Public Insight Network

In 2010, emerging economies accounted for almost 40 percent of the world's gross domestic product — twice as much as they did in 1990. Today, one in four Fortune 500 firms comes from emerging markets. How far can growth carry nations out of poverty and toward a strong economic foundation? We hear what the economic successes of developing countries can teach the developed world from Peter Blair Henry of NYU’s Stern School of Business.

Halfway through the enrollment season for Washington's Guaranteed Tuition Savings program, the number of new enrollments is lagging compared to the last two years. Consumer confidence in the program is slipping, at least for now, even as state lawmakers express their concerns about the $600 million shortfall in the program.  

The average cost of a four-year public college shot up 6 percent last year to over $17,000 a year on average. Private colleges are up to over $35,000 a year (beer and togas not included.) So how do parents pay for college these days without going broke? Ross Reynolds talks with Kalman Chany, author of "Paying for College Without Going Broke," about the GET program and other ways to fund your child's higher education.

If you want to marry someone from another country, and you’re a US citizen, chances are your spouse could also gain citizenship through marriage. That is, if the marriage is between a man and a woman.  This path to citizenship is not available to gay couples because of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Next month, the US Supreme Court is set to hear a challenge to this federal law. It’s a case Seattle resident Otts Bolisay is anxious to watch unfold.

Tomorrow is a dark day for many a Seattle vinyl enthusiast — Easy Street Records, the lower Queen Anne record store, is closing after serving the Emerald City for more than a dozen years. Many are bemoaning the loss of the Queen Anne record store, but what about you? Do record stores matter to you? I mean, do they really matter? Do you still buy music from stores, and how much?

With music available online through iTunes and services like Spotify, why do we still need record stores? Ross Reynolds talks with local music writer Charles Cross, Sarah Moody from Hardly Art and Eli Anderson from Neumos and takes listener calls.

Contemporary art is a lot like baseball: you can't really enjoy it until you understand a few rules.   Nobody, not even the hippest art insider, is born appreciating abstract expressionism or conceptual performance. In fact, no two people will give you the same definition of contemporary art.  It can be anything, from abstract painting to live performance.

With her stylish clothing and regal bearing,  art educator and curator Yoko Ott looks like she was born in one of the world's great art capitals.  But appearances are deceiving.  "It doesn't get further away from the contemporary art scene than a little island in the middle of the Pacific," she laughs.

Federal regulators are pledging a full-scale review of the design and build of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. In a news conference, the Federal Aviation Administration said it will get to the root cause of a set of problems, including last week’s fire on a Dreamliner at Boston's Logan Airport.

Correction: This story has been corrected to show that of the 120,000 people who were cut off unemployment benefits before they found a job from summer to 2008 to November 2012, 70 percent have not yet found work.

A program Congress has extended 10 times over the last four years is expected to end this month. The emergency unemployment compensation program has been a safety net for 400,000 people in Washington since the summer of 2008. Four years later 70 percent of people who were cut off from benefits before they found work are still looking. That's about 84,000 people.

Washington’s law allowing same-sex marriage just took effect this week. And that could be not a moment too soon for same-sex couples hoping to receive marriage-related federal benefits.

What’s the opposite of a shotgun wedding? Try a 15-year engagement.  Seattle couple Kate Schubert and Liz Newman joke they’ve waited that long for the right to get married in their home state.  The wait is almost over. On December 6, same-sex marriage will be legal in Washington.  Now, Kate and Liz are eager to take the next step.