Search results for

If you usually wait until April to file your taxes, you might want to hurry up — before identity thieves beat you to it. Using stolen names and Social Security numbers, these criminals file fake tax returns. This generates big, and fraudulent, refunds, before the real taxpayer gets around to filing.

The 9-year-old beat out thousands of other potential young actresses for the role of Hushpuppy in Beasts of the Southern Wild. Now, she's juggling being the youngest ever nominee for the best actress Academy Award with the equally challenging job as a fourth-grader.

The man who brought Showtime to Los Angeles has died. Under Lakers owner Jerry Buss, the team won 10 NBA championships. His players loved him, and his business smarts helped market the team in ways the league had never seen before. Buss had been hospitalized recently and was undergoing treatment for cancer. He was 80 years old.

Every month, the government sends out about 5 million paper checks to Americans who receive federal benefits. As of March 1, however, the Treasury Department is planning to make those checks a thing of the past. It's encouraging holdouts to move to direct deposit or a debit card.

A surprising number of TV weather presenters are vocal deniers of climate change, while others fear audience backlash if they talk about such a polarizing topic. But one meteorologist in South Carolina is waging a climate education campaign, and says it's going over well.

There's a new cyberbullying law in North Carolina — but it's not for students who torment other students. It's one of the first of its kind that punishes students who target teachers online. Teachers groups and free speech organizations are split on what the law hopes to accomplish.

A 3-D printer allows people to easily create Yoda busts, Tintin's rocket ship — and even NPR action figures. But as this technology gets cheaper, the budding industry could face the same intellectual property battles that upended the music business a decade ago.

The African nation of Mali has long claimed it gave birth to the blues. Renee Montagne reports that the country's musical tradition was threatened this past year when Islamist militants took over the deserts of northern Mali and banned music.

WAMC's Ian Pickus speaks with Mike Spain, associate editor of the Albany Times Union.

The hackers changed Burger King's bio, saying the company was sold to rival McDonalds because the Whopper had flopped. McDonalds tweeted "Not Us!" The hackers, however, brought Burger King 30,000 new followers.