Skip Navigation Return to the home page for KJZZ 91.5 FM

News

Business and Finance

  • FDA Restricts Marketing Tobacco To Youth
    The FDA has issued the first regulations since Congress gave the agency power to regulate tobacco. The regulations clamp down on the marketing of cigarettes to children and teenagers. The new rules prohibit a number of ad strategies like giving way hats and T-shirts with tobacco logos. Plus, no more selling of cigarettes in certain vending machines where kids can get at them.
  • Undecided Lawmakers Targeted For Their Health Vote
    On Capitol Hill, a few dozen House members are trying to decide how to vote on health care — while hundreds of advocates and thousands of e-mails are trying to sway them one way or the other. The House is expected to vote on its health care overhaul legislation on Sunday.
  • Universal Music To test Lower Price Of CDs
    The world's largest music company is lowering the price of CDs. Universal Music is rolling out a test to see whether a $10 price ceiling will encourage consumers to buy more compact discs. Over the last decade, CD sales have dropped by more than half.
  • Will The Real 'Music City' USA Please Stand Up
    While the music festival South by Southwest attracts thousands of industry types to Austin, Texas, other locales are trying to make sure the host city doesn't get too much credit as being the "music city." Places like Nashville, Seattle and even the state of Louisiana have sent contingents to Austin to promote their own ties to music.
  • The Last Word In Business
    Linda Wertheimer has the Last Word in business.
  • CBO Figures Show Health Care Bill Would Cut Deficit
    The tension is high and the stakes are even higher, as Republicans and Democrats near the decisive moment of the health care battle. The language of the final bill was released Thursday. Along with Congressional Budget Office numbers that show it would cost $940 billion over 10 years, it would also reduce the deficit in the long run.
  • Parents' Fight For Their Right To Hold Bake Sales
    Parents at the East Village Community School in New York held a "bake-in" Thursday to protest a local education policy that forbids students from selling homemade bake sale items. The policy does permit the sale of certain prepackaged junk foods. The protest comes at a time when reducing childhood obesity and providing access to healthy food are major issues for educators and health policymakers.
  • 'Repo Men:' Metaphor For Health Care Overhaul?
    Film critic Mia Mask says the new movie <em>Repo Men</em> is a science fiction flick that comments on two prominent policy issues: health care overhaul and the regulation of the financial industry. Mia Mask teaches film at Vassar College, and is the author of <em>Divas on Screen.</em>
  • Stakes High For Obama Presidency In Health Care Bill
    President Obama is making a final frenzied push before the health care bill comes up for a vote in the House on Sunday. If the bill fails, he will be severely weakened. He will have failed to deliver his signature initiative and his Democratic Party will look incapable of governing.
  • Toyota Deals Get Customers Back To Showrooms
    Thanks to specials like zero percent financing and price cuts, Toyota sales have risen sharply. A recent Edmunds.com dealer survey finds that so far this month, Toyota has regained the same market share of sales it had before the gas pedal recall.
  • Toxic Assets Market Awaits Rebound
    During the peak of the housing market, the value of the mortgages that got stuffed into those complicated mortgage bonds known as toxic assets was more than $3 trillion. But now the market has stalled, in part because many sellers are waiting for the economy to improve.
  • Austinites Angle For A Piece Of SXSW Cash Cow
    The South by Southwest music festival bills itself as "the premier destination for discovery." It's also the destination for truckloads of cash, as music and art fans flock to Austin, Texas, each March. Last year's event brought nearly $100 million to the city, according to one analyst.
  • Runaway Cars: Driver Error Or Car Malfunction?
    The problems with Toyota's gas pedals have been front page news for weeks now, but what about the people in front of the pedals? Earlier studies have found that the majority of car-surging incidents were actually the fault of the driver. But the recent problems with cars continuing to accelerate haven't been studied yet.
  • Pepsi To Restrict Caloric Drinks In Schools Worldwide
    Before long, kids in schools around the world won't see as many caloric drinks from PepsiCo. The beverage giant will pull back on the sale of sugary soft drinks overseas, as it has already in the U.S.
  • Focus Shifts To 'Black Boxes' After Toyota Crashes
    Questions about Toyota and sudden acceleration have prompted new interest in the "black boxes" on cars. Event-data recorders typically contain information about speed and acceleration in the seconds before a serious crash. The information is increasingly used in accident investigations.

Tune-in to Marketplace with Kai Ryssdal weekdays on KJZZ at 6pm.