Mar 24, 2022

Gas prices are just the tip of the iceberg

Juni Kriswanto/AFP via Getty Images

As oil prices rise, so does the cost of plastic. Plus: IDs come to some digital wallets and a look at the Oscars' war chest.

Segments From this episode

Even if we manage to stop using oil as fuel, plastics made from oil will be harder to give up

by Andy Uhler

Mar 24, 2022

Plastics are regarded as "Plan B" for the fossil fuel industry.

It's cheaper to make more plastic than recycle it. And that's what the oil industry is relying on as we move toward electric options.

Phillippe Lopez/AFP Getty Images

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Faced with growing threats, companies need cyber skills at the top

by Meghan McCarty Carino

Mar 24, 2022

Without cybersecurity expertise in the C-suite and on the board, companies don't know what they don't know.

As the risk of cyberattacks increases, many companies find themselves without the relevant staff.

Getty Images

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Company aims to buy and restore struggling rural hospitals in Tennessee

by Blake Farmer

Mar 24, 2022

For rural communities, a key question: Can a new company that is taking over ownership restore confidence in the care the local hospital provides?

Kyle Kopec uses his phone to illuminate a cabinet of medical supplies in the shuttered Decatur County General Hospital. His company, Braden Health, is taking over the facility with a pledge to invest $2 million to reopen it.

Blake Farmer/WPLN News

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"Real rates that matter in the end"

Today, we chat with Natassa Zervou, an economist at the University of Texas at Austin, about the math that goes into calculating real rates and why the Federal Reserve likes to keep a close eye on them.

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Apple enables some users to store IDs in their digital wallets

by Kristin Schwab

Mar 24, 2022

Apple just announced that people in Arizona can now store their driver's licenses on their phones — with more states to follow suit.

You can now use your Apple Wallet to store and present your ID at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Arizona.

AsiaVision/Getty Images

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Fewer people are watching the Oscars. Here's why that might not matter to the academy.

by Kai Ryssdal and Andie Corban

Mar 24, 2022

The organization that puts on the awards show has transformed itself from a production company to an "institution with a billion dollar endowment," says data journalist Walt Hickey.

The Academy Museum in Los Angeles in February 2020, before it opened.

Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images

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Music from the episode

Planet Telex Radiohead

Memories Blue Lab Beats

Occasional Magic Yppah

Calling (Never Stop) Anchorsong

Green Stamps Tesk

The Flower Called Nowhere Stereolab

Tinseltown Swimming in Blood Destroyer

J-Boy Phoenix

The team

Nancy Farghalli Executive Producer

Maria Hollenhorst Producer II

Andie Corban Producer I

Sean McHenry Director & Associate Producer II

Richard Cunningham Associate Producer I

Dylan Miettinen Associate Digital Producer

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