K.C. ALFRED / Union-Tribune San Diego's housing market, including a Chula Vista neighborhood photographed in 2005, is seeing a rise in affordability.

There's a silver lining in San Diego's slumping housing market: improved affordability. The National Association of Home Builders yesterday ranked San Diego County as the nation's 20th least affordable metro area, a major improvement from four years ago, when the region was ranked the most unaffordable market in the nation.

SAN FRANCISCO – Hewlett-Packard's fiscal third-quarter profit jumped 14 percent, beating Wall Street's expectations, as strong laptop sales and a robust international presence lifted the technology bellwether.

WASHINGTON – For years, Science Applications International Corp. served as an adviser to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on the development of rules for when radioactive materials could be released from nuclear facilities for recycling.

San Diego Gas & Electric Co. has denied misleading the California Public Utilities Commission about its Sunrise Powerlink proposal and asked the commission to dismiss a sanctions proceeding before it gets started.

As San Diego County slumps into its worst downturn since the end of the Cold War, the military and the defense industry remain a $24.6 billion economic powerhouse that could provide needed economic stability, according to a report released yesterday by the San Diego Military Advisory Council.