TOKYO - A massive global recall, mounting legal bills and a battered reputation add up to a very expensive problem for Toyota.

So, I actually managed to stay awake through the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. (OK, I dozed off a few times, but I was up for the parts that mattered.) How many of you watched the Oscars on March 7? No need to 'fess up.

Affiliates of the once mighty liberal activist group ACORN are remaking themselves in a desperate bid to ditch the tarnished name of their parent organization and restore federal grants and other revenue streams that ran dry in the wake of a video scandal.

WASHINGTON - Communications regulators on Tuesday will unveil a sweeping proposal to overhaul U.S. broadband policy.

Black consumers are responding to tighter economic conditions by focusing more of their spending on products and services that improve their homes and lifestyle.

Repairing your credit may save you money. Over the near term, interest rates will rise. This week, the Federal Reserve increased the rate it charges banks for emergency loans.

MIAMI – Toyota owners claiming that massive safety recalls are causing the value of their vehicles to plummet have filed at least 89 class-action lawsuits that could cost the Japanese auto giant $3 billion or more, according to an Associated Press review of cases, legal precedent and interviews with experts.

With the exception of a handful of hard-core holdouts - you know, the set-in-her-ways mama, the “when pigs fly” grandfather, the technologically challenged (and likes it that way, thank you very much) friend - everyone I know (even my mother) seems to be texting, tweeting, instant messaging, blogging, You Tubing, Facebooking, My Space-ing or communicating through some other form of social media.

NEW YORK - Your next credit card statement is going to contain an ugly truth: how much that card really costs to use.

WASHINGTON - Were those pricey Super Bowl ads a waste? Maybe not, but paying $3 million to census employees who didn't do any work surely was.

The owner of a contracting company certified as a woman- and minority-owned business has pleaded not guilty to charges the firm collected $9.6 million through fraudulent contracts.

SEATTLE – DVD rental kiosk chain Redbox has agreed to wait 28 days after Warner Bros. releases new movies for sale before offering to rent them for $1 a night.

Dr. King dreamed of the day that African Americans would enjoy a full measure of freedom; however, he knew that we would not enjoy a full measure of freedom until we gained economic empowerment.

The year 2010 will be a year of transition from the Great Recession to hopefully a period of sustainable economic growth.

The economy has taken its toll on corporate America, wiping out jobs, reducing revenues and in some cases forcing giants, such as General Motors Corp., into bankruptcy.

DETROIT — General Motors Co. has rescinded white-collar pay cuts it made last spring as it desperately tried to conserve cash and avoid filing for bankruptcy protection.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. trade deficit in July hit the highest level in six months as a record rise in imports outpaced a third straight increase in foreign demand for American products, according to government data released Thursday. Both gains provided more evidence that the worst recession since the 1930s was losing its grip on the global economy.

WASHINGTON –“The world has been through the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression. The crisis in turn sparked a deep global recession, from which we are only now beginning to emerge,” Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke recently told the Federal Reserve Bank during an economic symposium in Kansas City.