SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Facing a lawsuit over deceptive mortgage practices, a Bank of America Corp. subsidiary has agreed to modify tens of thousands of loans to keep people in Washington and 10 other states from losing their homes, the Illinois attorney general's office said Sunday.

PASCO -- Columbia Basin College's agriculture department is testing soybean varieties that local wheat farmers could use as a rotation crop.

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KENNEWICK -- Tim Rinehart wants to know about future job options in the Tri-Cities.

About 80 community members got a glimpse Wednesday at what the Tri-City rivershores might look like in another decade.

Washington Closure Hanford has selected three local businesses to do $12 million worth of work to help backfill Hanford waste sites and burial grounds after they are cleaned up.

HANFORD -- The public and Hanford workers will get a chance to question top Hanford managers and regulators and make comments Thursday at the annual Hanford State of the Site meeting for the Mid-Columbia.

PASCO -- Recently completed state audits of Pasco and Franklin County found accounting errors dealing with millions of dollars, but no evidence of money being misused or lost.

KENNEWICK -- About 500 people are expected to participate in the sixth annual Smartmap Expo, which opens today at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick.

RICHLAND -- The Port of Benton opened its new $1.5 million freight transloading facility Tuesday at Richland's Horn Rapids Industrial Park off Kingsgate Way.

WASHINGTON The government is weighing a bold plan to buy massive amounts of unsecured short-term debts in a dramatic effort to break through a credit clog that is imperiling the economy.

SINGAPORE Oil prices rebounded to around $90 Tuesday in Asia after plunging to an 8-month low Monday on concerns a significant slowdown in global economic growth will undermine demand for crude.

SEOUL, South Korea Asian stocks were mixed Tuesday as a big interest rate cut in Australia helped spur recoveries in several regional markets, sparking hopes that other central banks will lower rates to help loosen the global credit crunch.

ROME A U.N. agency on Tuesday called for an urgent review of agriculture and biofuel subsidies and trade barriers, saying their removal would increase opportunities for developing countries to take advantage of rising biofuel demand.

DES MOINES, Iowa Like any farmer, Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey is eager to put the pains - and the rains - of 2008 behind him.

SAN FRANCISCO Advanced Micro Devices Inc. will announce Tuesday it is spinning off its manufacturing operations as part of a sweeping plan to cut cuts, The Wall Street Journal reported.

LOS ANGELES RealNetworks Inc. said Monday it had temporarily stopped distributing its DVD copying software, RealDVD, at a federal judge's request in a copyright case brought by Hollywood studios.

FRANKFURT, Germany Shares of SAP AG plunged Monday after the business software maker said it saw a sudden drop in business at the end of September as global financial turmoil escalated.

NEW YORK After a series of changes designed to draw more people to its online marketplace, eBay Inc.'s latest alteration is aimed at its own employees. The auction site operator said Monday it will cut about 1,600 jobs, 10 percent of its work force, in its largest round of dismissals ever.

SEATTLE Shares of major Web companies dropped sharply Monday amid a massive market sell-off that sent the Dow skidding below 10,000 for the first time in four years.