National

Crowdfunding is popular among musicians, filmmakers and artists looking for a way to finance their next project. Now the Securities and Exchange Commission is considering rules that would allow small companies to solicit investments over the Internet and sell shares to the public.

The New York State Bar rejected Glass on moral character grounds nine years ago, and the California Supreme Court is likely to do the same. Still, some say the man who fabricated dozens of magazine stories has changed and should be given the chance to practice law.

Previous estimates of the climate-warming gas were based on the rough number of methane-emitting sources on the ground — such as factories, refineries, stoves, swamps, landfills and cattle herds. But by directly measuring levels of methane in the air instead, a new study puts the total much higher.

Charles Hunt — that's not his real name — works for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. To prevent contract killings, he and colleagues pose as killers themselves. Journalist Jeanne Marie Laskas, who wrote a profile of the agent for GQ, says in real life he's a "lovely man" playing a "bit of a superman role."

This week, the Justice Department signed a $13 billion settlement with JPMorgan Chase over the bank's mortgage practices. But it's not the first multibillion-dollar deal. Five banks, including JPMorgan, reached an agreement in 2012. Not all of the results are in, but there are some lessons learned — and lingering concerns.

The Shenzhen-based company BYD started producing cellphone batteries and then moved to electric cars. Now, it's rolling out a fleet of electric buses in the U.S., a first for a Chinese auto manufacturer.

A former Massachusetts chemist is now behind bars because of sloppy drug testing that went on for years, compromising up to 190,000 criminal cases and costing the state millions of dollars. The scandal raises questions of accountability in forensic labs around the country.

The banking giant has agreed to pay a record sum to the U.S. government over charges that it knew it was selling risky mortgage products. But it's not clear exactly what, if anything, the bank is admitting to — or if the government's case would have held up in a jury trial.

Louisiana is paying tribute Friday to the Rev. T.J. Jemison, a strong and steady voice against unequal treatment for blacks in the Jim Crow South. Jemison helped organize a bus boycott in Baton Rouge in 1953 and later advised Martin Luther King Jr. and others on how to orchestrate the Montgomery boycott.

When he went to work on Nov. 22, 1963, ambulance driver Aubrey Rike had no idea that he would soon be offering a moment of support to Jacqueline Kennedy. "It was unbelievable that something like that happened, and he was part of it," says Rike's widow, Glenda.