If Congress pares back funding for NPR, small stations will be hit the hardest, so many are already looking for ways to survive if the worst happens.

A Senate hearing on Thursday produced fireworks over light bulbs, as conservatives urged repeal of US energy-efficiency standards they see as anticonsumer and paternalistic.

Dow sees biggest drop in seven months and falls below 12,000. European stocks drop to lowest level of the year.

AP - With fierce barrages of tank and artillery fire, Moammar Gadhafi's loyalists threw rebels into a frantic retreat from a strategic oil port Thursday in a counteroffensive that reversed the opposition's advance toward the capital of Tripoli and now threatens its positions in the east.

AP - With the labor movement suffering an epic defeat in Wisconsin and perhaps other states, union leaders plan to use the setback to fire up working people nationwide and mount a major counterattack against Republicans at the ballot box in 2012.

AP - Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords plans to attend the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour next month to see off her astronaut husband, a person close to the family told The Associated Press on Thursday.