Dennis Moore

WASHINGTON - U.S. nonfarm productivity rose at a 1.8% annual rate in the first quarter of 2011 according to the Labor Department's second estimate released Thursday.

WASHINGTON - There were 422,000 initial claims for unemployment insurance in the week ending May 28, down 6,000 from the prior week’s 428,000 claims, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

WASHINGTON — State and local transportation decision-making fits no pattern and varies widely cross the country as governments try to cope with needs that overwhelm their available financing, according to a first-of-a-kind report released Wednesday.

WASHINGTON — Construction spending rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.4% in April, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

WASHINGTON - Construction spending rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.4% in April, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

WASHINGTON — House Transportation Committee chairman John Mica wants to take the Northeast rail corridor away from Amtrak and privatize most of it to get true high-speed rail service — trains that can travel at 220 miles per hour.

WASHINGTON — Initial claims for unemployment insurance gained 10,000 to 424,000 in the week ending May 21, the Labor Department said Thursday.

WASHINGTON - Initial claims for unemployment insurance gained 10,000 to 424,000 in the week ending May 21, on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the report from the Labor Department Thursday.

Senate transportation committee leaders have agreed to fund the TIFIA program at $1 billion per year as part of a six-year highway and transit funding bill that they plan to introduce in two weeks.

WASHINGTON — New home sales increased 7.3% in April to a 323,000-unit seasonally adjusted annual rate from 301,000 last month, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

WASHINGTON - New home sales increased 7.3% in April to a 323,000 unit seasonally adjusted annual rate from 301,000 last month, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

WASHINGTON — Existing home sales fell 0.8% in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.05 million, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.

WASHINGTON – Existing home sales fell 0.8% in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.05 million as sales for mid-price homes continue to struggle, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.

WASHINGTON — Loudoun County, Va., is looking at the possible impact of withdrawing its funding for the Washington, D.C., Metrorail extension to Dulles International Airport.

WASHINGTON — Industrial production was flat in April as capacity utilization edged lower to 76.9%, according to a Federal Reserve report that was issued Tuesday.

WASHINGTON — U.S. housing starts fell 10.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 523,000 units in April from the upwardly revised 585,000 in March.

WASHINGTON - Industrial production was flat in April as capacity utilization edged lower to 76.9%, the Federal Reserve reported Tuesday.

WASHINGTON - U.S. housing starts fell 10.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 523,000 units in April from the upwardly revised 585,000 in March. New building permits fell 4.0%to a 551,000 annual rate from March’s downwardly revised 574,000.

The United States “effectively shrugs off infrastructure” amid escalating government deficits and cash-strapped taxpayers, according to an annual report released by the Urban Land Institute and Ernst & Young on Monday.

Medicare’s trust fund will run out of money in 2024 and Social Security’s will be exhausted in 2036, according to the annual reports of their boards of trustees released Friday.