Welcome to the Age of Metrics - or to the End of Instinct.

An effort by the F.H.A. to prop up real estate prices amid rising defaults has put taxpayers at risk.

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s quarterly survey found that one in seven homeowners was either late on payments or was already in foreclosure.

Students and faculty worry that deep budget cuts are pushing the University of California into decline.

Rejecting warnings by the Obama administration, a committee approved a plan by Representative Ron Paul to carry out sweeping new audits of the central bank’s policy decisions and operations.

New guidelines for cervical cancer screening say women should delay their first Pap test until age 21, and go for screening less often than had been previously recommended.

The Court of Appeals left to the Legislature the broader issue of whether same-sex marriage should be legal in New York.

Amid concerns over an aging stockpile, federal advisers have concluded that programs to extend the life of the nation’s nuclear arms ensure their destructiveness for decades to come.

Facing steep cuts in state financing, the university system voted on Thursday to raise undergraduate fees.

Republican governors gathered to assess their political future and saw their road back to power and unity through pocketbook issues.

The Senate voted 59 to 39 to confirm Judge David F. Hamilton, President Obama’s first judicial nominee, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Gov. Mark Sanford plans to release records to state legislators about previously undisclosed flights that he took on planes owned by friends and campaign donors.

A southeast Texas industrial disposal facility has suspended its plan to import and incinerate up to 20,000 tons of hazardous waste from Mexico, a company official said.

California’s public university system has agreed to reopen a troubled South Los Angeles hospital that was partly closed in 2007 after deadly lapses in care.

A federal judge dismissed dozens of immigration charges against the former manager of a kosher slaughterhouse who was convicted last week on multiple counts of financial fraud.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said the review was to help ensure that “nothing like this ever happens again.”

Earl E. Devaney, the chairman of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, says reports of job creation came from aid recipients and were not always verified.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced a donation of $290 million to support groups working to transform how teachers are evaluated and how they get tenure.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the move was part of the administration’s plan to penalize companies that hire illegal immigrants.

The University of Nebraska would be the first such institution to set stricter limits than what national or state law allows.