Business

National

Should Farmers Give John Deere And Monsanto Their Data?

8:01pm January 22, 2014

by Dan Charles

Farmers can now deliver data from their fields, minute by minute, to big agribusiness companies like Monsanto or John Deere. Those companies promise to use the data to help farmers make money. But some farmers worry that it could threaten their privacy and give the big companies too much power.

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Evan Parker built the interior space of the distillery himself in a small warehouse near the coast. Parker and his business partner, Mat Perry, have desks overlooking their 400-gallon copper kettle and still.

National

Small-Batch Distilleries Ride The Craft Liquor Wave

8:01pm January 22, 2014

by Chris Arnold

Bacardi, Jack Daniels and Johnnie Walker have some new competition these days. There's been a surge in the number of craft distilleries in the U.S. over the past few years, as more mom and pop entrepreneurs are making liquor for local customers.

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One of the questions before the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday is whether non-union members must pay for negotiating a contract they benefit from.

A Union For Home Health Aides Brings New Questions To Supreme Court

12:40pm January 21, 2014

by Nina Totenberg

An Illinois case examines whether states may recognize a union for workers who care for disabled adults in their homes instead of state institutions, and whether non-union members must pay for a contract they benefit from.

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National

Ford's New Truck, GM's New CEO Star At Detroit Auto Show

11:35am January 18, 2014

The North American International Auto Show — the fancy name for the Detroit car show — opens to the public Saturday. NPR's Sonari Glinton gives NPR's Lynn Neary a sneak preview from the Motor City.

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Donors Pitch In To Protect Detroit's Art And Pensions

11:35am January 18, 2014

Under a deal mediated by a federal bankruptcy judge, a group of local and national foundations this week pledged more than $330 million to help Detroit's pension fund and protect the city's valuable art collection. Bio-chemical entrepreneur Paul Schaap is one of the donors; he speaks with NPR's Lynn Neary about the effort.

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In The Long Wait For Aid From Washington, Job Hunters Despair

6:20pm January 17, 2014

by Tovia Smith

After failing to agree upon an extension for federal jobless benefits to the long-term unemployed, Congress is vowing to keep trying. The help can't come soon enough for many of the 1.4 million unemployed who saw their checks suddenly cut off last month.

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Gabriel Sherman is a contributing editor at New York Magazine, where he's written cover stories on media, politics and business.

Books
Arts

Book Chronicles The Building Of Roger Ailes' Fox News Empire

5:00pm January 17, 2014

Gabriel Sherman traces the beginning of Fox News' success back to its wall-to-wall coverage of Monica Lewinsky. He says, "Ratings during the Lewinsky scandal exploded more than 400 percent, so you saw instantly that there was a market for this type of ... television." Sherman's book is called The Loudest Voice In The Room.

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Protesters in San Francisco block a Google bus, which shuttles employees from the city to its location in Silicon Valley.

Economy

Hackers? Techies? What To Call San Francisco's Newcomers

4:59pm January 17, 2014

by Geoff Nunberg

Linguist Geoff Nunberg lives in the Mission and says young tech employees have been pouring into the neighborhood. But what to call these new residents? He says the term "techie" used to suggest a computer whiz with no social skills; now it suggests one with no social conscience.

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A woman hangs a National Industrial Recovery Act poster in the window of a restaurant.

The Birth Of The Minimum Wage In America

4:46pm January 17, 2014

by David Kestenbaum

For decades, the Supreme Court ruled that laws regulating things like wages and working conditions were unconstitutional. That changed during the Great Depression, when one of the justices switched sides, paving the way for the Fair Labor Standards Act.

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The Bucking Horse subdivision in Fort Collins, Colo., will include a working CSA farm, complete with historic barn, farm house and chicken coop.

Forget Golf Courses: Subdivisions Draw Residents With Farms

10:00am January 17, 2014

by Luke Runyon

Across the country, a new model of housing development is springing up that embraces the local food movement. Farms — complete with livestock, vegetables and fruit trees — are now serving as the latest suburban amenity.

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