The U.S. Senate launched new legislation aimed at jumpstarting the struggling economy and creating jobs by giving small businesses easier access to credit.

The 61-37 vote yesterday cleared the way for final Senate passage of the aid package, which includes a $30 billion lending fund and about $12 billion in tax relief for small businesses.

The longstanding logjam over the legislation ended thanks to Republican Senators George LeMieux (Fla.) and George Voinovich (Ohio), who said he voted for the incentives because the economy was “really hurting.”

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said Monday it was establishing a $100 million fund for victims of a huge gas pipeline explosion that left at least four people dead and destroyed 37 homes.

The money was intended to help victims meet their day-to-day needs and would be provided with no strings attached, said Chris Johns, president of PG&E.

The company previously gave the city of San Bruno $3 million to help cover its expenses related to the blast, Johns said.

(READ the AP story at NPR)

There is some good news when it comes to the battle against global hunger. The United Nations today lowered its estimate of the number of hungry people world wide by nearly 10 percent, a drop of 98 million.

The lower number is a result of the stronger economic growth expected this year in developing countries and a drop in food prices that has occurred since the spike in 2008, according to the UN’s World Food Program and Food and Agriculture Organization.

(Continue reading in the Des Moines Register)

The U.S. government posted a smaller budget deficit in August compared with the same month last year, helped by rising tax receipts.

The $90.5 billion deficit for August was 13 percent lower than the gap last year, when the Bush Administration posted a deficit of $103.6 billion in August 2009.

The economic recovery has helped generate more tax revenue for the Treasury, according to a report from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, which forecasts the budget deficit will amount to 9.1 percent of gross domestic product this year, only exceeded in the past 65 years by 2009’s 9.9 percent.

(READ the full article in Bloomberg.com)

A retail sales jump in August — by the largest amount in five months — suggests the spring downturn was temporary and not the start of another recession.

The Commerce Department says retail sales rose 0.4 percent last month —  0.6 percent, if auto sales are excluded.

That’s double the amount economists had expected and follows a 0.3 percent rise in July.

The advance was the latest indication that the economy is regaining its footing.

(READ the full AP story)