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The quality of airline service has got worse in 2014 because carriers continued to squeeze passengers in various ways.

The Airline Quality Rating (AQR), carried out by Wichita State University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, has been evaluating the performance of airlines for more than 20 years. It was found that airline service suffered because airlines packed more people onto planes and landed less flight on time.

"As a group they generally did worse. We track four elements that we think are consumer relevant, on-time, baggage handling, complaints and things like that and literally all four of those got worse for the industry this year", said Dean Headley of Wichita State University.

Changes have been made in the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act (HFIAA) in 2014. Due to these changes, flood insurance clients are witnessing premium increase ranging from 15% to 18% on primary residence properties.

Increase of up to 25% is seen on secondary homes or homes that have suffered repeated losses. New surcharges have also been included - $25 for primary homes and $250 for others.

The rise is considered to be part of Congress's effort to reduce some of the $250 billion debt incurred by the National Flood Insurance Program after losses suffered from Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy.

Changes have been made in the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act (HFIAA) in 2014. Due to these changes, flood insurance clients are witnessing premium increase ranging from 15% to 18% on primary residence properties.

Increase of up to 25% is seen on secondary homes or homes that have suffered repeated losses. New surcharges have also been included - $25 for primary homes and $250 for others.

The rise is considered to be part of Congress's effort to reduce some of the $250 billion debt incurred by the National Flood Insurance Program after losses suffered from Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy.

The Wall street Journal has reported that the activist investor Jana Partners LLC has urged Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) to consider a breakup and other options for boosting the giant chip maker's sagging stock price.

According to a quarterly letter to Jana investors, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Jana has asked Qualcomm to consider spinning off its chip unit from its patent-licensing business, which accounts for most of the company's profit. Fifteen years ago, Qualcomm itself proposed the same idea but later on called it off.

The head of Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) head and the union for its workers agree that the agency has struggled to do its job due to five years of budget cuts.

Since fiscal 2011, Congress has cut the IRS budget by a total of $1.2 billion to the current $10.9 billion. According to the National Treasury Employees Union, this led to a four-year hiring freeze, which cut the workforce from more than 108,000 workers to about 90,000. The union said that in New Jersey, about 980 people work for the IRS, down more than 21% from 2011.

Retailer Walgreens announced that it will close about 200 stores across the United States. According to the company, it has planned to remove those stores that were not meeting sales expectations. In August 2014, Walgreens, which is the largest drug retailing chain in the United States, announced that it is set to build on a $1 billion charge-reduction strategy.

The company also said that customers and people linked to the company have nothing to worry about. According to reports, shut down of 200 stores would only affect the company's 2% locations in the United States, Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands.