HealthCare.gov reopens for enrollment

Feb 15, 2021
Over the last four years, millions have dropped off the ACA.
The Biden administration plans to spend $50 million on a marketing campaign to get more people to enroll through the Affordable Care Act.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images

What is makeup for during a pandemic?

Feb 10, 2021
Social distancing has made some women more aware of what wearing makeup means for them, whether it's peer pressure or self-care.
For some women, makeup provides an escape. For others, it's a social nicety.
Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for NYX Professional Makeup

New viral variants spur calls for better masks

Jan 28, 2021
Front-line workers are especially at risk indoors. Wearing a cloth and surgical mask together is an option to N95s, one doctor says.
Pedestrians wearing face masks walk past a "Prevent the spread of COVID-19" banner in Los Angeles on Jan. 19.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Biden acts on evictions, foreclosures, but long-term housing crisis looms

Jan 25, 2021
But how much can the federal government do about affordability?
Demonstrators at the Cancel Rent and Mortgages rally in Minneapolis in June. The U.S. faces a housing shortage and affordability crisis.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Pandemic drives backyard ice rink boom

Jan 18, 2021
Families in the Upper Midwest are getting creative as they look for outdoor activities for their kids during the cold winter months.
Shea Finnegan, age 6, skates with friends on Dec. 13, 2020. Allen Ratai built this rink outside his family home in Duluth and has been helping friends build their own rinks this year, as well.
James Napoli

Chinese businesses take stock a year after their pandemic pivot

Jan 14, 2021
A tea shop supplier and a brush manufacturer switched to making masks after the lockdown. But the gamble didn't pay off.
Manufacturer Qian Wensheng is stuck with rolls of substandard melt-blown fabric that he cannot use in face masks.
Courtesy of Qian Wensheng

For public good, not for profit.

Pandemic could cause twice as much homelessness as the Great Recession

Jan 14, 2021
COVID-related unemployment could cause about 600,000 people to become homeless over the next three years, according to a report from the Economic Roundtable.
Squares painted on the ground encourage homeless people to social distance at a city-sanctioned encampment in San Francisco.
Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images

Bodegas are a lifeline in NYC ... and many are in trouble

Jan 12, 2021
These small convenience stores are often focal points for neighborhoods, and not only for the food and other supplies they sell.
Francisco Marte's bodega is a lifeline for many in his Bronx community.
Jasmine Garsd/Marketplace

Ford is latest automaker to cut production due to microchip shortage

Jan 11, 2021
When the pandemic first hit last spring, auto plants shut down and carmakers curbed semiconductor orders.
The Ford factory in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2017. The plant recently had to shut down due to a shortage of semiconductors.
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images