u.s.

As many as 900 colleges are pushing students into using payment cards with hefty fees to get to their financial aid, according to new report. Colleges and banks rake in millions from the accounts, often through secretive deals and sometimes in apparent violation of federal law.

A handful of cash-strapped states are getting aggressive about collecting every tax owed -- hiring more collectors, hounding scofflaws and exploiting corners of their tax laws that haven't been enforced in years -- all to avoid doing one painful thing: officially raising taxes.

Farmers in Kansas are hitting the jackpot. But instead of holding the winning lottery numbers, it's all about owning the right piece of land -- land with oil beneath it.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is warning that if $607 billion in tax increases and spending cuts all hit as scheduled, the U.S. will likely go into recession in 2013. It's a "fiscal cliff" we don't have to jump off.

The U.S. is again closing in on its debt limit, and if a recent statement by Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner is any indication, another fight with the Obama administration over the issue is ahead. Here's a preview of what we might expect.

Last week, President Obama signed an executive order to protect veterans, soldiers and their families from being swindled and hoodwinked by for-profit schools. Check out some of these shady behaviors, and you'll understand what set Obama off.

Sandra Hayes of St. Louis has settled into a version of her life that she would have called a fantasy just six years ago. But it's easy to see this Powerball winner hasn't let the money change her.

Just because you're dead doesn't mean you can't be robbed. Identity thieves steal the personal information of about 2.4 million deceased Americans each year to apply for credit cards, cell phones and anything else requiring a credit check.

The Senate rejected a Republican attempt Tuesday to overturn new regulations designed to give unions quicker representation elections in their effort to organize more workplaces. One GOP senator, Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, joined the unanimous Democrats in backing the new NLRB rules.

For years, Americans have worried about whether Social Security and Medicare would be around when they needed them. On Monday, the worriers got bad news: The programs are closer to running out of money.