Business

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.

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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.

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Barry Nalebuff (left) and Seth Goldman cofounded Honest Tea in 1997. Goldman is the company's TeaEO. Nalebuff is a professor at Yale School of Management.

Honest Tea Founders Tell Their Story Of Not-Too-Sweet Success

9:51am August 30, 2013

by NPR Staff

Back in the 1990s, Seth Goldman and Barry Nalebuff were tired of the super sweet iced teas available in stores. So they started their own company to cater to "more sophisticated, grown-up tastes." They chronicle their adventures and misadventures in a graphic novel called Mission In A Bottle.

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Hello Kitty: Updated Monopoly Game Available

7:35am August 29, 2013

The Monopoly game hitting store shelves contains a sleek kitty, which will join the classic Scottie dog and top hat. Fans adopted the cat in an online vote earlier this year. The company shelved the iron after a 78 year run.

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Economy

Mayer Shines At Yahoo After Spotlight Dimmed At Google

12:33pm August 28, 2013

Yahoo has redesign some of its major sites — the latest step in CEO Marissa Mayer's dramatic turnaround of the Internet company. Before Mayer interviewed for the job at Yahoo, her career at Google appeared to have stalled. Renee Montagne discusses this with Nicholas Carlson, who wrote a profile of Mayer for the news website Business Insider.

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Health & Safety

Wal-Mart To Offer Same-Sex Health Benefits

12:33pm August 28, 2013

by Jacqueline Froelich

Retailing giant Wal-Mart has announced it will extend comprehensive medical benefits to domestic and legally married same-sex partners beginning next year. Wal-Mart is the single biggest U.S. employer outside of the federal government.

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An irrigation pivot waters a corn field in Nebraska. Many farmers in Nebraska and Kansas rely on irrigation to water their corn fields. But the underground aquifer they draw from will run dry.

Turning Off The Spigot In Western Kansas Farmland

2:49pm August 27, 2013

by Dan Charles

If Kansas farmers keep pumping water out of the High Plains aquifer as they have in the past, the amount of water they can extract will start to fall in just 10 years or so, scientists predict. That will cause big changes in the agricultural economy. But reducing water use now could help delay and ease that disruption.

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Marion Matthew is a home health aide supporting herself and her 17-year-old son.

Economy

A College Kid, A Single Mom, And The Problem With The Poverty Line

5:02am August 27, 2013

by Pam Fessler

A college student getting help from his parents may be below the poverty line. The mother who earns $23,000 a year is not.

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Economy

Residents Of Hot Weather States Sweat Air Conditioning Bills

5:02am August 27, 2013

by Jude Joffe-Block

As the number of Americans living in Sunbelt states grows, air conditioning is increasingly becoming a necessity — not a luxury — for a larger swath of the population. Yet the main federal energy assistance program uses a formula that favors cold weather states for heating help over hot weather states that need cooling help.

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Fantasy sports attract an estimated 36+ million players in the U.S. and Canada.

Quitting Your Job For Fantasy Football

6:04pm August 25, 2013

Drew Dinkmeyer was an investment analyst. Pretty steady job, right? He left that job - in this economic climate - to become a full-time fantasy sports player.

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