Business

A new study shows that the income gap between young adults who go to college and those who don't only continues to grow.

Going To College May Cost You, But So Will Skipping It

8:00pm February 11, 2014

by Jennifer Ludden

The gap in earnings between young people who have a college degree and those who don't has continued to widen over the past several decades. And while total student loan debt in the U.S. continues to rise, millennials say a college degree is still worth it.

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AmEx Settles With Feds Over Add-On Products

11:07am February 11, 2014

by Sam Sanders

American Express has agreed to pay a $16 million fine and issue nearly $60 million in customer refunds. The settlement with the federal government involves allegations that AmEx misrepresented the value of add-on services, such as identity theft protection.

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Does Congress Have Enough Political Will To Reduce The Debt?

10:24am February 11, 2014

by Ailsa Chang

When the bipartisan budget deal was announced in December, supporters heralded cuts that would balance spending increases — among them, a slight reduction to the pensions of working-age military retirees. But a bipartisan consensus emerged to undo it — calling into the question whether Congress has the political will necessary to make any cuts that reduce the long-term debt.

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Propane cylinders sit on the grounds of Blue Rhino, a propane gas company, in Tavares, Fla. In the Midwest, farmers needed more propane for crops that came in later than normal.

As Temps Drop, Gas Prices Rise, Along With Demand For Fuel

4:18pm February 10, 2014

by Jeff Brady

The country is producing more natural gas than it can burn, but frigid weather has made it harder for companies to deliver that gas to those who need it, especially in densely populated areas in the Northeast. As a result, prices have skyrocketed.

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GOP Still Looking At Pieces Of Debt Limit 'Puzzle'

3:40pm February 07, 2014

by David Welna

Friday is the statutory deadline for the Treasury's borrowing authority, but Congress has no agreement on how to raise the limit. House Republicans appear unwilling to force another showdown over the debt ceiling, but they have not yet found a way to save face, and there are few legislative days left before Treasury exhausts its means to pay the bills.

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Susan Crawford says that in cities like Seoul and Stockholm, high-speed, high-capacity networks are taken for granted. "It really is astonishing what's going on in America," she says. "We're falling way behind in the pack of developed nations when it come

National

Author: When It Comes To High-Speed Internet, U.S. 'Falling Way Behind'

12:41pm February 07, 2014

The U.S. needs to start treating the Internet like electricity or railroads, law professor and author Susan Crawford says. "We can't create a level playing field for all Americans or indeed compete on the world stage without having some form of government involvement," she says.

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Economy

January Unemployment Numbers Expected To Rebound

11:26am February 07, 2014

by John Ydstie

The Labor Department releases the January jobs report Friday morning. December was a big disappointment. Analysts are puzzling over why an economy that's growing at a better than 3 percent clip can't produce more jobs.

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Jobs Report: Unemployment Ticks Down; Payrolls Tick Up

11:26am February 07, 2014

by John Ydstie

The government's latest unemployment report showed the economy still struggling to bounce back from a weak report in December. Employers in January added 113,000 to payrolls, far less than expected. The unemployment rate did notch down to 6.6 percent.

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Economy

Even As Dairy Industry Booms, There Are Fewer And Fewer Farms

7:55pm February 06, 2014

by Abbie Fentress Swanson

In the past decade, half of the dairy farms in the U.S. have gone out of business, but thanks to technological advances and selective breeding, the dairy industry is more efficient than ever. It produces 20 percent more milk than it did ten years ago. Harvest Public Media's Abbie Fentress Swanson reports that economists are even predicting that U.S. farmers will export an unprecedented amount of dairy products this year. Still, this ramped-up production has made it difficult for smaller operations to compete.

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Microsoft Announces Nadella As CEO, New Role For Gates

8:31am February 06, 2014

After a long and closely watched CEO search, Microsoft has tapped Satya Nadella, an insider and 22-year veteran of the company. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is stepping down as chairman and will help Nadella shape technology and product development.

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