Business

Data Marketing Critics Check Out What's Written About Them

9:34am September 05, 2013

by Martin Kaste

Companies that collect and sell information about you are usually pretty secretive. But one of the biggest is now allowing consumers to look themselves up. Acxiom Corporation has set up the website: AboutTheData.com.

Queue Listen Now

The next bed could cost you a lot if the hospital says you're there on observation.

For Hospital Patients, Observation Status Can Prove Costly

9:25am September 05, 2013

by Ina Jaffe

When is an inpatient in the hospital not an inpatient in the hospital? When that patient is on observation status. Patients who are termed on observation can have trouble getting Medicare to pay if they need to go to a nursing home. The practice has sparked lawsuits and legislation.

Queue Listen Now

Las Vegas Gambles On Unique Business Incubator

11:12am September 04, 2013

by Ted Robbins

The Downtown Container Park will set up budding entrepreneurs in repurposed shipping containers. The park will have 35 containers and a bunch of modular cubes like you'd normally see at a construction site — all to house local businesses.

Queue Listen Now

Instructions Not Included, a film starring and directed by Eugenio Derbez, was made specifically for a Mexican and U.S. Latino audience.

Latino Buying Power Gets Movie Studios' Attention

11:12am September 04, 2013

by Elizabeth Blair

The Spanish language film Instructions Not Included was No. 5 at the box office over the Labor Day weekend. Movie studios are paying attention to Latino audiences because they buy a quarter of the movie tickets sold in the U.S.

Queue Listen Now

Joe Buley owns Screamin' Ridge Farm in Montpelier, Vt. He says the FDA's new food safety rules threaten the viability of small New England farm operations like his. Here, Buley harvests cucumbers.

Small Farmers In New England Fear New Food Safety Rules

6:42am September 04, 2013

by Emily Corwin

Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration issued two proposed food safety rules to prevent tainted food from entering the food supply. While many large growers support the proposed regulations, small farmers say the cost of complying with them would stifle their ability to grow.

Queue Listen Now

Pregnant doctors are less likely than other women to deliver their babies via C-section, recent research suggests. Economists say that may be because the physician patients feel more empowered to question the obstetrician.

Money May Be Motivating Doctors To Do More C-Sections

8:57am September 03, 2013

by Shankar Vedantam

Many obstetricians make more money for C-sections than for vaginal deliveries. In a recent study, these doctors were more likely to perform the costly procedure than doctors paid a flat salary. But when the pregnant women were also physicians, doctors seemed less swayed by financial incentives.

Queue Listen Now

If you're planning that last summer road trip, you might want to pull those maps out of the attic.

National

In Maine, Even With A GPS, You Can't Get There From Here

10:58am September 02, 2013

by Jennifer Mitchell

Once a standard fixture at every gas station, paper maps have all but folded in the digital age. But there are places that can baffle your high-tech gadgets. In Maine, weekend explorers might want to take along a map in addition to their GPS unit.

Queue Listen Now

Pushing workers only goes so far, says one long-time human resources manager.

National

When Stress Takes Over, Employee Burnout Can Set In

7:16pm September 01, 2013

by NPR Staff

Burnout, often a result of stress in an increasingly demanding workplace, can weigh on employees' mental and physical well-being. The federal workforce is seeing a particularly high rate of turnover, causing agencies to lose its most experienced leaders and staff with the most potential.

Queue Listen Now

A group of technology and retail groups is beginning a national ad campaign targeting so-called patent trolls.

National

Taking The Battle Against Patent Trolls To The Public

7:01pm August 30, 2013

by Laura Sydell

Radio and print ads launched this week warn of damage wrought by so-called patent trolls. Business groups and software developers say patents are being used as legal weapons in a tactic that costs the economy tens of billions of dollars a year.

Queue Listen Now

Mackenzie Byles graduated in 2010 from Mount Ida College with a degree in Funeral Home Management. She's taking over the family business from her dad, Don.

Following In The Family Footsteps

9:51am August 30, 2013

by NPR Staff

A father prepares to hand over the family business — a funeral home — to his daughter. The business has been in the family for more than a century and she'll be the fourth generation to run it.

Queue Listen Now