Business

Education

News brief: fighting in Ukraine, Student loans mismanaged, Amazon union votes

5:56am April 01, 2022

The latest in the Russia-Ukraine crisis. How the student loan safety net has failed low-income borrowers. Two Amazon union elections hang in the balance — in two areas of the country.

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Being ignored at workplace meetings? Tips on how to make yourself heard

5:10am April 01, 2022

by Stacey Vanek Smith

Meetings, love them or hate them, when it comes to the workplace, they're really important. NPR's Life Kit has tips for how to be heard at work. (Story originally aired on ATC on Nov. 13, 2021.)

People arrive for work at the Amazon distribution center at the New York City borough of Staten Island on Oct. 25, 2021.

National

Labor groups close in on Amazon in 2 tight union elections

12:30am April 01, 2022

by The Associated Press

One labor and employment observer said the New York vote was "shocking," since Amazon workers there had no support from an established union.

Faris Ajluni (right) land Jose Nazario pose in their vests in downtown San Francisco.

Arts

The Patagonia vest endures in San Francisco tech circles, despite ridicule

11:36pm March 31, 2022

by Bobby Allyn

Flyers around San Francisco are urging tech workers to give up the quintessential Silicon Valley uniform: the fleece vest. It's just the latest flashpoint in the city's class battle.

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Skippy Foods, LLC said a "number of jars may contain a small fragment of stainless steel from a piece of manufacturing equipment."

National

Recall issued for thousands of Skippy Peanut Butter cases due to steel fragments

7:45pm March 31, 2022

by Jaclyn Diaz

The specific jars impacted include Skippy Reduced Fat Creamy Peanut Butter Spread, Skippy Reduced Fat Chunky Peanut Butter Spread and Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter Blended With Plant Protein.

"All food prices are now predicted to increase between 4.5 and 5.5%," the USDA's Economic Research Service explained in the March report.

Economy

Food prices are going up — and at levels Americans haven't seen in decades

5:18pm March 31, 2022

by Vanessa Romo

The USDA's latest report found that nearly all major food groups are going up in price.

The business model of luxury ski areas is again under scrutiny as the perils of climate change take hold in the Rocky Mountains.

Will skiing survive? Resorts struggle through a winter of climate and housing woes

5:01pm March 31, 2022

by Kirk Siegler

In the West, ski resorts are banking on a Spring Break surge after a rough winter of prolonged drought, labor and housing shortages and frustrated customers.

National

Why producing more domestic oil is so difficult right now

4:17pm March 31, 2022

by Frank Morris

The oil glut of 2020 drove crude prices down to -$38 a barrel, forcing U.S. producers to cap wells and lay off workers. Now, oilfield supplies are scarce and expensive and there's a labor shortage.

Tugboats pull on the Ever Forward near Pasadena, Md., on Tuesday, trying to free the ship as it sits in the Chesapeake Bay after running aground near Baltimore.

A container ship named Ever Forward has been stuck in the Chesapeake Bay for 18 days

3:29pm March 31, 2022

by Laurel Wamsley

The ship ran aground after it apparently missed a turn leaving Baltimore. The vessel is owned by the same company that owns the Ever Given, the ship that blocked the Suez Canal last year.

Freelance photographer Christian Monterrosa made a photo of himself after being hit with a rubber bullet by the police.

National

When police cracked down on reporters on one chaotic night in LA's Echo Park

2:34pm March 31, 2022

The LAPD detained at least 16 journalists covering a protest in March 2021, a low point in a year of increasing mistrust and hostilities between police departments and the media.

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