consumer confidence

COLA for Social Security is 1.5 percent next year

U.S. shoppers are expected to spend more than $7.6 billion on Halloween this year, 3 percent more than last year, not only on costumes for their kids but on costumes for themselves and their pets

T. Rowe Price reported Thursday a $270.3 million profit in the third quarter, up about 9 percent from the previous year, although the Baltimore-based money manager saw an outflow of investor dollars during the period.

Instead of fighting over imaginary crises, the federal government needs to focus on the real one: the weak economy.

Maryland's federal workers and contractors could once more be without paychecks in three months, which is bad news for holiday spending.

Keeping up with baby-product recalls

Maryland financial professionals look back on financial crisis and the repercussions still being felt

Catonsville Shops at Mellor have undergone a lot of changes over the summer with more to come

Home prices rose 5.6 percent in the Baltimore metro region in July, reaching the highest level in five years thanks to strong demand from buyers and a low supply of homes on the market.

Sales at stores open at least a year are forecast to rise 4.1 percent in July, report says

The county's newly appointed compensation review commission met for the first time Monday, July 29, to begin the process of deciding next term's salaries for the county executive and council members.

Open primary is not the way for Maryland Republicans to win statewide office

On Monday, the Aberdeen committee charged by the mayor and city council with studying a proposed salary increase for the city's future elected officials met for the first time at city hall.

Gas tax will not go to fix roads and bridges as is touted by legislators but rather to light rail services in Baltimore and Montgomery County.

Veteran Harford County Public Schools educator Barbara Boksz has spent the past week looking through her options since learning she was one of 46 teachers and other school staffers to lose their jobs, the result of a slew of measures approved by the Board of Education to reconcile its budget for the 2014 fiscal year this month.

Developing markets in South America draw expanding retailers

Favorable real estate and consumer confidence indicators show U.S. economic recovery has legs — if Congress doesn't cut them off

Revenue from parking meters and public lots in downtown Bel Air is not growing despite efforts by town officials to get more people to eat, shop and drink in town and, if the situation doesn't approve, one town official says they may have to start charging people to park at one of the last free public lots in the downtown area.

Lawmakers exempted the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs from the across-the-board cuts to the federal budget known as sequestration, but veterans still could feel the sting.

Retail sales were up in April as consumers felt more confident

Whether the Boston bombers used mortar-style fireworks to create their bombs is notable but safety concerns alone may justify stricter controls on pyrotechnics

We can reform entitlements not by punishing seniors but by closing loopholes, reducing health care costs

Doyle McManus wonders if the president's new inflation formula will sway Republicans, even as liberals howl.

Robert Reich says writes that Democrats are wrong to compromise prematurely on entitlement programs.

O'Malley's record on taxes and fees

Decision to raise gas tax in Maryland was ill-advised and will hurt small businesses and middle class families

The problems of Social Security and Medicare sustainability can be solved with much less drastic changes than the president is considering.

With the additional 25-plus taxes Marylanders have been subjected to by this administration, the gas tax with the automatic tax accelerator one will hurt the most. The automatic tax accelerator will eliminate any action from the legislature which will absolve its responsibility in the future

The members of Harford County's Board of Estimates unanimously approved a $43,090 contract Thursday to hire a "state government relations" consulting firm to advocate on the county's behalf in Annapolis.

Ellen Sauerbrey says businesses should have pushed for stronger measures against transportation fund raids

Maryland's Democratic leaders have taken enough from consumers without raising the gas tax

If Democrats in Annapolis and The Sun have their way, we'll all soon be paying exorbitant taxes on every gallon of gas we buy.

A House committee voted Monday to approve a plan to raise taxes on gasoline by 3.8 cents July 1 as part of broader revenue package to pay for transportation projects.

Maryland can give a little help to college students by offering tax holidays for textbooks purchases

Just before the day to start filing applications, Mayor Wayne Dougherty announced he would be running for mayor once again.

Gas tax proposal is a compromise that lawmakers ought to support

Gov. Martin O'Malley and the Democratic leaders of the General Assembly are proposing to raise taxes on gasoline by $2 billion over five years to finance highways, transit and other transportation projects.

Real estate agent Dean Cottrill discusses what it's like to manage more than two dozen sales and rental offices in Maryland and Delaware and his real estate market forecast for 2013.