National News

As the volcano erupted Tuesday night and early Wednesday, cameras caught the dramatic scene. Watch as the night sky glows red.

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Microsoft blames the fine on sloppy coding in a service pack update that blocked a feature to offer users the choice of a competitor's Internet browser.

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William Moody, who as the pro wrestling character Paul Bearer embodied a sense of theater that was equal parts morbid and absurd, has died at age 58. A portly man known for his wild-eyed stare and habit of carrying a brass urn under his arm, Paul Bearer was most notably the manager of The Undertaker and Kane.

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Now that those automatic spending cuts have kicked in, bureaucrats are taking a close look at their budgets -- finding ways to cut back and save money. 

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has told 238 small airports that, in a couple of months, the agency could close their control towers. That could hinder the military, pilots in training, and yes, the so-called “one percent” with their private jets. 

Last night, the transportation director in Battle Creek, Mich., Larry Bowron, got an e-mail from the FAA, it read: “We regret to inform you that, in order to implement the budget sequestration that went into effect March 1, 2013, the FAA must make some critical decisions about funding.”

It went on to say that Bowron’s airport could lose its control tower. Battle Creek is home to cereal maker Kellogg's. Bowron says its executives use the airport. Company representatives weren’t available for comment.

No commercial carrier serves the airport, but according to Bowron, it’s busy.

“You can have corporate jets coming in,” he says. “You can have military airplanes coming in. It equates to a very complex operating environment.”

I heard the same thing from Mark Nelson, the air traffic manager at the Sacramento Executive Airport, where Nelson estimates, 270 aircraft take off and land every day. 

“Who is going to make the call on who turns where, and who turns when?”

That would be up to pilots themselves to decide. Even without the towers, planes would still be able to fly in and out. 

But Melissa Rudinger, with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, says these airports wouldn’t be as safe or efficient.

“There are corporations and businesses that take advantage of operating in and out of these smaller airports," she says.

Larry Bowron says he’d like to tell the FAA about his airport’s importance to Battle Creek, but... He goes back to that e-mail.

“The FAA is unable to consider local community impact that does not affect the national interest.”

A rash of public school closings in some U.S. cities has parents and teachers reeling. School officials say the closings are needed to save money, but some argue it's a form of discrimination. Host Michel Martin talks with a Chicago reporter and a Philadelphia activist about how the closings could affect students and local communities.

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Hugo Chavez was a controversial but charismatic leader of Venezuela. Host Michel Martin speaks with Dan Hellinger, a professor of political science at Webster University, about Chavez's legacy.

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Look around your kitchen table and you'll see the work of Ambassador Ron Kirk. He's the United States Trade Representative, which is a cabinet-level position, and he's negotiated trade deals all around the world. Host Michel Martin talks to him about why he's choosing to step down from his post, and the importance of U.S. trade.

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Many doctors and patients expect too much from prescription opioids as pain relievers, some physicians say. These expectations need to be reined in to curtail drug abuse and overdoses that claim more than 16,000 lives a year in the U.S., they say.

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Sit down to eat in Iceland, and you might be served boiled sheep's head, complete with the eye. In some cultures eyeballs are considered a culinary treat, but for most of us they're still in the category of "eww."

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Reporting in China is sometimes a cat-and-mouse game with authorities, who want to keep journalists far from the scene when unrest breaks out.

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Alleging that the cardinals either ignored or covered up cases of sexual abuse involving priests, the groups are pushing to keep those cardinals from being part of the deliberations. The cardinals have either not commented or denied wrongdoing.

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Seoul says it will strike back if North Korea makes good on a threat to attack U.S. and South Korean forces.

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Few of us own the music we listen or the movies we watch in exactly the same way we did a decade ago. And today if you buy a smartphone from a cellphone company, what you can legally do with it — how and where you can use it — may be proscribed even if that phone is fully bought and paid for.

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The Dow posted another record high this morning. The surge came on the heels of a new report from the payroll processing company ADP, which showed that private employers added 198,000 jobs in February. Tomorrow, the Labor Department releases its February jobs report.

In Venezuela, some are mourning, and some are not, for Hugo Chavez, the country’s polarizing president, who died yesterday. Supporters see him as a champion of the poor. Critics say he ruined the country’s economy. Chavez’s economic legacy is a mix of both.

BNSF, a freight railway, hauls things like grain and oil from North Dakota. Now, ironically, its trains may use natural gas to haul that oil. The reason? Gas is cheap, but how cheap?

BNSF, a freight railway, hauls things like grain and oil from North Dakota. Now, ironically, its trains may use natural gas to haul that oil. The reason? Gas is cheap, but how cheap?

“The natural gas, when converted to a liquid would be substantially cheaper,” says Lou Pugliaresi, president of the Energy Policy Research Foundation. “I would say probably less than half.  But that is not the whole cost.”

What Pugliaresi means is BNSF will have to shell out some cash to retrofit its locomotives to run on gas. It will need natural special tanker cars and fuel depots.

But David Kotok of Cumberland Advisors says it will be worth the investment. He expects natural gas prices to be low for decades. In fact, he says truckers will be tempted to try natural gas -- especially if the railway’s experiment goes well.

“Start with rail,” he says, "add an engine. Change a train. Change a system. The next one looks at you and says, I’m going to do that too.”

Kotok says the trucking business faces more hurdles. For starters, there aren’t natural gas pumps at many truck stops, but Kotok says that will eventually change.  

Now 73, the actress tells People magazine that she doesn't think about dying. She thinks about "being here now." Doctors have told her she has about three months to live, Harper says.

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The U.S. secretary of state announced last week that Washington will provide $60 million in nonlethal aid to the Syrian opposition.

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The job market remains "sturdy," according to the latest ADP National Employment Report. Much more will be known about the labor picture when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its figures on Friday.

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The Department of Veterans Affairs doesn't track how many free gun locks it gives out or whether they're even effective. Rather, the devices are viewed as a stalling technique in the event a veteran picks up a gun in a moment of crisis.

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The Dow posted another record high this morning. The surge came on the heels of a new report from the payroll processing company ADP, which showed that private employers added 198,000 jobs in February. Tomorrow, the Labor Department releases its February jobs report.

David Kelly, chief global strategist with JP Morgan Funds, joins Marketplace Morning Report host Jeremy Hobson to share his predictions on what's ahead for the Dow and the labor market.