Julie Caine

Monopoly has been one of the best-selling board games in the United States for nearly a century now. And sure, maybe it's just a board game. But author Mary Pilon says Monopoly is much more than that.

Most of us pack a lot of trips to the mall into the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. But what if you could only go shopping for just a few hours once a month?

Heavy rains are hitting drought-stricken California. But instead of sinking into the earth, the water is rushing away in areas burned by wildfire, raising the danger of mudslides.

In a quiet park in Kampala, Uganda, 14 musicians from seven East African countries sit together under a tree. They're working on an idea from Ugandan musician Lawrence Okello.

"This is what I would suggest for this piece: That we have a conflict," Okello says to the group. "And then ...