Ken Stanford

U.S. homebuilders' confidence in the market for new, single-family homes surged this month to the highest level in nearly nine years.

The Federal Reserve signaled Wednesday that it plans to keep a key interest rate at a record low because a broad range of U.S. economic measures remain subpar.

A pro-Hillary Rodham Clinton super PAC is dispatching staffers to key states - including Georgia - before the fall elections and helping Senate candidates with fundraising, laying the foundation for a potential Clinton presidential bid in 2016.

The remnants of Tropical Storm Odile moved into Arizona on Wednesday and threatened to swamp some areas with 5 inches of rain in the second blast of hurricane-related weather to hit the desert region in the past two weeks.

It's like Florida's version of The Blob. Slow moving glops of toxic algae in the northeast Gulf of Mexico are killing sea turtles, sharks and fish, and threatening the waters and beaches that fuel the region's economy.

President Barack Obama reaffirmed Wednesday that he does not intend to send U.S. troops into combat against the Islamic State group, despite doubts about the ability of Iraqi forces, Kurdish fighters and Syrian rebels to carry out the ground fight on their own.

Iraq's new prime minister said Wednesday that foreign ground troops are neither necessary nor wanted in his country's fight against the Islamic State group, flatly rejecting the idea a day after the top U.S. general recommended that American forces may be needed if current efforts to combat the extremists fail.