Washington wonks love to portray raising the retirement age for Social Security as a painless "fix" for the program's finances.

After all, the thinking goes, the near-retired can be exempted from the increase, and since Americans on average are staying healthier into their later years, working longer and living longer in retirement, holding off...Read more

The monthlong outbreak of a virulent E. coli strain tied to romaine lettuce has now sent 42 people to hospitals in 19 states, federal health officials said Wednesday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added 31 people to its tally of victims in the outbreak. The agency has linked the outbreak to the Imperial Valley growing ...Read more

SEATTLE -- Seeing a strong recovery in the worldwide cargo aircraft market following a prolonged slump, Boeing on Wednesday said it plans a 20 percent production increase for the 767 freighter jet in 2020.

Added to already-planned rate increases for the 787 Dreamliner in Everett, Wash., next year and for the 737 in Renton this year, the three ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- The nation's acting consumer financial watchdog delivered some good news and lobbying advice this week to the bankers he regulates: He would like to cut off public access to a database of consumer complaints and suggested the industry donate to lawmakers to persuade them to weaken his agency's authority.

The comments by Mick ...Read more

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Walmart Labs has launched a major hiring effort for technologists, an employment push that highlights companies' quest to scout for tech talent in the Bay Area.

The retailing behemoth's tech unit wants to hire 150 technology workers in the Bay Area, bolstering its efforts to deliver new digital solutions to its customers ...Read more

YouTube said Wednesday that it will give parents of young children something they have sought for a long time: more control over which videos their kids will be able to see.

In a company blog post, YouTube said that starting this week, it will give parents the ability choose to give their children access to a group of "trusted channels" as ...Read more

Facebook Inc. continued to add users and saw revenue soar in the first quarter despite facing its worst crisis in company history over the mishandling of personal data belonging to millions of unsuspecting users.

The social network blew away Wall Street estimates by reporting a nearly 50 percent increase in revenue from the same period a year ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- A Knott County jury has awarded $67.5 million in damages to two coal miners who claimed defective dust masks led to their debilitating black-lung disease.

Of the total, $62.5 million was awarded for punitive damages against the mask maker, 3M Company, according to the verdict form. The remaining amount compensates brothers ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- The Eagles-winning Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics -- both televised by NBC -- boosted Comcast Corp.'s first quarter revenues by 10.7 percent even as telecom competition and cord-cutting ate into its television customer base, the company said on Wednesday.

Comcast also formalized on Wednesday morning its $31 billion bid for ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO -- Growth in ad sales and monthly users outside the United States were among the key figures that spurred a strong quarter for Twitter as the social-media company on Tuesday reported first-quarter sales that exceeded Wall Street's expectations.

Twitter, which put out its results before the stock market opened Tuesday, said it ...Read more

SEATTLE -- In hindsight, the last week of March would have been the perfect time for Marc Barros to buy a lottery ticket. But even without it, the week was a pretty fortunate one for the Seattle startup founder.

His company, Moment, launched a Kickstarter campaign that reached its goal of $50,000 in 41 minutes. The startup then went on to mark ...Read more

If you're like many other parents and grandparents, you've taken thousands of photos as the children have grown up. Losing them to a computer crash or theft would be disastrous, which is why I'm the pest in the garden who bellows the three most important words in computing: Backup! Backup! Backup!

If all our photos were neatly labeled and filed...Read more

At a time of heightened concern about user privacy, one of the world's biggest technology companies is seeking access to one of users' most private places: the trunks of their cars.

Amazon Inc. on Tuesday launched what it calls In-Car Delivery, which allows Amazon delivery drivers to open the trunks of certain late-model cars and drop off ...Read more

Farmers in Minnesota are using 10 to 15 percent more fertilizer than they need to maximize crop yields, one reason why drinking water across the state is increasingly contaminated with nitrogen, state agricultural officials say.

They say it's also a clear indication that the voluntary methods that the state has relied on for decades to protect ...Read more

Q: I bought a Linksys router and then switched our computers and phones (but not our Roku TV device) to Norton security software. Recently, my wife and I received Norton warnings on our phones that our Wi-Fi had been compromised, even though Norton also showed that our Wi-Fi had strong encryption. Then I read that the Russians have for years ...Read more

"We still have a lot of work to do," Uber said Tuesday as it released its latest company diversity report, revealing that women made mild gains in tech jobs over the last year at the ride-sharing giant.

Uber said men account for 82 percent of tech-related positions at the company, with women making up the remaining 18 percent. The percentage of...Read more

McCormick Media, an investor group that struck a deal earlier this month to acquire former Tronc Chairman Michael Ferro's entire stake in the company, may be looking to buy more of the Chicago-based newspaper chain.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, McCormick Media investors said they agreed to buy Ferro's 25.7 ...Read more