It was like going back to the future for Florida utility regulators Tuesday as consumer advocates urged a ban on most off-the-record communications as recommended by a statewide grand jury 18 years ago.

As the US economic recovery looms larger, the gray cloud that has hung over the stock market for so long is finally starting to fade. Here's four sectors likely to outperform in the months and year ahead.

In a rural corner of Nevada reeling from the recession, a bit of salvation seemed to arrive last year. A German developer, Solar Millennium, announced plans to build two large solar farms here that would harness the sun to generate electricity, creating hundreds of jobs. But then things got messy.

As the Markey-Waxman bill on carbon emissions cap-and-trade makes it way through the Senate, a new carbon-counting reality may soon be here for American businesses.

If companies commit at the outset to use union labor, they say environmental objections never materialize.