The red alarm deadline to raise the debt ceiling could be as soon as Feb. 15 -- but no later than March 1, according to the latest estimate from the Bipartisan Policy Center. If Congress misses that deadline, the Treasury Department will be forced to make legally questionable, no-win decisions on how to honor the tens of millions of bills owed every month. The federal government hit its legal borrowing limit of $16.394 trillion on Dec. 31, and has begun taking "extraordinary measures."

MONEY-Payroll-Tax-Cut

Americans spent more of the extra income they received from the payroll tax cut in 2011 than they intended to.

MONEY-Electric-Car-Noise

Your streets may get a little noisier, if the Department of Transportation gets its way. The DOT's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed new safety standards that set minimum sound requirements for electric and hybrid cars when traveling under 18 miles an hour.

MONEY-Toyota-Self-Driving-Cars

Toyota revealed details of its research into its self-driving cars Monday, just ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas.

MONEY-Gun-Shows

Several gun shows in Connecticut and New York have been canceled in the wake of the mass shooting last month in nearby Newtown, Conn.

MONEY-Notre-Dame-Football-Dollars

Notre Dame is playing Alabama for college football's national championship on Monday night. But the Fighting Irish are already a certain winner over the Crimson Tide -- at least when it comes to money.

MED-microplastics-soap-unilever

If you use exfoliating soaps, you might not know those little beads may be made of plastic -- or think about what happens to them when they go down the drain. But it's on the minds of marine science researchers, as well as a major company. Unilever, the company that makes Dove soaps, Vaseline, Pond's skin cream and other personal care products, announced recently it's phasing out the use of "plastic micro beads as a 'scrub' material" in its personal care products. By 2015, the phase out should be complete, Unilever said. The company said the "the issue of plastics particles in the ocean is an important issue." Microplastics are plastic pieces less than 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) long, and they are a major type of marine debris.

MONEY-cyber-war

Security analysts are predicting that 2013 is when nation-sponsored cyberwarfare goes mainstream -- and some think such attacks will lead to actual deaths.

MONEY-schmidt-richardson-north-korea

A controversial private trip to North Korea by Google Chairman Eric Schmidt and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson got underway Monday, according to media reports.

MONEY-banks-basel-rules

International banks won a concession Sunday from the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, which relaxed rules for lenders that had been proposed in hopes of preventing another global financial crisis.

FEATURES AND COMMENTARY

ENT-California-Howser-Obit

California public television icon Huell Howser has died, his longtime station said Monday, an announcement that set off a flood of heartfelt condolences from his fans in the Golden State and beyond. He was 67.

ENT-New-York-Lohan-Court

Charges against actress Lindsay Lohan in an alleged Manhattan nightclub fight "are not ready to proceed at this time," her attorney said Monday after a hearing at New York criminal court. Lohan did not attend the hearing because there was nothing for her to plead to, said her attorney, Mark Heller.

TECH-CES-Preview-Trends