Highlights of a House bill originally intended to pay for military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan into next spring before anti-war Democrats and Republicans combined to kill its top component - a much-needed influx of funding for overseas troops. The money will be revived by the Senate next week.

Soaring prices at the pump don't necessarily mean big bucks for the state in taxes.

As Senate leaders unveiled a $28 billion budget Wednesday that relies heavily on new taxes and money from the state's "rainy day" fund, Republicans pledged to file Gov. Deval Patrick's casino bill as an amendment to the spending plan, saying the state needs new revenues.

Auditor General William Holland's office found a number of flaws Tuesday with how the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services handles payments to health care providers under the Medicaid program. Here is a look at some of the findings:

A new state audit points out "appalling" problems with the Blagojevich administration's management of payments to health care providers that go much deeper than a large stack of unpaid bills, lawmakers and Illinois' comptroller said Tuesday.

Democrats controlling Congress are leaving difficult decisions on automatic tax increases to the next president and the newly elected Congress under a freshly negotiated House-Senate blueprint for the upcoming budget year.

Florida is tightening its regulation of check cashing and other money services businesses after a critical grand jury report, a top state financial official said Tuesday.

The Virginia Office of the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit is being recognized as among the best in the nation.

The vegetable garden is going in now, and Heather Algoe will tend it with a fervor not afforded a mere hobby. She needs this food to feed her family.

State officials say a new Web-based program that catalogues Medicaid patient data will reduce medical errors.