Wisconsin will no longer be obligated to bargain with its largest public employee unions after the weakened labor groups decided Thursday against seeking recertification votes in the state at the forefront of this year's fight over union rights.

Casino service workers in Atlantic City are offering financial concessions in order to help the nation's second-largest gambling market survive. But the proposed givebacks are far below what the casinos say they need to stay afloat.

Three free trade agreements that have spent years in political limbo could finally be on a path toward congressional action with a Senate vote Thursday to assure that American workers who lose their jobs to foreign competition can get retraining and aid.

Investors began giving in to fears Thursday that a global recession is already under way, and stock markets shuddered around the world. Selling started in Asia, picked up speed in Europe and sent Wall Street near its worst finish of the year.

Biotechnology company Enzon Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Thursday that it plans to lay off nearly half its employees by the second quarter of next year.

The Obama administration has shelved a financially troubled long-term care insurance plan. Officials said Thursday the staff has been cut and it's an "open question" if the program will be implemented.

Nurses in red union shirts carried signs and chanted slogans outside dozens of Northern and Central California hospitals on Thursday as part of a one-day strike over benefit cuts and other concessions sought by hospital management.

If older Americans lost 10 percent of their weight, Medicare would save $8 billion over the next decade and $35 billion over their lifetime, new research suggests.