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As the U.S. Postal Service continues to lose money each year, a new report suggests a way to add to its bottom line: offer banklike services, such as a check cashing card that would allow holders to make purchases and pay bills online or even take out small loans. The idea is to provide services that are now unavailable in many communities.

More than a quarter of all Americans, some 68 million, are now underserved by banks — "underbanked," as the white paper from the Inspector General of the U.S. Postal Service calls them. They live in places where there are no bank branches, or just one. Many have to rely on check cashing outlets and payday loans, which often charge exorbitant fees.

Betsy Cavendish, president of Appleseed Network, says being able to go to the post office for simple financial transactions would be "win-win. Many people are spending $2,500 a year or so in extra fees."

"They have a lack of options for small-dollar loans and too few savings vehicles. Meanwhile, the Postal Service is in every zip code in the country and could potentially offer needed financial services," she says.

The so-called underbanked are mostly low income, and many live in cities, but plenty are in rural areas. Banks have been closing branches — more than 2,000 were shuttered in 2012. But of the nation's 35,000 post offices, more than half are in zip codes with one or no banks.

Saying "I'm going to the post office to cash a check" may sound strange to our ears, but for our grandparents or great-grandparents, it wasn't at all unusual.

Post office banking was even a campaign issue in 1908 and might have helped Republican William Howard Taft win the White House. Taft said allowing people to bank in post offices "will be a great incentive for thrift in the many small places in the country having now no savings bank facilities which are reached by the post office."

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There were only 3,000 fewer first-time claims filed for jobless benefits last week, but the slight decline is being seen as another sign that the nation's labor market will gain some strength once Spring arrives.

The Employment and Training Administration said Thursday that 336,000 applications were submitted last week, vs. 339,000 the week before.

That means the pace of claims is still running about where it's been since late 2011.

But here's how the latest news is being interpreted:

— It's "a sign employers [were] holding the line on firings even as cold weather slowed industries from manufacturing to housing," Bloomberg News says. What's more, "a slowdown in dismissals could lay the groundwork for a pickup in hiring, and more jobs could translate to a boost in consumer spending," which in turn could help give an even further lift to employment.

— The dip points to "steadily improving labor market conditions, despite two straight months of weak hiring," writes Reuters.

— The news signals "steady improvement in the job market," adds The Wall Street Journal.

What might have been a routine update on the state of the federal budget Tuesday instead became the newest front in the ongoing political war over President Obama's signature health care law.

At issue: a revised estimate about how many people would voluntarily leave the workforce because they can get health care without necessarily holding down a job.

The Congressional Budget Office originally predicted that the availability of subsidies for low-income Americans to buy health insurance would result in about 800,000 people leaving full-time work by 2023. The revised estimate increases that number to about 2.5 million.

Republicans pounced, pointing at the nonpartisan office's estimate as proof of the Affordable Care Act's damaging effects on the economy. In a statement, House Speaker John Boehner said: "The middle class is getting squeezed in this economy, and this CBO report confirms that Obamacare is making it worse."

Texas Republican John Cornyn took to the Senate floor with the same message. "The president's own health care policy ... is killing full-time work, and putting people in part-time work," he said.

Obama's White House wasted little time responding, sending Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Jason Furman to the daily press briefing. There, Furman turned Cornyn's charge on its head, arguing that if some people are able to work part time and spend more time with their children, or if others can leave a job to start a business of their own without fear of losing health insurance, then these are good things happening because of the Affordable Care Act.

The Affordable Care Act, Explained

Just hours after a truce was declared, clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces have broken out again in Ukraine's capital.

By early afternoon Thursday in Kiev, at least 21 civilians had been killed, Reuters reports. Those deaths followed the 25 or so fatalities earlier in the week.