Business

Verizon workers picket outside one of the company's facilities in Philadelphia Wednesday. Verizon landline and cable workers on the East Coast walked off the job Wednesday morning after little progress in negotiations since their contract expired nearly e

National

Tens Of Thousands Of Verizon Workers Go On Strike

10:20am April 13, 2016

by Camila Domonoske

Nearly 40,000 union workers on the East Coast, who haven't had a contract since August, have walked out. Among other things, they object to outsourcing and two-month location transfers of employees.

National

Voice Of Lucky Charms Leprechaun, Arthur Anderson, Dies At 93

9:04am April 13, 2016

by Doreen McCallister

Besides making a living voicing the breakfast cereal leprechaun, he appeared in a radio show and on Broadway and was in TV shows including episodes of Car 54, Where Are You? and Law & Order.

A driver holds up his change from a transaction in Beijing in February. The latest World Economic Outlook offers some good news for China's economy this year.

5 Reasons The IMF Says Global Economic Growth Is Slowing

8:17pm April 12, 2016

by John Ydstie

In January, International Monetary Fund economists thought the global economy would grow 3.4 percent this year, but now they've ratcheted back that forecast.

On Equal Pay Day, President Obama marks the designation of a women's equality national monument.

As Hollywood Stars Can Attest, It's Good To Be A Man On Payday

7:37pm April 12, 2016

by Marilyn Geewax

Economic data show that men still make a dollar for every 79 cents a woman earns. A half-century ago, that figure was just 59 cents. So, much progress has been made, but a large wage gap persists.

In 1997, Pablo Picasso's Women of Algiers (Version O) — shown here at Christie's in Hong Kong — was part of a groundbreaking art auction that sent prices soaring.

Arts

Panama Papers Provide Rare Glimpse Inside Famously Opaque Art Market

6:34pm April 12, 2016

by Elizabeth Blair

The leaked documents tell the backstory of a groundbreaking Christie's auction, and the purchase of a painting one man claims was seized from his grandfather during World War II.

Queue Listen Now

Beyond The Panama Papers: How Else Do Wealthy People Avoid Paying Taxes?

6:20pm April 12, 2016

The offshore revelations from the Panama Papers come in the midst of U.S. tax filing season. NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with author and tax journalist David Cay Johnston about how else wealthy people avoid paying taxes.

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On Equal Pay Day, Why The Gender Gap Still Exists

6:07pm April 12, 2016

President Obama issued a proclamation making April 12 "Equal Pay Day." NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Harvard economics professor Claudia Goldin about what's behind the pay gap between men and women.

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A bee gathers pollen from a park in Kensington, Md. With bee health in mind, home and garden products giant Ortho has announced it will phase out neonics, a class of pesticides, from its outdoor products.

Home And Garden Giant Ditches Class Of Pesticides That May Harm Bees

3:21pm April 12, 2016

by Allison Aubrey

Ortho is part of the Miracle-Gro family. The company says it decided to phase out neonics from its home and garden products after reviewing possible threats posed to bees and other pollinators.

An image from the European Southern Observatory shows the sky around the bright star Alpha Centauri — which appears so large because of the telescope optics and photographic emulsion — taken from photos in the Digitized Sky Survey 2. Alpha Centauri is

Forget Starships: New Proposal Would Use 'Starchips' To Visit Alpha Centauri

2:44pm April 12, 2016

by Camila Domonoske

Physicist Stephen Hawking and billionaire Yuri Milner have announced a $100 million mission to prepare for interstellar exploration — with a stamp-size spacecraft, light sails and enormous lasers.

A hammock-canoe drawing, U.S. Patent No. 299,951, is displayed in a June 1884 publication of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Va. Critics of the patent system say it's too easy for people to save a slew of semi-realistic ideas, then sue

National

Can Silly Patents Help Fight Frivolous Lawsuits?

2:00pm April 12, 2016

by Laura Sydell

Critics of the patent system say it's too easy for people to save a slew of semi-realistic ideas, then sue when a firm separately tries to make something similar. A new website fights fire with fire.