent of people trying to cross the border in certain high-risk areas, a person familiar with the proposals said Wednesday.

Technology stocks roared back Wednesday, driving the Standard & Poor's 500 and Dow Jones industrial average to record highs.

The U.S. federal budget deficit grew more slowly in March than the previous month, keeping the annual spending shortfall on pace to finish below $1 trillion for the first time in five years.

Unemployment rates fell in more than 80 percent of large U.S. cities in February from January, suggesting that strong hiring that month benefited the vast majority of the country.

Thousands of immigrants and activists rallied nationwide Wednesday in a coordinated set of protests aimed at pressing Congress to approve immigration reforms that would grant 11 million immigrants living here illegally a path toward citizenship.

Global shipments of PCs fell 14 percent in the first three months this year, the sharpest plunge since research firm IDC started tracking the industry in 1994.

Two pivotal senators announced a bipartisan deal Wednesday on expanding background checks to more gun buyers, an agreement that could build support for President Barack Obama's drive to curb firearms violence.

President Barack Obama sent Congress a $3.8 trillion spending blueprint on Wednesday that strives to achieve a "grand bargain" to tame runaway deficits, raising taxes on the wealthy and trimming popular benefit programs including Social Security and Medicare.

The financially beleaguered Postal Service backpedaled on its plan to end Saturday mail delivery, conceding Wednesday that its gamble to compel congressional approval had failed.