Business

Health & Safety

Small Businesses Drop Coverage As Health Law Offers Alternatives

12:57pm December 15, 2014

by Jay Hancock

Subsidies created by the health law to help workers buy their own coverage and steady increases in companies' insurance costs have made it easier for them to decide to discontinue health insurance.

ITT Technical Institute's Early College Academy campus in Troy, MI.

A For-Profit College Tries The Charter School Market

11:14am December 15, 2014

by Anya Kamenetz

ITT Technical Institute sought to open high schools around the country, but it's meeting resistance.

The number of grandparents living with their grandchildren is up sharply.

When Grandma's House Is Home: The Rise Of Grandfamilies

10:42am December 15, 2014

by Steve Inskeep

In a shift driven partly by culture and largely by the economy, the number of grandparents living with their grandchildren is up sharply in the U.S. About 1 in 10 kids is living with a grandparent.

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Confusion Over Job-Based Insurance Can Shortchange Consumers

7:20am December 15, 2014

by Michelle Andrews

Some consumers mistakenly think that having access to skimpy coverage at work means they won't qualify for subsidies if they are interested in a more complete policy on the health care exchanges.

Aerospace giant Lockheed Martin is being sued for choosing retirement funds that shortchanged its employees and charged high fees.

Lockheed Martin Case Puts 401(k) Plans On Trial

7:16am December 15, 2014

by Jim Zarroli

The aerospace company is being sued for choosing retirement funds that were poorly managed and charged high fees in a case that tests the limits of a company's responsibilities to its employees.

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For This Holiday Season, Old Toys Are New Again

7:16am December 15, 2014

What toys are most in demand this holiday season? Toy analyst Sean McGowen tells David Greene what's hot, and what toys have made a comeback.

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Wellness At Work Often Comes With Strings Attached

10:05pm December 14, 2014

by Julie Rovner

A group of CEOs wants the Obama administration to backtrack on efforts to regulate workplace wellness. The programs have ballooned in popularity, but there's little evidence they work.

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A crab pot full of snow crabs, fished out of the Bering Sea.

Why The White House Wants To Go After Seafood Pirates

10:02pm December 14, 2014

by Christopher Joyce

Americans eat more seafood than just about anyone, but a big portion of imports are caught illegally. One expert calls this "the single greatest threat to sustainable fisheries in the world today."

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So bad it's ... good? Consumer appetite for ugly Christmas sweaters — the tackier, the better — has had an impact on how retailers stock for the season.

Arts

It's Ugly Christmas Sweater Season — Share Your Best (Bad) Attire

9:56pm December 14, 2014

by Eleanor Klibanoff

The themed party trend is on us again, and holiday garb bedecked with bells, lights and way too much tinsel is selling fast. Show us your best holiday monstrosity — use the hashtag #NPRuglysweaters.

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This label was released in October 2014 by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers for the Fair Food Program.

National

Florida Tomato Pickers' Wins Could Extend To Dairy, Berry Workers

11:10am December 13, 2014

by Tracie McMillan

In the last four years, 30,000 tomato pickers covered by a "fair food" program got a 50-to-70 percent pay raise. Advocates are now working with retailers and other industries to duplicate the model.