Dec 26, 2017

12/26/2017: You gave some nice gifts this year

Stephen Chernin/Getty Images

This holiday season, many retailers saw 5 percent increases in sales from last year, and higher-end products did well. We speak with Ellen Davis of the National Retail Federation, who chalks it up to economic security, or maybe you're just really nice. In today's energy news, what the world's fastest battery means for energy-storage technology and fossil-fueled power plants, and how uranium companies in the U.S. are getting ready for India and China's hundreds of new nuclear reactors. Plus, we reflect on the busy holiday season with Ann Arbor's Zingerman's Bakehouse, whose new cookbook features recipes for chestnut flour baguettes and Detroit style pizza.

Segments From this episode

Holiday shopping reflects our personal economy

by Adriene Hill , Hayley Hershman and Sean McHenry

Dec 26, 2017

When we feel secure with our finances, we're more likely to splurge on that hot new toy.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

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Uranium companies in the U.S. are hoping demand will return

by Madelyn Beck

Dec 26, 2017

Could there be a uranium boom on the horizon? If there is, it would help coal-heavy Wyoming.

Nichols Ranch Manager Bernard Bonifas reaches into one of the hundreds of tan boxes dotting the landscape at the Nichols Ranch uranium mine. They keep injection and recovery wells insulated during Wyoming’s harsh winters.

Madelyn Beck/ for Marketplace

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Shelf Life

When our social ills were solved with a little pink

by Bridget Bodnar

Dec 26, 2017

In 1979, a psychologist presented a potential solution to rising crime levels. It became a phenomenon.

View of the holding cell 14 November 2006 of the newly painted Dallas County jail in Buffalo, Missouri, with the color scheme of pink with blue teddy bear accents. The Dallas County Detention Center is being repainted a soft shade of pink in an effort to better manage sometimes volatile detainees.

JEFF HAYNES/AFP/Getty Images

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Inside the sweet business of Zingerman's Bakehouse

by Adriene Hill and Bridget Bodnar

Dec 26, 2017

The bakery has an outside-the-box business model, but it works really well.

Antonis Achilleos/Chronicle Books

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This holiday season, many retailers saw 5 percent increases in sales from last year, and higher-end products did well. We speak with Ellen Davis of the National Retail Federation, who chalks it up to economic security, or maybe you’re just really nice. In today’s energy news, what the world’s fastest battery means for energy-storage technology and fossil-fueled power plants, and how uranium companies in the U.S. are getting ready for India and China’s hundreds of new nuclear reactors. Plus, we reflect on the busy holiday season with Ann Arbor’s Zingerman’s Bakehouse, whose new cookbook features recipes for chestnut flour baguettes and Detroit style pizza.