Search results for

The unemployment rate falls to 5.7 percent in January, a drop of 0.3 percent. The improvement is tied to hiring in the retail sector, but the surge was a bit misleading. Restaurants and other retailers hired fewer people than usual in December, and that threw January's numbers off. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.

Wal-Mart, Target and some other online retailers start collecting sales tax on their online sales. The development might foretell big changes for Internet commerce and provide welcome revenue to states struggling to close budget shortfalls. NPR's Jack Speer reports.

The California Supreme Court has accepted a case that schools hope will help them walk the fine post-Columbine line between students' free speech rights and the need for school safety. The court is considering a case from San Jose in which a student was expelled and prosecuted for writing what authorities called "threatening poetry." NPR's Richard Gonzales reports.

The Pentagon will ask Congress for relief from six environmental laws, including the Clean Air and Endangered Species acts. Defense officials say the regulations protecting threatened plants and animals on military property are compromising combat readiness. NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports.

Statehouses across the nation struggle to achieve break-even budgets under the challenge of a weak economy. Many already have tapped "rainy day" funds, dismissed workers, and cut back their spending for education, health care and services to deal with shortfalls in this year's budget. NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports.

The United States "burned" some intelligence sources when Secretary Powell told the U.N. Security Council yesterday what those had revealed. But American intelligence agencies believe the sources were not of great importance and contend that the loss of sources was outweighed by the need to convince the world that Iraq still conceals illegal weapons programs. NPR's Mike Shuster reports.

John Dillon reports one in seven Vermont dairy farms are expected to go out of business within the year, victims of the lowest milk prices in 25 years. The situation in all the northeastern states is just at grim. Economists say the smaller New England farms just can't compete with bigger operations in the west.

This week, New Jersey physicians are staying off the job to protest rising malpractice prices. In doing so, they join the ranks of doctors in several states who've taken similar action. President Bush and Congress are seriously considering putting caps on jury awards to try to bring expenses down. That is a very controversial idea. In this report Patricia Neighmond talks to experts about why expenses are rising.

Since the end of the Cold War, civilian contractors become vital to the military as armed forces shrink by more than a third. If America goes to war against Iraq, not everyone in battle will be in uniform -- and many civilians will be close to the frontlines. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.

Historians and other scholars are examining the state of black studies. Some 400 black studies programs and departments exist, but there have been few conferences such as the one in New York this weekend, and some say there's an identity crisis. NPR's Margot Adler reports.