Business

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.

Queue Listen Now

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.

A Real-Life Tax Scam: This Is What IRS Phone Fraud Sounds Like

7:31am April 12, 2016

by Aarti Shahani

It's tax season, which also means it's tax scam season. People around the country are getting phone calls from criminals pretending to be tax collectors. Here is one of them.

Queue Listen Now

Blind Hiring, While Well Meaning, May Create Unintended Consequences

6:48am April 12, 2016

by Noel King

A growing number of companies are experimenting with blind hiring. It's a process that seeks to eliminate bias by hiding a job candidate's identity.

Queue Listen Now

World News

Boeing Explores Doing Business With Iran's Commercial Airlines

6:41am April 12, 2016

by Jackie Northam

Boeing officials were in Iran exploring the first sale of airliners there in decades. The nuclear deal allows such sales but remaining sanctions and Iranian missile tests could cloud their chances.

Queue Listen Now

Federal securities regulators have filed civil fraud charges against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over recruiting investors to a high-tech startup while he was a member of the state House of Representatives.

Texas Attorney General, Already Facing Criminal Charges, Accused Of Civil Fraud

8:36pm April 11, 2016

by Laura Wagner

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton with securities fraud, alleging that he improperly recruited investors for a high-tech Texas startup.

Al-Jazeera America Prepares Farewell Broadcast

8:26pm April 11, 2016

by Laura Wagner

Al-Jazeera America, the news network that was backed by the ruling family of Qatar and struggled to gain traction in the U.S., will sign off for good after a three-hour farewell broadcast on Tuesday.

British Parliament Grills David Cameron On Offshore Tax Connections

7:09pm April 11, 2016

NPR's Robert Siegel talks to Michael Wilkinson, a political correspondent at the Telegraph, about the British prime minister's offshore tax connections revealed in the Panama Papers leak.

Queue Listen Now