Economic Round Up; useums, Philanthropy and Budgets in the Recession of 2009; Election in El Salvador; Peanut Allergies; Cutting for Stone
Economic Round Up
This morning Obama announced a new initiative to provide billions in low-interest loans to small businesses. This comes on the heels of a plan to reduce mortgage deduction amounts for people earning over $250,000. What impact will this have on our ailing economy, which Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said over the weekend may come out of recession next year?
Museums, Philanthropy and Budgets in the Recession of 2009
The John Paul Getty Trust announced that it is cutting its budget by 25 percent. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced plans on Thursday to lay off 10 percent of its workforce, partly because of an endowment loss approaching 28 percent. How are philanthropies surviving in this sour economy?
Election in El Salvador
Mauricio Funes, a leftist television journalist, won El Salvador's presidential election. The election brings a party of former guerrillas to power for the first time and ends two decades of conservative rule.
Peanut Allergies
It's a terror for many parents... there are some 3 million American children with severe peanut allergies who can die from an innocent swap of sandwich or a candy bar with another child. But new trials are showing that there may be a way to treat this dangerous condition and it runs contrary to instinct and common sense: give allergic children small doses of peanut butter to build up their tolerance. And in a small trial, it seems to work. Larry gets the details from an allergy expert.
Cutting for Stone
A portion of the Hippocratic Oath reads: "I will not cut for stone", meaning a doctor was not to take on the menial task of performing surgery on a kidney stone, a role that at the time was limited to surgeons. Nevertheless, Abraham Verghese's novel Cutting for Stone takes readers through the lives of four surgeons, with the primary focus on twin, orphaned brothers Shiva and Marion in Ethiopia. Although Verghese is also a doctor, and the field of medicine is a common theme that intertwines the boys' lives, the novel is about more than medicine. It's also about the brothers' love for the same woman, and the political and internal turmoil of living in war-torn Ethiopia. Larry talks with Abraham Verghese about his new book.