The negative outlook on the countrys AAA credit-ranking was changed to stable by DBRS Inc. amid declining federal budget deficits and after Congress suspended the nations debt limit earlier this year until 2015.

Changes to the health care landscape notably PPACA are leaving doctors caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the relationships they share with patients, a Medscape survey of doctors finds.

For some large companies, a defined benefits plan is a cost-effective way to provide additional rewards to some of their most valuable workers while allowing the employer to retire employees in an orderly manner.

Oakland's payments to the state pension system jumped from $37 million in 2003 to $89 million in 2012.