Week of October 21st, 2019

Plus: Why Americans are spending less on home improvement, and a conversation with the CEO of US Foods.

The National Youth Poet Laureate answered the Make Me Smart question.

After Harvey, a Houston family faced a choice.

After nearly four months of a mandatory waste-sorting plan, the city declares better than expected results.

The company’s spending a lot of money to make sure you get your meat thermometer the same day you order it.

The company is one of the largest food service suppliers in the country. But to stand out in a competitive field, it’s coming up with recipes, too.

It might sound terrifying, but autonomous semis are an easier engineering challenge than cars.

Early-stage Alzheimer’s linked to unwise financial decision-making and vulnerability to financial exploitation.

It’s called pattern bargaining.

Realistic scenes of violence draw fans to the game that just keeps going.

To understand fun-size candy, we must first understand full-size candy.

Consumers are losing confidence. Older people not yet diagnosed with dementia are at greater financial risk. “Call of Duty” is the videogame franchise that keeps on giving.

Amazon’s big bet on one-day shipping isn’t paying off… yet. Ford and Chrysler’s day at the union negotiating table might be nearing. California’s largest utility plans blackouts as residents plan a to break it up. Georgians protest a proposed power rate hike.

Indonesian investigators list the catalog of errors that led to the Lion Air crash. India’s most famous festival gets underway against the backdrop of a slowing economy. Argentina prepares for a crucial election.

The utility’s parent company brought in more than $2 billion in profits last year.

The return on investment in companies led by all white men is just lower.

As California officials look to phase out gas, some restaurant owners in San Gabriel Valley are speaking out in favor of gas cooking.

Why the Boeing 737 Max is weighing down Southwest, and why self-driving trucks are so hard to figure out.

Ford, Stanley Black & Decker and Twitter were among 18 companies citing “headwinds” in earnings reports. What are they talking about?

The waitlist for new Airbus planes is seven years long.

A. Wayne Johnson’s proposal would forgive up to $50,000 in federal student loans per person

Five years ago, LAFC had an eight-person fan club. Now, the team sells out each home game.

Two couples won a chance at pregnancy, but money has complicated their journeys to build a family in different ways.

Malkia and Nick Hutchinson-Arvizu are hoping to expand their family, but are struggling with the price tag.

Telsa turns a profit for the first time in a while. Demand for durable goods falls. The SEC looks into India’s Infosys. Hawaii meets with its teachers, the lowest-paid in the country.

The Hawaii Department of Education is working with teachers to try to solve the problem of low pay that has persisted for decades.

To begin with, the mandates for both are different.

The average homeownership tenure has more than doubled, to about eight years.

Gourmet cheese sellers are wary of what new tariffs might mean for holiday sales.

How a proposed tax on WhatsApp calls brought Lebanon’s economy to a near halt. Homeowners are staying put longer, raising prices. Tariffs on EU goods is raising prices on your favorite fancy cheeses.

U.S. regulators probe India tech giant Infosys. Mario Draghi prepares for his final meeting as European Central Bank chief. Why Michelin stars matter. 

The Facebook CEO spoke about Libra, and also answered lots of questions about all things Facebook.

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: the Trump administration is picking a legal fight with California.

Plus: What you need to know about SoftBank (it’s not a bank) and what it’s like to buy a house for your parents.

SoftBank’s Vision Fund is a major Silicon Valley investor that plows huge sums into startups — some more successful than others.

The new Nordstrom is emphasizing services as much as apparel.

Laura Hamilton wanted her parents to have a home that they would never have to leave.

In its quest to improve internet access, the state is taking matters into its own hands.

A new book details the rise and fall of female animators and storytellers in the early days of Walt Disney Studios.

Send them our way, and we’ll do our best to answer them.

The Facebook CEO is trying to woo lawmakers and regulators to approve his digital currency.

After years of rising costs, the drop is an indication markets are stabilizing.

Halloween should be the perfect time to launch a new candy.

Google computing reaches quantum levels. Caterpillar’s earnings are lower than expected. A former Trump adviser jumps gets into the crypto game.

Mark Zuckerberg pitches his digital currency to lawmakers. Nike is set to get a new CEO. “The Pollinators” follows bees as they’re trucked back and forth to different farms.

How India and others are shaping the space race. South Korea tightens rules on vaping. The latest on Brexit.

Beekeeper and director of the documentary “The Pollinators,” Peter Nelson, talks about the costly bee pollination industry, its importance in our agricultural system and why it’s under threat.

Our Shanghai correspondent passes dozens of cameras on her way to the Marketplace office. Could that happen in the United States?

Indian space entrepreneur Susmita Mohanty talks about the future of private space exploration ahead of 70th annual International Astronautical Conference.

This week we’re diving into all the unicorn companies that rode a wave of venture capital hype onto the rocky, unforgiving shores of the stock market.

Japanese conglomerate SoftBank will take control, ousting co-founder Adam Neumann.

Why the bad guys do it, how they succeed, and what happens to their victims. Plus: the trade war hits toys and why we do “The Numbers.”

Traditional banks are ceding market share to new platforms.

Tariff-related uncertainty caused chaos on the cusp of the company’s most important season.

Those Chinese-language phone scams are on the rise again.

“It’s not as simple as it might seem,” said Andrea Eisfeldt of UCLA.

Companies and institutions have invested billions in making themselves more diverse. So why isn’t it working?

The café at a Home Depot in Kansas City is the first of its kind.

The league’s strategy is to have more games start before East Coast viewers fall asleep.

Hiring was easy before the last census, thanks to the Great Recession. This time? Not so much.

Home builders are doing much better than other industries these days. Hiring 500,000 census takers might be tough in this tight labor market. The NBA moves away from games later in the night to keep viewers.

The fast-casual chain has turned around business since the health scares of years past.

Exxon Mobil is on trial over their climate change double-speak. Fur is out at Macy’s. Chipotle is back on track thanks to avocados and millennials. Half the world’s banks might not survive a global downturn.

Canada’s Justin Trudeau secures a narrow election victory. Inequality and lack of opportunity have divided some countries, but what unites the protesters?

The gas and oil giant used two sets of books, the New York attorney general’s office alleges.

Building robots from the plastic bricks also builds confidence. “It’s just that wonderful of a medium to delve into,” a middle school teacher says.

We’re talking intergenerational miscommunication today. Plus: Boeing’s latest woes and the difference between the minimum wage and a “living wage.”

According to some economic heavyweights, it’s time to get back to words and stories.

The longer the company’s 737 Max jet stays grounded, the more impact Boeing suppliers and customers feel.

Help us with an upcoming episode by sharing your money secrets, fears and regrets.

Government officials in the city hope that new incentives will entice local businesses to pay employees a living wage.

Do you know what signal your punctuation and shorthand are sending colleagues?

The loss of soybean sales to China have created a lot of stress, says farmer Blake Hurst.

Can an indoor amusement park and ski hill hold off the death spiral that’s dragging other malls under?

Lost earnings from those who have died of overdoses were a major factor, according to the Society of Actuaries.

France passed a law three and a half years ago requiring supermarkets to donate unsold food to the needy instead of throwing it away, making it a leader in the fight against food waste.

The nation’s three dominant drug distributors and a big drugmaker have reached a $260 million deal to settle an opioid crisis lawsuit just as the first federal trial over the crisis was due to begin.

The trade war hits the latest corporate earnings. New Jersey debuts the “American Dream” mega-mall. French startups are on the front lines of the fight against food waste.

What’s the cost of the opioid crisis to the economy? We’ve gone from Bitcoin to “stable coins.” Brick-and-mortar retailers turn to food to attract customers.

Britain tries to leave the EU… again. Why government reforms may not quell protests in Lebanon. Australia is looking for its next generation of entrepreneurs.

The mapping app is encouraging people who really, really don’t like traffic to ride together. Drivers get some gas money.