Support our non-partisan non-profit newsroom 💜 Donate now

Why are Ikea and Costco expanding as other retailers close stores and lay off staff?

Apr 21, 2023
Opening new stores may be a way for some retailers to position themselves for both a downturn and a recovery.
Someone who once shopped at Crate & Barrel may now feel more comfortable on an Ikea budget, which could partially explain the retailer's expansion plan.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

In China's most locked-down city, business can resume but recovery is a long way off

Feb 21, 2023
The Chinese city of Ruili, on the border with Myanmar, has had more lockdowns than almost any other place in China.
A jade seller and two women stare at their cellphones in Ruili. Vendors are trickling back to the Jiegao jade market, but customers are few and far between.
Charles Zhang/Marketplace

Private equity investment is flooding into addiction treatment. Is that a good thing?

Jan 25, 2023
When a new operator took over an addiction treatment center in Nashville, former employees say they saw cutbacks.
Mitzi Dawn works in addiction treatment and spent part of her career as a songwriter. Her “Sing & Share” events were part of the offerings she says were cut when a private equity-backed company took over Nashville Recovery Center in 2021.
Blake Farmer/WPLN News

Medical respite provides a place for unhoused people to land after a hospital stay

Mar 30, 2022
A growing number of new facilities around the country are designed to give people experiencing homelessness a place to recover after they’ve been discharged from the hospital.
Kate Bradley, left, and Kelly Wallin are two live-in volunteers at the Bob Tavani House for Medical Respite in Duluth, Minnesota. Medical respite homes attempt to fill a gap in health care that people experiencing homelessness face across the country.
Dan Kraker

Nashville's downtown is still recovering a year after a bombing rocked the area

Dec 24, 2021
The Christmas Day bombing impacted dozens of businesses. Some have relocated, while others are waiting for the city to rebuild.
Buildings damaged in the Christmas Day 2020 bombing stand on Second Avenue in downtown Nashville. Some businesses have relocated out of the district.
Damon Mitchell/WPLN News

Hurricane Ida flooded their basement apartment. Months later, they've barely begun to recover.

Nov 9, 2021
Many New York basement apartments flooded in September. Most of the hardest-hit residents were low-income, and most were immigrants.
People clean up their flooded homes in Queens, New York, after the remnants of Ida passed through the area. The storm hit undocumented immigrants particularly hard.
Spencer Platt via Getty Images

A few days in the life of a restaurant owner this spring

Jun 3, 2021
Business is booming — and that has brought a whole new set of challenges.
Pasta Louise has weathered the COVID-19 winter and is sticking around.
Marielle Segara/Marketplace

For public good, not for profit.

Why long-term unemployment starts at 27 weeks

May 20, 2021
More than 4 million Americans have been unemployed for more than six months. Previous recessions have redefined long-term unemployment.
Kentucky residents wait in long lines for help with their unemployment claims last year.
John Sommers II/Getty Images

China's economy rebounds from COVID-19, growing 3.2% in the second quarter

That makes it the first major economy to rebound since COVID-19 hit.
For comparison, China's economy shrank 6.8% in the first quarter of 2020.
Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images

CBO says COVID-19 recovery for the U.S. economy will take about 10 years

Jun 2, 2020
The agency projects the COVID-19 pandemic will cost the U.S. almost $8 trillion in lost economic output this decade.
Until there’s a coronavirus vaccine, some amount of social distancing will likely be with us for the foreseeable future, and that will slow the recovery.
Ethan Miller/Getty Images