Dec 25 What are your Christmas gifts worth to you? By Simone Pathe Those gifts you opened this morning -- they're worth less to you than the gift-giver paid for them, no doubt. That's the deadweight loss of Christmas for you. But plenty of economists are saying "bah, humbug" to economic rationality and… Continue reading
Dec 25 For last minute Christmas baking needs, see … your local library? By Sandi Fox It’s the day before Christmas and you want to bake a Santa-shaped cake, but you don’t have a pan shaped like the portly fellow. No need to panic — you may be able to borrow the pan from your local… Continue reading
Dec 24 Watch 53:49 PBS NewsHour full episode Dec. 24, 2014 By PBS News Hour Wednesday on the NewsHour, we get a rare glimpse inside the Islamic State from a man who spent 10 days behind the terrorist front lines. Also: Mounting pressure over airbag recalls, a virtual college that doesn’t need lectures, tenure or… Continue watching
Dec 24 Watch 8:22 With virtual seminars and lower tuition, Minerva Schools offers online alternative to college By PBS News Hour There are no lectures allowed at San Francisco’s Minerva Schools, an innovative college with a curriculum specifically designed to improve knowledge retention for students. Professors hold their seminar-style classes online, allowing Minerva students to move around the globe each semester,… Continue watching
Dec 24 Watch 6:48 Your family's political fights don't have to ruin Christmas By PBS News Hour The holiday season is a time of joy, love and the occasional family brawl over politics. Steven Petrow of The Washington Post joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss how to make it through the big family dinner while staying on speaking… Continue watching
Dec 24 Watch 5:40 Will leadership shakeup help Takata tackle airbag safety concerns? By PBS News Hour More than 24 million vehicles have been recalled in the U.S. and around the world this year due to a defect in airbags manufactured by Takata. The Japanese company has resisted calls to do more, and today its president stepped… Continue watching
Dec 24 Watch 3:51 News Wrap: UPS, FedEx cap big retaliers' last-minute holiday shipments By PBS News Hour In our news wrap Wednesday, UPS and FedEx tried to avoid a repeat of last year’s mass delay of Christmas deliveries by capping air-express shipments by some major retailers. Also, authorities in Berkeley, Missouri, called for calm after a white… Continue watching
Dec 24 Army deserters rarely face prosecution By Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Army has prosecuted about 1,900 cases of desertion since 2001, despite tens of thousands of soldiers fleeing the service in the face of deadly combat, long and multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan and strains… Continue reading
Dec 24 Two words: Clooney. Downton. By News Desk If there was never any Lord Grantham, Downton Abbey would be a very different place. That's the premise of this spoof sketch created for the "Text Santa" charity event on British network ITV. There's granny breaking the world record for… Continue reading
Dec 24 U.S. to pay Alan Gross $3.2 million after 5 years in Cuban jail By Douglass K. Daniel, Associated Press WASHINGTON — A former subcontractor freed last week after five years in a Cuban jail will receive $3.2 million from the federal government as part of a settlement with the Maryland-based company that employed him at the time of his… Continue reading