While the NFL playoffs, culminating with the Super Bowl, are overall the biggest moneymakers on the American sporting scene, the hoops tourney is a none-too-distant second. And unlike the Super Bowl, which creates a windfall for a single city and a handful of prominent players, the college games spread the wealth all over the country.

Democrats pushing for health care reform are closer to the finish line than ever, but it's not over yet. And the question of cost will remain a central issue in coming days. On Thursday, the Congressional Budget Office weighed in with a key -- if still very preliminary -- cost estimate.

The latest version of the Democrats' health overhaul will cost $940 billion over a decade and expand insurance coverage to 32 million Americans, according to a Congressional Budget Office report cited by Democratic aides Thursday.

Concerned about rising rates of employee theft and fiduciary issues, more employers are conducting credit background checks on applicants for some positions. Companies say the financial information can offer insight into a candidate's level of responsibility. But people whose previously solid credit has been damaged by the economic downturn say they are victims of circumstances beyond their control.

As census forms arrive in Americans' mailboxes, CNN's Kate Bolduan looks at costs associated with the big count.

The world's largest bookseller faces an unwelcome stock fight while trying to deal with radical market shifts.

If President Obama's 2011 budget were put into effect as proposed, the U.S. federal government would add an estimated $9.8 trillion to the country's accrued debt over the next decade, according to a preliminary analysis from the Congressional Budget Office. Of that amount, an estimated $5.6 trillion will be in interest alone.

Theme parks are being flooded with applications from job seekers, as unemployed mortgage agents, sales clerks and construction workers who can't find work elsewhere seek temporary positions that often pay little more than minimum wage.

Student protesters marched on the University of California at Berkeley campus on Thursday. Demonstrations, marches, teach-ins and walkouts were being planned nationwide in what is being called the "March 4th National Day of Action for Public Education."

A movement born of $1 billion in budget cuts to California's state university system has blossomed into a nationwide protest, as students and professors in 33 states will challenge administrators and state lawmakers to ante up. Most of Thursday's demonstrations will focus on cuts to state-funded colleges and universities, which supporters say drive up tuition, limit classes and make higher education unobtainable to many. A blog called Student Activism said in a Twitter update that 122 events are slated from coast to coast -- most on campuses, and some at state capitals.