The Health and Human Services Department will provide states and large metropolitan areas with $390.5 million to help hospitals improve their emergency preparedness and response. 

The grants are expected to help hospitals and other healthcare facilities be ready for emergencies such as disease outbreaks, natural disasters and acts of terrorism. 

Facilities in all 50 states and several U.S. territories are expected to use the funding to improve communications systems, processes for fatality management and systems that track available hospital beds. 

California will receive nearly $32 million and Los Angeles county will receive an additional $12 million. Texas is slated for about $28 million, and Florida $22 million. 

Under the program, New York state will receive $13.6 million and New York City is slated for more than $10 million. 

Illinois will get more than $12.3 million, and the city of Chicago is expected to receive about $3.9 million. 

The federal deficit surpassed the $1 trillion mark in June, but it's on pace to be slightly lower than 2009.

New jobless claims decreased by 21,000 last week, hitting their lowest level since early May and falling more than analysts expected.

Claims fell to a seasonally adjusted 454,000 for the week ending July 3, from the previous week's revised figure of 475,000, while forecasters expected a smaller drop, according to Labor Department figures released Thursday. 

The four-week moving average, which smoothes out the volatility of the weekly number and provides a better gauge of the employment situation, was 466,000, a decrease of 1,250 from the previous week's revised average of 467,250.

The numbers of Americans continuing to claim benefits took a big drop down by 224,000 to 4.4 million from the week ending June 26. 

Congress failed to pass an extension of unemployment benefits before leaving for the July 4 break, meaning more than 3.2 million people could lose benefits by the end of the month. 

About 2 million will have lost access to benefits beyond 26 weeks before lawmakers return from recess next week. 

The Computer & Communications Industry Association is the latest group to oppose legislation by Rep. William Delahunt (D-Mass.) requiring Internet shops to collect sales taxes on purchases from their sites. 

The Education Department said Wednesday it would provide $25 million to help servicers of student loans meet new federal regulations pushed by the Obama administration.

The money will be available to banks and other private financial firms that made or serviced loans in the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFEL). The Obama administration pushed successfully this year to change the student loan market by removing private lenders.

Under new regulations, all student loans will now be made through the Direct Loan Program, in which students borrow from the government instead of sometimes from private lenders. The change was a high priority for the Obama administration and most congressional Democrats.

The shift is expected to save the government $68 billion over the next 11 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

The Education Department said the $25 million would be used to help servicers retrain and re-deploy workers as the companies comply with new federal laws.

The $25 million fund will favor workers in regions with high unemployment rates, the department said.

Congress authorized a total of $50 million for the fund. The remaining $25 million will be allocated in fiscal year 2011, according to the department.

Companies or organizations that serviced FFEL loans on January 1, 2010, are eligible to apply for funds and must meet an August 6, 2010, application deadline.

Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, praised the new money. He said Education Secretary Arne Duncan, "has taken an important step forward today for America’s workers and the future of this country."

“By getting this money out the door quickly, he’s accomplished the critical tasks of both helping to save jobs and retrain and retain workers while also ensuring our student loan programs are operating in the best interest of students and families working hard to pay for college," Miller said.

An official with private loan giant Sallie Mae said the end of the FFEL program will result in significant job losses and said it is too soon to determine how the new fund will affect its employees.

“We are actively evaluating the requirements to see how it could benefit employees and mitigate job losses,” said Conwey Casillas, vice president of public affairs at Sallie Mae.

The company is in the process of restructuring in response to the legislation. Sallie Mae is shutting down two centers in Panama City, Fla.; and Killeen, Texas; and is moving its headquarters from Reston, Va., to Newark, Del.

Unemployment benefits should be considered emergency spending and paying for them isn't a likely option, a White House official said Wednesday. 

"I think this is a unique emergency that we believe should be addressed immediately," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs. 

Senate Democrats and Republicans are at a stalemate over extending unemployment benefits to millions of Americans who have been out of work for more than six months. 

Lawmakers were unable to reach an agreement on an approximately $34 billion measure before leaving town for the week-long July 4 recess. Republicans are insisting on using stimulus to help pay for the benefits while Democrats have argued that, in the past, unemployment insurance has been extended without being offset by tax increases or the shifting of funds from other accounts. 

An overwhelming majority (75 percent) of senior executives from U.S. companies with between $500 million and $3 billion in total revenues are optimistic about achieving their companies' growth expectations over the next two years, according to a new survey by the tax and consulting firm Ernst & Young LLP.

Former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin will join several others in calling on Congress to reinstate the estate tax before the August recess. 

The July 21 event will be hosted by United for a Fair Economy, which has been fighting to preserve the estate tax since 1999.

Rubin is expected to discuss his reasons for supporting a permanent estate tax fix.

The Federal Reserve should raise its target interest rate to 1 percent despite data showing that the nation’s economic recovery isn’t picking up pace. 

Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Hoenig is pushing for an increase that is “advocating a policy of shooting toward normality,” he said Wednesday in an interview on Bloomberg Radio’s “The Hays Advantage,” with Kathleen Hays.

“I am not saying raise rates to very high levels, I am saying get it off zero,” said Hoenig, who has repeatedly voted against the policy of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to hold the rate near zero for an “extended period,” possibly through 2010. 

The change wouldn’t be harmful to the economy, he said.