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Hundreds of thousands of out-of-work Americans are receiving their final unemployment checks sooner than they expected, even though Congress renewed extended benefits until the end of the year. The checks are stopping for the people who have the most difficulty finding work: the long-term unemployed. More than five million people have been out of work for longer than half a year. Federal benefit extensions, which supplemented state funds for payments up to 99 weeks, were intended to tide over the unemployed until the job market improved. In February, when the program was set to expire, Congress renewed it, but also phased in a reduction of the number of weeks of extended aid and effectively made it more difficult for states to qualify for the maximum aid. Since then, the jobless in 23 states have lost up to five months’ worth of benefits. Out of benefits even as job picture improves Next month, an additional 70,000 people will lose benefits earlier than they presumed, bri...

The sad saga of 38 Studios took an even more depressing turn Thursday afternoon. The beleaguered game maker run by former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling abruptly laid off all of its employees, effective immediately. Insiders at the company say they also learned their health insurance will run out at midnight. Employees learned of the layoffs through an internal email, which Gamasutra has obtained. It reads: ''The Company is experiencing an economic downturn. To avoid further losses and possibility of retrenchment, the Company has decided that a company wide lay off is absolutely necessary. These layoffs are non-voluntary and non-disciplinary.This is your official notice of lay off, effective today, Thursday, May 24th, 2012.'' Meanwhile, a person claiming to be a now-former employee of the company told Kotaku that no one has been paid since April 30 -- and company officials have not communicated the status of things to workers throughout the proce...

Mitt Romney will win all five Republican presidential primaries Tuesday night, completing a sweep of contests in New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Romney boasted more than 50 percent of the vote in all five states, according to early returns. In Connecticut, with 90 percent of the expected votes in, Romney led Ron Paul 67 percent to 13 percent. In Rhode Island, with most of the expected votes counted, Romney led Paul 63 percent to 24 percent. In Pennsylvania, with nearly all of the votes in, Romney had 56 percent. Rick Santorum, who dropped out of the Republican presidential contest earlier this month, followed with 20 percent of the vote. In Delaware, with most of the votes counted, Romney led Newt Gingrich 56 percent to 27 percent. And in New York, with 51 percent of the expected votes in, Romney led Paul 60 percent to 17 percent. Romney is likely to add more than 200 delegates to the 692 estimated delegates he had already secured before the even...