The federal budget deficit will fall to $1.35 trillion from the nearly $1.4 trillion previously projected, the Washington Post reported, citing congressional sources with information from a new analysis to be released today. The deficit is also expected to improve over the long run and fall to $480 billion by 2015 from previous projections of $560 billion. Read more.

A bill that would increase state fees on Iowa’s 400 licensed pet breeders to as much as $140 from the current $20 to “crack down on the bad actors in this industry” could clear a first hurdle when the House Public Safety Committee meets at 3 p.m. today in Room 19 at the state Capitol, IowaPolitics.com reported today. Read the bill here.

Iowa, 16 other states and the U.S. Justice Department reached a settlement with Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. that aims to bolster competition in the ticket-selling industry. Ticketmaster, the world’s largest ticketing company, wanted to merge with Live Nation Inc., the world’s largest promoter of live concerts. State attorneys general and the Justice Department filed a civil antitrust lawsuit today to block the merger, and at the same time filed a proposed settlement with Ticketmaster that would resolve the competitive concerns of the lawsuit. The settlement must be approved by the court. Under the settlement, Ticketmaster must take steps to preserve competition in the ticket-selling industry, and must license its ticket software and divest ticketing assets to two other companies that would compete with the company. For a full list of settlement terms, go to www.justice.gov.



Apple Inc.’s net income increased 50 percent from the prior year to a record $3.4 billion or $3.67 per share, CNNMoney.com reported Monday. Apple’s sales increased 32 percent to $15.7 billion and beat analysts’ forecasts of $12.1 billion. Read more.

The Conference Board’s confidence index increased in January to 55.9 from 53.6 in December, making it the highest level of confidence since September 2008, Bloomberg.com reported. The figure hit a record low of 25.3 in February 2009.