Banks weren't the only ones giving big bonuses in the boom years before the worst financial crisis in generations. The government also was handing out millions of dollars to bank regulators even as an avalanche of risky mortgages helped create the meltdown.

Two former employees accused of helping fraudulent Wall Street financier Bernard Madoff program an old computer to generate false records have been indicted.

Prices at the wholesale level plunged in February by the largest amount in seven months as a big drop in energy prices offset higher food costs.

Companies that hire unemployed workers will get a temporary payroll tax holiday under a bill that easily won final congressional approval Wednesday.