Sarah Gonzalez

For decades, Democrats and Republicans competed to be toughest on crime. But that's changing. NPR's Planet Money podcast explores the changing views on prisons in Oklahoma.

The idea of vaccination is almost 2,000 years old. The story of the very first vaccine involves a nose pipe, milkmaids, death row inmates, and a beautiful woman out for revenge.

As a low-wage worker, Yesenia Ortiz wishes she would get paid more during the pandemic because of the extra level of risk to which she is exposed.

In a competitive labor market, employers would need to pay workers more money for riskier jobs. But now, essential workers are making as much money as they were before the pandemic.

Reopening the economy requires contemplating the trade-off between lives and money. Government agencies are already used to putting dollar values on human life when considering safety regulations.

The people who harvest food face two challenges right now: tighter border controls keeping many away from the fields, and cramped living quarters that make social distancing almost impossible.

In the Caribbean island of Barbuda, land is not bought or sold. Put up a fence and the land is yours forever, for free — if you're Barbudan. But now there is a plan to start selling it.

For years, low wage workers have had to wait two weeks between paychecks, a long time. But technology and a tight labor market could be changing that.

More than 100 hundred years ago, British economist Arthur Cecil Pigou explained how to tax things like pollution. His insight is being used to fight climate change.

French fries are facing an existential crisis. As consumers opt for food delivery services, the shelf life of fries isn't good enough. But some are trying to engineer the fry of the future.

The U.S. government may have helped create the current helium shortage, and now people are looking for new sources of the gas.

More recycling isn't always good for the environment. Now that China is buying less recyclables, cities are shoving their water bottles and cardboard boxes into the trash pile. And it might be OK.

We kind of owe recycling to the Mafia and a 1987 garbage barge that couldn't dock anywhere. That's when cities started sending trucks to everyone's homes to pick up glass bottles and cardboard boxes.

New York City has a law that guarantees everyone a right to shelter, but there aren't enough homeless shelters. The city has turned to renting out hotel rooms.

Every day, four new dollar stores will open in the U.S. Dollar stores open in places where few other businesses will go: rural and urban areas. They're threatening businesses that survived Walmart.

Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Family Dollars are opening up stores every six hours around the country. Some towns are fighting them.

We follow the founder of f*ckjerry and comedian Jim Mendrinos into the world of comedy. Where a whole series of informal sanctions are deployed to protect jokes from theft.

There's an entire, powerful industry pushing behind the scenes for better police behavior--not with protests or picket signs, but spreadsheets and actuaries.

Mexico's president is taking steps to stop cartels from stealing gas, but it is unlikely to make a difference. The U.N. says gas is smuggled in Coke bottles and by unmanned donkeys and pirate ships.

Cartels in Mexico aren't just trafficking in drugs anymore; they're also stealing fuel. The Mexican Government is taking action to cut them off. But it's costing a lot of money, and lives.