AP State Business News

In less than a week, unionized workers at two Arizona grocery store chains may be walking a picket line instead of stocking shelves and cutting meat.

With the technology industry looking on, the Supreme Court on Monday will explore what types of inventions should be eligible for a patent in a pivotal case that could undermine such legal protections for software.

A federal judge has temporarily blocked two music-sharing Web sites from selling songs by The Beatles and other artists for 25 cents apiece.

The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. this week has risen by nine this week to 1,078.

The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. this week rose by nine this week to 1,078.

The housing bust left homebuilders with plenty of red ink on their books as they walked away from swaths of land they no longer needed.

A judge sentenced "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis on Friday to 301 days already served and a year of probation for filing false income tax returns and bribing Nevada jail workers.

EBay Inc. has settled a legal skirmish with the founders of Skype that threatened to complicate eBay's plans to sell most of the Internet phone service to a group of investors for $2 billion.

A judge on Thursday overturned a settlement allowing major outdoor advertising companies to convert more than 800 billboards in Los Angeles into digital displays, but declined to revoke permits already granted for about 100 conversions.

It's been a rough year for the video game industry, but Activision Blizzard Inc. reported a profit for its third quarter because of a lower costs and a good response for games such as "Guitar Hero 5" and "World of Warcraft."

International Game Technology on Thursday posted a fiscal fourth-quarter loss, but said it thinks demand for its slot machines and casino management systems has stabilized.

The sale of popular TV shows partly offset a drop in third-quarter advertising revenue at CBS Corp. but the company said ad trends are improving in the final three months of the year.

Chanting "Kill the bill," thousands of conservatives incensed over the Democrats' health care overhaul protested at the Capitol on Thursday, arguing that the legislation amounts to a government takeover of the nation's medical system.

Senate Democrats sidestepped a Republican boycott Thursday, pushing a climate bill out of committee in an early step on a long and contentious road to passage.

Senate Democrats Thursday blocked a GOP attempt to require next year's census forms to ask people whether they are U.S. citizens.

No Doubt has sued video game maker Activision for putting words in band members' mouths.

Senate Democrats sidestepped a Republican boycott Thursday, pushing a climate bill out of committee in an early step on a long and contentious road to passage.

Satellite TV operator DirecTV Group Inc. was one of the few pay-TV companies to gain subscribers in the third quarter, though earnings stayed steady because of the higher costs it incurred attracting and serving those new customers.

MGM Mirage's latest casino project isn't open yet, but a drop in the $8.5 billion complex's value combined with falling revenue companywide to push the casino operator into the red in its third quarter, the company said Thursday.

The Sparks City Council has agreed to continue its membership in the Nevada League of Cities even though some members don't think the statewide lobbying group does enough to help their town.

Google is offering a new privacy control that will make it easier for people to see some of the information being collected about them.

A former executive for a California-based tomato processor agreed to plead guilty to participating in a conspiracy to drive up food prices nationwide, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

Far from chastened by off-year election setbacks, congressional Democrats vowed no let-up in the drive to pass controversial health care Wednesday, arguing that the way to regain voter trust was to complete what they started in more prosperous political times.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders say their $11.1 billion water bond is an essential investment for California's future, but it may be a hard sell to voters.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders say their $11.1 billion water bond is an essential investment for California's future, but it may be a hard time sell to voters.

Qualcomm Inc. says its fiscal fourth-quarter profit slipped 9 percent as revenue from the mobile phone technology it licenses and mobile-phone chips it makes declined.

Cisco Systems Inc. doesn't want Wall Street to interpret its forecast for its first quarterly revenue growth in a year as evidence that the U.S. and other economies are roaring back.

Media conglomerate News Corp. posted a surprise increase in quarterly profit Wednesday, but Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said the company might not meet its goal of charging fees for online versions of its newspapers by next summer.

The Wall Street Journal says its new San Francisco Bay Area edition will launch Thursday, with a weekly section devoted to local news.

Most people know eBay Inc. for its online marketplace, where deals abound on everything from gadgets to antique furniture. But soon, eBay's biggest business will likely be PayPal, the online payments service that has been growing steadily even as the economy has stumbled.

Billed as a way for the government to put more fuel-efficient vehicles on highways, the popular $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program mostly involved swaps of old Ford or Chevrolet pickups for new ones that got only marginally better gas mileage, according to an analysis of new federal data by The Associated Press.

The legal challenges to Intel Corp.'s sales tactics mounted Wednesday as New York's attorney general accused the world's biggest computer chip maker of using "illegal threats and collusion" to dominate.

Former Silicon Valley executive Carly Fiorina announced Wednesday she is running for the chance to seize liberal stalwart Barbara Boxer's U.S. Senate seat, depicting the three-term Democrat as a Capitol Hill do-nothing who penned novels while jobs vanished and government spending soared.

With its circulation falling faster than any other major U.S. newspaper's, the San Francisco Chronicle is determined to set the pace in a flashier way: It's about to become the first general-interest daily to print its editions on high-quality glossy paper.

Seeking to help fight climate change, the Walt Disney Co. says it will spend $7 million in partnership with three conservation groups to protect tens of thousands of acres of forest lands in the Congo basin, the Amazon basin and in two regions of the United States.

Los Angeles Clippers owner and real estate mogul Donald Sterling has agreed to pay a record $2.73 million to settle allegations by the government that he refused to rent apartments to Hispanics, blacks and to families with children, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.

The Senate health care committee chairman said Tuesday the panel is investigating how health insurers price the coverage they sell to small businesses, which have struggled for years with soaring premiums.

A California debt collection company has agreed to a $2.55 million judgment to settle a lawsuit brought by thousands of Pennsylvanians who claim they were wrongly led to believe they had to pay costly fees to avoid criminal charges for bouncing checks.

Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by The Nielsen Co., for Oct. 26-Nov. 1. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.

The World Series gave the Fox network world-class ratings last week as the New York Yankees squared off against the Philadelphia Phillies in four much-watched games.

A man arrested outside Ryan Seacrest's workplace has pleaded not guilty to a felony stalking charge.

The PGA Tour is moving the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open to the same July weekend that a nationally televised celebrity golf tournament has been played at Lake Tahoe for 20 years, much to the chagrin of tourism officials at the nearby mountain lake.

G.I. Joe and the Transformers came to Viacom Inc.'s rescue in the third quarter, helping boost the company's earnings 15 percent with strong box office returns.

A pair of days of ideal conditions for snowmaking in the Sierra and around Lake Tahoe last week has allowed Boreal Mountain Resort to open the slopes for skiing seven days a week.

Tribune Co., owner of The Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and several other news outlets, will not use most Associated Press content next week to test whether the financially struggling company can do without it, according to a story on the Chicago Tribune's Web site.

Coffee chain retailer Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc. said Monday it will buy wholesale roaster and distributor Diedrich Coffee Inc. for $213 million in a move to enter the rapidly growing single-cup coffee market.

Republican senators on Monday demanded additional studies on the cost and job impact of a climate bill before it is voted on by a key committee, exposing the sharp partisan divide in Congress over legislation aimed at addressing global warming.

Household products maker The Clorox Co. said Monday it is changing how it makes its namesake bleach so it can stop transporting chlorine to U.S. factories by rail amid growing safety concerns and regulatory scrutiny.

The Lawry's restaurant chain agreed Monday to pay more than $1 million to settle a federal lawsuit that claimed it barred men from waiting tables at its high-end steakhouses.