The Tri-Cities, once again, has made national news.

RICHLAND -- When the United Way of Benton and Franklin Counties reviewed its lists of donors and volunteers, one group was absent.

RICHLAND -- Popular Science magazine was impressed enough with a technology developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland to name it one of 2009's best 100 technologies.

Charter Communications Inc. said Tuesday a bankruptcy judge has confirmed its reorganization plan, clearing the way for the nation's fourth-largest cable TV operator to emerge from Chapter 11 in a few weeks.

PORTLAND -- Oregon's unemployment rate has been falling, but that could be partly because some people can't find a job.

The Tri-Cities has gained 3,000 nonfarm jobs over the past year.

NEW YORK -- Internet phone service provider Vonage Holdings Corp. has agreed to pay $3 million to 32 states to settle an investigation into some of its business practices.

PORTLAND -- Costco says it is no longer carrying Coca-Cola products in its stores nationwide because of a pricing dispute with the beverage maker.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Fingers will be flying when space shuttle Atlantis blasts off today: About 100 of NASA's geekiest fans will be on hand, pecking away at iPhones, BlackBerrys, laptops and other Twittering gadgets.

KENNEWICK -- Opening an Indian grocery store wasn't a priority for Surinderjeet Khosah when she recently relocated with her daughter to the Tri-Cities from Canada.

WASHINGTON Republicans are seizing on this week's recommendations for fewer Pap smears and mammograms to fuel concern about government-rationed medical care - and to try to chip away support by women for President Barack Obama's proposed health care overhaul.

WASHINGTON A crucial first Senate vote on President Barack Obama's health care overhaul in a rare Saturday night session looms as a test of Democratic unity and the president's prestige.

LOS ANGELES California is investigating several companies suspected of bilking churches nationwide of hundreds of thousands of dollars through fraudulent computer leasing schemes, authorities said Friday.

PHILADELPHIA A labor agreement for Philadelphia transit workers has been ratified overwhelmingly by union members.

DALLAS The Texas Supreme Court on Friday said it will again hear arguments in the nearly 15-year legal battle over accusations that Exxon Mobil Corp. loaded abandoned wells with junk, sludge and even explosives to keep other companies from drilling there.

NEW YORK The flurry of initial public offerings this week is confirmation that this fall's rebound in the market wasn't a fluke and sets the stage for more companies to raise money through IPOs in 2010. But the response to two of the newly public companies shows that investors continue to be careful about where they place their bets.

NEW YORK Consumers who haven't yet ordered Barnes & Noble's electronic book reader, the Nook, won't see one before Christmas.

MILWAUKEE A lawsuit in Wisconsin is bringing a fresh challenge to the practice of paying for keywords on Google and other search engines to boost one company's link over a rival's.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. Microsoft Corp. is giving away nearly 24,000 vouchers to North Carolina residents who want to improve their computer skills so they can improve their lot in the work force.

BRUSSELS European Union regulators said Friday that they have extended until Jan. 27 a deadline to wrap up their antitrust review of Oracle Corp.'s planned $7.4 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems Inc.