PA New Home Financing in Pennsylvania

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is returning to Pennsylvania, a key battleground state.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office says ongoing negotiations over Countrywide Financial's subprime mortgages could lead to cash payments or other relief for thousands of customers in the state.

The steel mills and coal mines of western Pennsylvania helped fuel the nation's economic engine. Today, old factory shells and boarded-up storefronts stand as bleak reminders of those once-prosperous times.

But the voters in working-class enclaves such as this still are a sought-after prize in presidential politics, and many are belatedly coming around to Democratic nominee Barack Obama.

In the Democratic primaries, working-class whites consistently backed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Later polls showed them overwhelmingly favoring Republican nominee John McCain.

A lack of voting machines and poll workers could force some Pennsylvania voters to wait in line on Election Day, a group founded by civil rights lawyers warned Thursday.

"We applaud the Administration and the Legislature for successfully addressing many of the energy issues facing Pennsylvanians," O'Brien said.

Some Pennsylvania counties are still sorting out their policies on wearing campaign buttons and the like in polling places in light of a recent state memo.

The prospect of expanding subsidized health coverage to thousands of uninsured Pennsylvanians before the end of the year died Wednesday, as Gov.

Barack Obama spent $3.3 million in TV advertising on Monday. At that rate the Democrat will spend more than $90 million on ads through Election Day _ more than all the money Republican rival John McCain has to spend on his entire fall campaign.

McCain's ad spending Monday totaled about $900,000 and the Republican National Committee weighed in with about $700,000 worth.

All whopping numbers, but the disparity between Obama and the Republicans is so wide that it has allowed Obama to spend in more states than McCain, to appear more frequently in key markets and to diversify his message by both attacking McCain and promoting his own personal story.

A heavily lobbied bill to cut electricity prices and encourage energy conservation easily passed the state Legislature on Wednesday as lawmakers rushed to ease the pain of disappearing rate caps for a growing ...

A bill intended to dramatically improve conditions for dogs kept in Pennsylvania's larger commercial kennels is heading to Gov.

Less than 30 years ago, Union Station, the grand gateway to the U.S. capital, seemed to be going the way of the steam engine.

The following recall has been announced: -- Sunny Maid Corp. is recalling plastic bags of Mr.

Campaign officials say tickets have been snapped up for a Pennsylvania rally for Republican presidential candidate John McCain and running mate Sarah Palin.

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration is investigating an accident that killed a 56-year-old employee at a central Pennsylvania quarry.

The widow of an Iraq war veteran who committed suicide while in outpatient care for depression at a Veterans Administration hospital has sued the federal government for negligence.

Since taking effect nearly a month ago, Pennsylvania's new indoor smoking ban has resulted in hundreds of complaints and a long list of establishments that want to be an exception to the rule.

A former Navy sailor will repay about $18,000 in fraudulent housing allowances he collected and serve three years' probation imposed by a federal judge in Pittsburgh in a marriage fraud scheme.

The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton metro area is in an economic recession, a leading financial research and consulting firm concludes.

The Pennsylvania House and Senate reconvened Monday afternoon, with lawmakers giving themselves just three more days before closing the session and heading home to campaign.

It's deer season on Pennsylvania's roads and PennDOT officials urge drivers to beware.