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WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy grew at a modest 2.8 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter of last year. The Commerce Department says Americans spent more on cars and trucks, and companies built up stockpiles. Consumer spending was up from October through December of 2011, it grew at a 2 percent annual rate, that’s up modestly from the third quarter. But growth was held back by the biggest annual government spending cuts in four decades. For the full year, the economy grew just 1.7 percent, about half as much as 2010.

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LOS ANGELES — A private research firm is reporting that foreclosures were a smaller share of all U.S. homes sold in last year's third quarter. RealtyTrac cites delays by banks in putting properties on sale and slower home sales. Even with the decline, foreclosures still made up 20 percent of total homes sold in the July through September period.

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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says he wants to close the gap between rich and poor. In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, Obama proposed refinancing at lower interest rates on some mortgages, forcing colleges to keep tuition down and higher taxes for the wealthy. In the GOP response, Gov. Mitch Daniels says Obama has resorted to "extremism" to divide Americans. Today the President will set off on a three-day tour of politically crucial states, with his first stop in Iowa, where he will visit a conveyor belt plant.

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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's State of the Union address tonight includes an appeal for the middle class. President Obama will make an argument for economic fairness for the middle class and say he is the one to deliver it. He is also expected to urge higher taxes on the wealthy, propose ways to make college more affordable and offer new steps to tackle the housing crisis. The address before Congress is 8 p.m. tonight.

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If you have been receiving unemployment benefits, you could be in for a big surprise when you start filing your taxes. Bob Meighan, vice president at Turbo Tax, says unless filers asked that federal taxes be withheld from their jobless benefits, they will owe taxes on the income. On the upside, Meighan reminds the unemployed they might be eligible for tax breaks they didn’t get before, such as the earned income credit.

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Carrier Corp., which employs about 400 East Texans, announced today a proposal to close the plant. All Carrier employees were notified this morning.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - A senior U.S. defense official says all six reported killed in the crash of a U.S. helicopter in Afghanistan were U.S. Marines. The helicopter crashed Thursday in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand.The defense official who said all six were Marines spoke on condition of anonymity because the U.S. command in Afghanistan had not yet publicly released details, including the nationalities of the dead. The official says there is no indication that the helicopter was hit by enemy fire.

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NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Just two days before the South Carolina primary, Rick Perry is dropping out of the race and endorsing Newt Gingrich. He says Gingrich "is not perfect," but adds, "who among us is?" He says Gingrich is a "conservative visionary" who is best suited to replace Barack Obama. Gingrich has been trying to unite conservatives around his candidacy in advance of Saturday's primary. He's urging Perry's supporters to take a look at his record.

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TYLER -- A Flint man suspected of attempting to rob and kidnap a woman from a Tyler grocery store is in jail.

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ROME (AP) — Get back on the boat. That was the order from the Italian coast guard to the captain of a cruise ship that turned on its side after hitting rocks along the Italian coast on Friday. On an audio tape that was made public today, an angry coast guard officer is heard demanding that the captain -- who was on a lifeboat at the time -- return to the ship to oversee the rescue and evacuation. The captain resisted. He's now in custody, facing charges in the wreck that has now claimed at least 11 lives.

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Tyler,Tx - Parades, music and other events were held across Texas today to mark the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. In Tyler, the 26th annual MLK Rally was held at the Downtown Square followed by a march down Broadway and concluded with a service at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Church . Texas joined the rest of the country in honoring King's memory 44 years after his death.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators say low levels of fungicide in orange juice aren't enough to cause safety concerns. The Environmental Protection Agency says it won't order that juice be taken off store shelves. Coca-Cola says it informed the EPA about levels of car-bend-azim in its juice and that of its competitors.

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