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.

NEW YORK Treasury prices fell Friday, pushing their yields higher. Yields on short-term bills hovered near their lows of the year.

FORT WORTH, Texas Homebuilder D.R. Horton Inc., saw new home orders spike 26 percent from a year ago in the latest quarter as buyers raced to close deals and take advantage of a federal tax credit. But a wider-than-anticipated loss fueled by write-downs sent shares tumbling more than 15 percent Friday.

ST. PAUL, Minn. Lawyers for the Minnesota House spell out in a 34-page brief why they believe Gov. Tim Pawlenty misused a state law to enact budget cuts without legislative consent.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. Community colleges have joined Missouri's four-year colleges and universities in agreeing to freeze tuition next school year if state officials promise to nick and not slash their budgets.

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. Asian carp may have breached an electronic barrier designed to prevent the giant invaders from upsetting the ecosystem in the Great Lakes and jeopardizing a $7 billion sport fishery, officials said Friday.

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.