Virginia’s unemployment rate for October fell to 6.3 percent from 6.5 percent in September, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

Local governments aren’t likely to escape the pain when the General Assembly attempts to eliminate an estimated $3.5 billion hole in the next two-year budget.

Virginia transportation officials say they will have to slice $851.5 million out of Virginia’s six-year transportation plan, which has already been hit with $3.7 billion in cuts since the spring of 2008.

The state of Virginia, which already has had to cut $6 billion from the two-year budget ending June 30, 2010, may have to cut $250 million to $300 million, the House Appropriations Committee was told today.

Rep. Barney Frank said Monday he is pushing a proposal to use some of the interest the government collects from the financial industry bailout to give loans to unemployed homeowners struggling to pay the mortgage.

General Motors Co. said Monday it lost $1.2 billion from the time it left bankruptcy protection through Sept. 30, far better than it has reported in previous quarters and a sign that the auto giant is starting to turn around its business.

Two General Motors cars due in showrooms next year must be hits to help the automaker turn around sales and pay back its big debt to U.S. taxpayers.

Three decades of airline deregulation have helped make air travel more accessible to consumers through lower fares. Now labor unions are questioning whether the industry is paying the price, and the Obama administration is listening.

The number of homeowners on the brink of losing their homes dipped in October, the third straight monthly decline, as foreclosure-prevention programs helped more borrowers.

Nearly 16 million people can’t find jobs even though the worst recession since the Great Depression has apparently ended.

Congress took further steps to right the staggering economy by expanding a popular tax credit for homebuyers and extending unemployment checks for the growing legions of people running out of benefits with few job prospects.

With the recession apparently over, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday held a key interest rate at a record low and again pledged to keep it there for an “extended period” to foster the fragile economic recovery.

Ford, the only Detroit automaker to dodge direct government aid and bankruptcy court, surprised investors with net income of nearly $1 billion in the third quarter and forecast a “solidly profitable” 2011.

After all the noise over Democrats’ push for a government insurance plan to compete with private carriers, coverage numbers are finally in: Two percent.

About 650,000 jobs have been saved or created under President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan, the White House said Friday, saying it is on track to reach the president’s goal of 3.5 million jobs by the end of next year.