American Airlines has saved $2.1 billion since 2006, thanks to two congressional measures that allowed it to reduce contributions to its pension plans. The company said it would make up any shortfall later.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday named an official at the Government Accountability Office, Jeanette M. Franzel, to serve as a watchdog over corporate audits, filling a potentially pivotal seat on an oversight board that was created in the aftermath of the Enron and WorldCom accounting scandals.

Caught in a maelstrom of public reaction to its decision to cease funding Planned Parenthood, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation announced Friday that it would reverse course.

Komen will no longer bar organizations that are under government investigation from applying for grants. As a result, Planned Parenthood — which is the focus of a House probe over whether it has used federal funds to pay for abortions — will once more be eligible for Komen grants.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sued a handful of the nation’s largest banks Friday, claiming they deceived homeowners and court officials by filing flawed and fraudulent foreclosure documents through a popular electronic mortgage registry.

The U.S. economy added 243,000 jobs in January — and 11 of those were at Annie’s Ace Hardware, a new store slated to open in Petworth on Tuesday.

The 6,500-square-foot store near Upshur Street and Georgia Avenue NW has long been a dream of owner Anne Stom, a home repair aficionado and former Labor Department project director who went all in to launch her new business, including investing about $200,000 of her own money.

The largest PC maker in the world is — Apple?

Hard to believe, maybe, but according to the latest analysis from Canalys, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company shipped 120 million PCs last year, if you include the iPad.

It’s called the Shrimp Boat restaurant and if you’ve ever driven out of Capitol Hill on East Capitol Street you’ve seen it sailing toward you — paint peeling, windows mostly shuttered and a seaweed green awning that looks like it could collapse at any moment.

 

One is a local crafter who specializes in hand made baby clothes. Another is a state department employee by day and talent agent on the side. A third is the director of a local non-profit that teaches health and wellness to Ward 8 residents.

David Choe became the art world’s newest millionaire this week, thanks to his wise decision to take Facebook stock in exchange for the murals he painted in the company’s headquarters in 2005, despite believing at the time that Facebook wa s “ridiculous.”

“It’s good to remember that the fact that there were some folks who were willing to let this industry die. Because of folks coming together, we are now back in a place where we can compete with any car company in the world.”

Facebook is friending the feds.

The company has put political veterans in key executive roles and board positions. It’s also quickly built up a powerhouse Washington lobbying operation and established a political action committee to make it easy for employees to donate to candidates.

The Obama administration plans to push forward this spring with efforts to wind down government-backed housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and attract more private funding to mortgage markets, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said Thursday.

With the government’s monthly unemployment report expected Friday, economists predicted it will show that the United States added about 150,000 jobs last month, sustaining a modest momentum in the economy.

If you are like me, you may be reflecting on how poorly your investment portfolio performed in 2011. All stock indices, except the Dow Jones, were down. Your savings account, if any, may have earned an anemic 0.25 percent. Assuming you are convinced that 2012 is the year to take the real estate investment plunge, you may want to consider the following.

 

In a sign of just how unpopular Congress has become, rank-and-file senators hijacked a debate over a narrowly tailored ethics bill and won broad approval Thursday of a more far-reaching reform package that would impose new conflict-of-interest rules and mandate more transparency on K Street.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke on Thursday cautioned lawmakers against taking any steps that would hurt economic growth as they work to cut the nation’s debt, and he defended the central bank’s recent actions to support the economy.

The federal government announced Thursday it’s moving forward with developing wind energy off Virginia’s coast.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is looking for industry interest in wind development off the coasts of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. It’s the first step in the leasing process.

Mortgage rates hit new historic lows this week, as the average 30-year fixed rate fell to 3.87 percent, according to Freddie Mac Mortgage Market Survey released Thursday.

The 30-year dropped this week after nudging up a bit last week to 3.98 percent, but overall the rate has remained below 4 percent for a couple months. Other rates hit new lows, including the 15-year, which fell to an average 3.14 percent, down 0.8 percentage points.

The catchy rumor ahead of Facebook’s initial public offering filing was that the company’s record IPO will create 1,000 millionaires overnight.

With a current plan to raise $5 billion in its stock sale — the largest Internet IPO in history — employees who were granted stock options in Facebook when they were hired certainly have a lot to gain. The Daily Mail reported that the company will have “well over a thousand” employees who will be millionaires after the company goes public, based on comments from an anonymous former in-house Facebook recruiter.