Recently in National News Category

Hackers broke into systems at banks and credit-card issuers to take emails and names of customers from lists of major businesses Monday.

The companies are warning customers about fraudulent emails that will try to obtain account login information, the Star Tribune reported.

A Dallas-based company called Epsilon, that manages email communications, had a security breach that allowed hackers to take the email addresses and names, the Star Tribune reported.

Some of the major businesses include Best Buy, US Bank, Ameriprise Financial, and Walgreens, Fox 9 reported.

The Food and Drug Administration is concerned about artificial dyes in food and a link between chemicals that may cause hyperactivity in children Wednesday, NPR reported.

The FDA panel will meet Wednesday and Thursday to discuss this question, although the food industry ensures that dyes are safe, CBS reported.

Cynthia Sass, a registered dietitian, told CBS that kids eating artificially processed foods are not getting all the important nutrients that are offered in whole foods, and that the approval of the amount of dyes in food has quadrupled in the U.S., CBS reported.

The meeting will discuss if the FDA should ban foods containing food coloring or at least require a warning label, NPR reported.

AT&T plans to buy T-Mobile USA for $39 billion Monday and this deal would make it the largest US cellphone company.

AT&T will buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom AG in a cash-and-stock deal that would decrease the number of wireless carriers with national coverage from four to three, the Star Tribune reported.

Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin told NPR that if the deal goes through, consumers would benefit from improved quality and coverage with high-speed broadband services, the NPR reported.

"We know the results of the arrangements like this--higher prices, fewer choices, less innovation," Public Knowledge president Gigi Sohn said in a statement, the Star Tribune reported.

The Wisconsin Senate Democrats that fled to Illinois instead of voting on a bill Tuesday will now receive a $100 fine for each day they are absent.

Gov. Scott Walker's spokesman said that communication will remain open with the 14 Democratic senators but the senators said there has been no contact that they know of with the governor's office, Eyewitness News reported.

Democratic Sen. Fred Risser said senators will not return on Tuesday but when they will return is a day-to-day decision and he said the fines will not motivate them to come back, the Star Tribune reported.

The Senate met without them to start charging the fines for each day they are absent, the Star Tribune reported.

The House of Representatives passed a bill that will cut $4 billion in spending Tuesday, and help the U.S. government prevent a shutdown for two weeks.

The government was at risk of shutting down because Congress did not get enough money to fund all of government's spending for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, NPR reported.

The legislation will now go to the Senate and is expected to pass, the Washington Post reported.

Senate Democrats said they will go along with the temporary measure for spending cuts even though they have been resisting extreme spending cuts pushed by House Republicans, NPR reported.

Protesters gather at the Capitol in Madison, Wis., Monday to demonstrate against Gov. Scott Walker's plan to end their collective bargaining rights.

The union leaders, health care workers and other public employees will give in to the financial concessions of the budget but not the union-busting, bargaining rights, NPR reported.

Walker told Reuters that the bottom line is that we are broke so we can't negotiate over a budget.

Teachers argue that what Walker is proposing will hurt students more in the long term because it will make it easier to get rid of aides, increase class sizes, and fire veteran teachers, NPR reported.

Neil Barofsky, Special Inspector General of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), Monday will resign in March after saving the government from more than $700 million in fraud losses, CBS reported.

Barofsky oversees the government's $700 billion bank bailout program, the Washington Post reported.

The only oversight with law enforcement authority that helps to limit waste, fraud and abuse within the bailout program is SIGTARP, CBS reported.

A spokeswoman told the Washington Post that Barofsky's resignation "was a personal decision based on a number of factors, including his desire to spend more time with his wife and 9-month-old daughter."

First lady Michelle Obama has created a nationwide program Wednesday that will help end childhood obesity in America.

The program called "Let's Move" informs parents about nutrition and exercise, increasing the quality of food in schools, making healthy food affordable, and emphasizing physical education, ABC News reported.

School lunches are changing everywhere and trying to improve the quality of food that children are receiving, NPR reported.

The first lady told NPR that she partnered with Wal-Mart to produce a grocery chain with foods containing less sugar, sodium, and trans fats.

One in three kids are overweight or obese, and Americans spend $150 billion a year to treat obesity-related illnesses, said the first lady to ABC News.

A huge snow storm pounds the Midwest Wednesday, causing thousands of flight cancellations, plant shut-downs, and public transportation interruptions.

Reuters reports that the storm effects 30 states and a third of the U.S. population; some cities getting heavy snowfall and others suffering from dangerous ice.

Chicago stranded motorists overnight when Lake Shore Drive was shut down to prevent anymore accidents; the storm is not over and is expected to leave 2 feet of snow in the Chicago area, the Star Tribune reported.

"You'll pay a price," Edward Butler, a lakefront doorman, told the Star Tribune. A true "Chicagoan" does not back down, but respects the storm.

President Obama emphasized moving toward the future, Tuesday, as he focus's on budget deficits and education in his State of the Union address.

Obama told The Washington Post that innovation in the form of education and budget reform are going to aid the United States in the future and remain a world leader.

The vision Obama relayed to the nation didn't focus on the high unemployment rate but the necessity to keep up with competitors, lower the corporate tax rate, and make cuts in areas such as health care, reported NPR.

Obama ended his address with the American Dream, and that the United States will continue to achieve great things, reported The White House.