National News

Decades ago, Bloomingdale's sold goods from China to intrigued American buyers. Today, to mark the beginning of the Lunar New Year, the store is doing the opposite: selling goods that cater to the interests of affluent visitors from Asia.

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The Chicago Auto show is on, but one of the hot new trends isn't so new. Diesel engines are in the spotlight. Chevrolet, Mazda and Mercedes are introducing new diesel car models this year, hoping to match the success Volkwagen has had. One out of every five cars VW sold in the U.S. last year was a diesel.

"It’s a huge boom for diesels right now," says Lou Ann Hammond, CEO of Drivingthenation.com. "I’m at the Chicago Auto Show and they just brought out the Chevy Cruze diesel. Chevy has not had a diesel sedan in probably 30 years."

Why are they back? Christopher Knittel, professor of energy economics at MIT's Sloan School of Management, says diesel engines get 20 percent to 40 percent more miles per gallon than gasoline cars. And that appeals to carmakers, who are under pressure to raise fuel efficiciency to meet new requirements, as well as consumers.

"From the consumer’s perspective, the big draw of diesel is more fuel efficiency and, in times of high gas prices, that becomes more and more important," Knittel says.

To be sure, diesel fuel is often more expensive than regular gas, and diesel cars cost a little extra. But Knittel says the fuel savings usually offset that.

For now, diesel car sales make up a tiny fraciton of the U.S. market and they have some very real obstacles to overcome, says auto analyst Stephen Schork, publisher of the energy newsletter The Schork Report. "We can all remember back to the 1970s and those old diesel Mercedes chugging down I-95 like a Panzer tank. They were loud, they were dirty and they were unsightly. So diesel fuel has a bad market memory."

New diesel technology has cut those emissions, and MIT’s Knittel says that once you take fuel efficiency into account, diesel cars are slightly cleaner than regular models.

Envelopes filled with money are traditionally given to children for the Lunar New Year in Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and other Asian immigrant families. The married adults who usually give them out face a perennial question: How much money should I give?

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One of the state's biggest public universities is expanding — and so is its demand for water. In a region where water resources are already strained by development and changing weather, the University of Connecticut's plans have sparked controversy and calls for a comprehensive water plan.

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NPR member stations and reporters in the path of the storm will offer their updates on what they see in their region.

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Fifteen of Samuel Mullet's followers were also sentenced to terms ranging from one to seven years. Mullet said he was not a cult leader.

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Clearing the blocked artery of a stroke patient with a device snaked through the blood vessel was thought to salvage threatened brain cells and prevent disability. But multiple studies are casting doubt on that conclusion.

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Some observers are wondering why American Crossroads, the Karl Rove-inspired superPAC, would bother to run a political attack ad against Hollywood star Ashley Judd, an outspoken supporter of President Obama who has said she's mulling a 2014 run against Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

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A cloud of pollution three times the size of California blanketed China last month that was so dangerous residents were warned to stay indoors and avoid outdoor activities. Many locals reported visibility so poor that buildings down the street were obscured. Images of Beijing covered with murky brown air were a startling reminder of how rising pollution from factories and automobiles can spoil the air in that industrializing nation.

In cleaner cities around the globe, those images of Beijing -- like the one at left -- served as an effective tool for understanding what it's like to live and breathe Beijing-quality air. Marketplace's China correspondent Rob Schmitz has been covering China's bad air for years (today on Marketplace he reports on the economic boom of bad air) and notes that on bad days the visibility is, at most, 50 feet to 100 feet in front of you.

The U.S. Embassy in Beijing, which tracks the tiny toxic particles that cause the sky to turn dark, known as PM2.5 particles, reported levels last month that were off the charts -- topping out at 755 on the air quality index (AQI), a system of measurement that officially maxes out at 500.

Simulating smog
We wondered what other cities around the globe might look like under these pollution conditions, so we built a simple simulator to illustrate. Using side-by-side photos of Beijing to calibrate our not-so-scientific "obscurity filter," we applied the tool to photos of some major cities around the globe. Play around with the sliders below to see what these cities might look like with a Beijing-level air quality index.

Visibility an indicator
The science backs this up, according to Sam Atwood, a spokesman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District, one of 35 districts in California that monitors air quality to comply with state and federal requirements. He explained that the PM2.5 particulates that pollute the air directly correlate with visibility.

"Essentially, these very tiny particles absorb and scatter light coming from the sun," Atwood said.

Another pollutant, nitrogen oxide, is known for creating the whiskey-brown haze. And moisture also reduces visibility and enhances particulates, making the air look more polluted than it actually is, Atwood added.

"We focus on PM2.5 because that’s the size of particle that the federal government now sets its health standard by," he added. "The very tiniest of them can even pass through the lung tissue into the blood stream. That’s why PM2.5 has been associated with a wide-range of health effects, including thousands of premature deaths every year in California."

Here's a look at how some other cities might look like with the haze we see in Beijing and Shanghai. Want to see what your city might look like under a toxic cloud of pollution? Tweet us a photo @MarketplaceAPM.

Photo Credits: Baltimore courtesy Daniel Ewald via Twitter; San Francisco by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images; New York by Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images; Beijing by Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images; Paris by Eric Piermont/AFP/Getty Images; Toronto via Twitter.

Yeast are demanding little critters. To make good-tasting beer, brewers have to pamper them like pedigreed pets. A new report says it's all about the microbiology. Brewers say they use science to keep their charges happy.

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Millions of people live in the path of this weekend's blizzard. We expect that along with the hassles there will be some fun, some great stories and many cool photos and videos.

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There's news out today that the U.S. is importing less crude oil from foreign countries - the lowest amount in a decade. That's often bad news for the economy, but measured alongside oil exports, it looks like a good number. It means the trade gap is narrowing. The U.S. is spending less money on foreign crude oil, and other countries are actually buying refined oil from here.

But the funny thing is, other countries are not buying U.S. oil from U.S. refineries.

"We are basically importing crude oil from other countries," says Amy Myers Jaffe, an energy expert at the University of California, Davis. "Then we are bringing it to our country, refining it, using what we need, and of the refinery output that we do not need, we're exporting that for a profit."

A Gulf Coast refinery might spin Venezuelan crude into diesel fuel, and send it to Mexico, for example. The refineries make money on this, but it doesn't lower gas prices here. So why send refined fuel away?

"Because we have no pipelines or not enough pipelines from East Coast to the Gulf Coast, to move that extra product, " says John Hofmeister, a former oil executive now running the nonprofit Citizens for Affordable Energy. He says U.S. laws and infrastructure don't allow fuel to flow freely around the country.

OIL THROUGH THE AGES: view the interactive map

Increased U.S. domestic oil production, from the North Dakota shale, for example, helps improve energy independence - but not that much.

"It comes nowhere near eradicating the continued import of crude oil to just feed our gas tanks every day," Hofmeister says.

When the economy is strong, he says, the U.S. needs about 20 million barrels of oil a day. Current U.S. oil production covers about one-third of that.

The Weather Channel has granted itself naming rights for winter storms, calling the current nor'easter Nemo. While many meteorologists gripe that it's just a marketing gimmick, others think it might help people focus on severe weather and plan accordingly.

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"Unless Congress acts by March 1st," according to a fact sheet released by the White House today, "a series of automatic cuts -- called a sequester -- that threaten thousands of jobs and the economic security of the middle class will take effect."

The report lists 30 reasons why Congress should act now to ensure that doesn't happen.

"From a macroeconomic perspective, in terms of ... the overall economy, the Congressional Bugdet Office is saying that it would shave close to a percentage point off of GDP growth," said New York Times economics correspondent Catherine Rampell.

That might not sound like a lot Rampell explained, "but when you think about the fact that we've been under 2 percent growth for a while, that's actually quite significant."

"Why are we risking it?" asked Heidi Moore, the economics correspondent with The Guardian. "Maybe something bad will happen, maybe something bad won't happen, but we know how to prevent it, which is to just stop this and come to a decision about what we're going to do about the deficit."

"Unless Congress acts by March 1st," begins a fact sheet released by the White House today, "a series of automatic cuts -- called a sequester -- that threaten thousands of jobs and the economic security of the middle class will take effect." It goes on to list 30 reasons why Congress should act now to ensure that doesn't happen.

Flightaware, an aviation industry website, says the number of flights cancelled in the United States because of the massive East Coast snow storm is near 5,000 -- and could go higher. That means changed plans and possible airport sleep-overs for thousands of passengers who've been inconvenienced.

But it's not just about passengers. Sara Keagle is a flight attendant based in Houston, and also blogs about the professionn at the TheFlyingPinto.

"For the most part, if you're just sitting there without being on the aircraft and the door closed, then you're not getting paid," said Keagle. "However, if your flight cancels, then you could be in luck and you could be pay-protected."

Otherwise, Keagle says flight attendants dread delays just like passengers.

"The worst scenario is just the same as the passengers," she added. "Being stuck on board with the door closed and not enough amenities for everybody. You know, luckily there's been some laws put into place to protect the passengers, which also protects us. We don't really want to be stuck on there either."

The aviation website flightaware says the number of flights canceled in the United States from yesterday through tomorrow is now 4,700 and climbing. But for all the passengers -- business or pleasure -- who've been inconvenienced, there are also those for whom flying is a job.

Sara Keagle is a flight attendant who's worked in the air for 20 years. She talks about what it's like to be grounded in the snow.

By the end of this month, the federal government is expected to file briefs in a pair of same-sex marriage cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. One case poses questions so difficult that the president himself is expected to make the final decision on what arguments the Justice Department will make.

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By the end of this month, the federal government is expected to file briefs in a pair of same-sex marriage cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. One case poses questions so difficult that the president himself is expected to make the final decision on what arguments the Justice Department will make.

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Mississippi would have been the only Republican-led state in the South with a health insurance exchange not run by the federal government. Now Mississippi has another distinction: It's the only state to have its exchange plan turned down by the federal government.

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