The head count of every U.S. resident in 2020 helped guide the distribution of $2.8 trillion in annual federal spending, underscoring the importance of participating in the once-a-decade census, according to a new report released…

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence slipped to its lowest level in 16 months as persistent inflation and rising interest rates have Americans as pessimistic as they’ve been about the future in almost a decade.…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve is poised this week to accelerate its most drastic steps in three decades to attack inflation by making it costlier to borrow — for a car, a home, a…

Iola’s purchasing policy — and whether it’s penny-wise to spend a few extra dollars by shopping locally — is once again under the microscope. City Council members voted to purchase three new vehicles from Twin…

Iola city leaders crossed several big-ticket items off their to-do lists Monday, totaling more than $978,000. The first was a bid of $145,000 to PAR Electrical, Inc., out of Kansas City, Mo., to install three…

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a buoyant sign for the U.S. economy, businesses stepped up their hiring last month as omicron faded and more Americans ventured out to spend at restaurants, shops and hotels despite surging…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. budget deficit totaled $2.77 trillion for 2021, the second highest on record but an improvement from the all-time high of $3.13 trillion reached in 2020. The deficits in both years…

NEW YORK (AP) — Despite a rise in COVID-19 cases Americans spent at a brisk pace last month, though much of that spending was done online and not at restaurants or other industries beleaguered by…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says that inflation “will likely remain elevated in coming months” before “moderating,” an apparent acknowledgement that price gains have been larger and more persistent than many economists…

LAWRENCE — When Kansas lawmakers left for an early spring break in mid-March, the state was projected to have a healthy savings account of nearly $1 billion in reserves come June. They passed an $8…