Business

The U.S. Attorney General’s office is seeking to more than double the fines Bank of America faces for fraudulent mortgages that helped lead to the financial crisis.

The federal government is asking for $2.1 billion in damages, the total amount it says Bank of America’s Countrywide unit received for its defective loans from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2007 and 2008. The new number is a substantial increase from the $863 million plaintiffs had sought, representing the amount they say Fannie and Freddie lost from the loans in 2007 and 2008.

Venture capital investment is best known for funding technology start-ups, including, once upon a time, Google and Facebook. The amount of venture capital funding is also an indication of how many start-ups or early stage companies a region is producing. The latest numbers in North Carolina show the state still has not recovered from the recession.

Matthews-based discount chain Family Dollar started to report record profits about 5 years ago when the country was in a recession.

And now as the economy is recovering, the company seems to be having a bit of trouble holding on to customers it gained during the leaner times. 

But Family Dollar's recent decrease in profits is a little more complicated than that.

In a conference call this month, Family Dollar CEO Howard Levine told investors an economic recovery is underway:

Bank of America shares jumped almost 2 percent overnight, up to over $17 a share, as the company announced better-than-expected profits in its fourth quarter.

Appliance Maker Electrolux announced it will add more than 800 jobs with the expansion of their U.S. corporate headquarters in Charlotte. Electrolux says it will also invest more than $85 million toward construction costs for the expansion.

Genealogy has become an industry -- with sites like ancestry.com, and TV shows such as “Who Do You Think You Are?”

But these trace “family lineage.” What about the heirlooms and stories that fill the history of a family tree? A Huntersville woman is trying to make a business out of connecting people to their past.  

Attorney General Eric Holder announced Tuesday that the Justice Department is suing to block the merger of American Airlines and US Airways, because of antitrust concerns. That merger would create the nation’s largest airline, and has been in the works since February. WFAE’s Ben Bradford joined All Things Considered host Mark Rumsey for an overview of what it means

One of the largest aerospace systems providers in the world opened its headquarters in West Charlotte Friday. UTC Aerospace Systems designs and manufactures products like propellers and engines and was founded last year after several mergers and acquisitions. Executives say it expects to add about 50 more jobs in the next five years.

One of the fears about the federal budget cuts known as the sequester is that they could shrink the economy and trigger large layoffs. At the same time the government is cutting its program that tracks large layoffs—because of the sequester.

Since its merger with Progress last summer, Duke Energy has become the country's largest regulated utility company. But a report from the Solar Electric Power Association shows it ranks eighth in 2012 for the amount of solar power it can use at any one time.  

Furniture giant IKEA has just installed 4,228 solar panels on the roof of its store in Charlotte. The panels are expected to generate up to half of the store's electricity. 

When it comes to the technology industry, Charlotte isn't usually listed as a hub. That title goes to places like Silicon Valley, New York, Boston and Seattle. But, Charlotte shows a lot of promise in the emerging technology field known as "Big Data."

Iron Man 3 – one of the most expensive films to ever come out of North Carolina – hit theaters Friday. It received $20 million in state incentives and lawmakers are now debating a bill that would remove the state's film tax credit – the same credit that brought the Iron Man 3 production to the state.