Pot's Financial Limbo; A 15-Year Oil Spill; How Gay Rights Won

Plus, how porcupines could improve your next surgery.

The Week's Best Stories And Podcasts  Sara Wong for NPR The U.S. marijuana industry is booming despite still being illegal on the federal level. Some of the industry's financial leaders find themselves in an odd position. Many are raking in cash but are barred from using big banks. That leaves them shuttling huge sums in armored cars to the few tiny institutions that will serve them. In 2004, Hurricane Ivan toppled an oil rig into the Gulf of Mexico. It's been leaking ever since. The Coast Guard is now looking at a big, last-ditch effort to stop the spill, but the rig's owners are fighting it. Plastic grocery bags clog drains and cause floods, litter landscapes and kill wildlife, and the national movement to get rid of them is gaining steam. But maybe that's a good idea. Studies have found that paper bags are actually worse for the environment. The gig economy has come for bureaucrats. High turnover in the Trump administration has left key Cabinet-level departments with interim heads. The same is true of high-profile agencies, including ICE, FEMA, the FDA and the Secret Service. One expert likens them to substitute teachers. The Washington Wizards' Wizdom dance team is one of a dozen started across the NBA featuring older performers. "I was laying around having a pity party," says one member of the team who asked to be identified as "Nana." At 76, she is the oldest member of the team. Legislatures in Washington, Illinois and New York have sent a message to President Trump: Release your tax returns or be left off the ballot in 2020. Seventeen other states are considering similar measures.   Cracking up the glass ceiling. Then breaking it. April is Women in Comedy month at Ask Me Another. To celebrate, Ophira Eisenberg and Jonathan Coulton have invited some women in comedy to agitate the Bell House stage and help answer life's funnier questions.  Subscribe to Ask Me Another Podcasts You May Have Missed Bloomberg via Getty Images Surveys have found that feelings about gay rights and gay marriage in the U.S. have shifted with unprecedented speed over the past 30 years. Hidden Brain examines the psychological strategies activists used to make that happen. Passing off content without credit is the newest form of a problem that has long troubled the comedy community: Joke theft. The Planet Money team traces the history of protecting jokes.  Empathy seems like a good quality. But unfettered empathy can twist into something uglier. Author Fritz Breithaupt tells Invisibilia how empathy's morally ambiguous capacity can lead us astray if we don't understand its many sides. On this episode of StoryCorps, Ellen Hughes tells Keith Miller how much it meant to her when he comforted her son Walker during a difficult visit to the ER last year. Video Of The Week Lindsay Wildlife Experience This little gal might look cute, but each of her 300,000 musk-coated quills have a sharp, backward-facing barbed tips. Surgical staples leave a lot of chance for infection, but surgeons are considering how a porcupine quill-inspired tools could hold wounds securely shut while doing less damage to patients. Correction A story in the April 5 newsletter email contained an incorrect link. The story about the diets of people around the world can be found here. - by Christopher Dean Hopkins What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: bestofnpr@npr.org Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Looking for more great content? Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including Daily News, Politics, Health and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to our Best of NPR emails. |  Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy | NPR 1111 N. CAPITOL ST. NE WASHINGTON DC 20002