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Farmer are pursuing a seemingly radical means of retaining workers. They’re paying more

By John CarneyFarm owners have responded to fears of a labor shortage by actually raising wages by a little bit. The Department of Agriculture reports: Farm operators paid their hired workers an average wage of $11.91 per hour during the April 2013 reference week, up 4 percent from a year earlier. Field workers received an average of $10.92 per hour, up 4 percent from a year earlier. Livestock workers earned $11.46, up 51 cents. The field and livestock worker combined wage rate, at $11.

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With the load factor on U.S. airlines at a record, passengers are facing higher prices for fewer seats for summer travel. The good news: there’s WiFi now! By Daniel Gross.

It’s summer tourism season and there’s some bad news.Flying this summer is going to be more of a hassle than it has been in recent years. Why? Airlines have gotten smarter and the economy has improved.After years of losses and ruinous competition, airlines in recent years have gotten religion about controlling costs and managing assets. They’ve merged, shut down unprofitable routes, and used information technology to get a better handle on everything from luggage to filling seats.

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Don’t get me wrong: the electric-car startup is a success and has every right to boast. But for all its bravado, Tesla’s still getting plenty of help from Uncle Sam.

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk is felling it. And with good reason. His startup electric-car company reported its first quarterly profit. The stock has gone nuts—in a good way. Tesla just raised $1 billion in new cash, which enabled it to repay, nine years ahead of schedule, the $465 million loan it took from the Department of Energy. Overall, it’s a great success story that has defied the many haters and critics.On Wednesday Musk, a prototypical 21st-century CEO, took to Twitter to talk a little trash: “Tesla wired the funds to repay the DOE loan today.

The unbanked may have a hard time buying insurance on the exchanges. Too bad we just created more of them.

This week, we heard that Obamacare may be a problem for the unbanked, who don't have any way to pay the insurance companies on the exchanges.  Which raises an interesting question:  did Dodd-Frank inadvertently cause problems for Obamacare?Say wha?  Let me explain.Most of you probably didn't pay much attention to the Great Interchange Fee Wars of 2010.  For those who slept through this spirited exchange between the five of us who actually care, a brief recap:  retailers have to pay big processing networks, like Visa and Mastercard, fees for the privilege of accepting their credit and debit cards.

Junji Kurokawa / AP Photo

Down 7.3% in stunning sell-off

It was only a matter of time. Japan’s stock market, which has soared nearly 50 percent in the past half year, took a hard fall on Thursday. Japan’s central bank has been engaged in an aggressive push to jump-start growth by flooding the economy with cheap money and devaluing the yen. That has worked wonders for the markets. But investors, processing a rise in interest rates and weakness from China (an important trading partner), sold stocks with abandon. The Nikkei 225 index fell 7.3 percent on the trading session.

Read it at CNBC

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$45 to go to the South Bronx.

A tour bus company in New York has announced that they will “cease all tours” to the Bronx after they inflamed residents by selling it as a “ghetto tour.” The company, “Real Bronx Tours,” catered to a European crowd, offering a $45 trip that included a visit to the South Bronx—where they assured customers they would remain a “safe distance” away from the people. The company told riders that the Bronx represents “one of the darkest chapters” of the city’s history. Angry Bronx residents say it's a false claim. “Those days are over, the Bronx is being rebuilt, it's rising again," said Bronx resident Bobby Sanabria.

Read it at The Associated Press

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Tornado ripped through 13,000 structures.

The deadly tornado that barreled through suburbs of Oklahoma City Monday—killing 24—left an estimated $2 billion in damage, said Mayor Mick Cornett. With up to 200 mile per hour winds and an EF5 (the highest possible) rating, the twister ripped through 13,000 structures—including homes, schools, and hospitals. The Oklahoma Insurance Department worries that the damage may even exceed $2 billion. Visiting the destruction Wednesday, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano assured Oklahomans that she would “stay until the recovery is complete.” President Obama is scheduled to visit on Sunday.

Read it at The Associated Press

by Michelle Caruso-Cabrera Although all the news about Chinese investment in the U.S. have focused on the deals that don't get done, Chinese investment in the U.S. is at an all-time high.The Chinese are making headlines around the word for hungrily acquiring energy and resource companies in countries such as Canada, Africa and Latin America.In the United States, the single largest Chinese investment to date is far more mundane: movie theaters.

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Genetically modified seeds were supposed to liberate corn farmers from using pesticide to combat rootworms. But as the insects adapt, farmers are having to adapt—by spraying their fields with chemicals.

It’s not just the cicadas. The Wall Street Journal reports there’s a more significant insect threat being posed to America: rootworms.The bugs, which have the capability to decimate corn and grain crops, have become a more manageable problem in recent years. That’s because companies like Monsanto have developed genetically modified seeds that produce rootworm-killing toxins—without harming humans. (Here’s Monsanto’s rootworm page.) Thanks to the widespread adoption of such seeds, farmers have been spraying their crops with insecticide less frequently.