Americans don’t often have a direct say in how their tax dollars get spent; those decisions are generally left to elected officials. But some places have engaged in “participatory budgeting,” where residents propose projects, then vote on which ones get public funding. Today, we head to Nashville to learn how the process played out. But first: economics at the center of G20 discussions and what Thanksgiving travel plans are looking like.
Marketplace All-in-One - G20 conference wraps up in South Africa
From the BBC World Service: A gathering in South Africa of major economies has ended with a joint declaration committing to "multilateral cooperation." We'll hear more. Plus, India and Canada have agreed to resume discussions on a bilateral trade deal, a three-day national strike is getting underway in Belgium, and the Chinese government is urging young people to spend more to boost the economy — but that’s proving difficult at a time of record youth unemployment.
WSJ Minute Briefing - Markets Rise on December Rate Cut Hopes
Plus, the White housing says it has made progress toward ending the war in Ukraine following talks in Geneva. And Israel says it has killed a senior Hezbollah commander following strikes in Beirut. Caitlin McCabe hosts.
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The Intelligence from The Economist - Emission creep: a contentious COP closes
It is telling and troubling that the annual climate talking-shop’s outcome did not even mention fossil fuels. We ask whether the COP process is still fit for purpose. Cryptocurrencies could be heading for an almighty fall: what would they take down with them? And the revealing vowels and diphthongs of whale communications. (Hear much more on animal communication in our series on “Babbage”: part 1 asks whether animals truly have language, and part 2 whether AI could translate it.)
Additional audio courtesy of Project CETI.
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WSJ What’s News - White House Hails Progress on Ukraine Peace Talks
A.M. Edition for Nov. 24. After fears from Kyiv and U.S. allies that many of the points in President Trump’s peace plan conformed with key Russian demands, the White House says officials held constructive talks with Ukraine toward ending the war. Plus, markets and stock futures have bounced back, boosted by hopes the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next month. And ahead of a key budget announcement in Britain this week, WSJ’s U.K. bureau chief David Luhnow outlines the stakes for the Labour government, which is expected to raise taxes and cut spending. Caitlin McCabe hosts.
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Headlines From The Times - U.S. Peace Plan for Ukraine Sparks Pushback, Pacific Drilling Proposal Revives Old Fights, Roblox Adds Age Checks, Kim Kardashian’s Skims Hits $5 Billion
European leaders reaffirm support for Ukraine after a U.S. peace plan proposes concessions Kyiv says it cannot accept. The Trump administration moves to reopen the Pacific to offshore drilling for the first time in decades, prompting strong opposition from California officials and climate groups. In business, Roblox introduces new age-verification requirements amid rising scrutiny over child safety and Kim Kardashian’s Skims reaches a $5 billion valuation following a major funding round.
Marketplace All-in-One - AI-generated “letters to the editor” are flooding academic publications
Dr. Carlos Chaccour, physician scientist at the University of Navarra, noticed something fishy about a letter to the editor the New England Journal of Medicine received shortly after it published a paper of his on malaria treatment in July.
The letter was riddled with strange errors such as critiques supposedly based on other research Chaccour himself had written. So he and his co-author Matthew Rudd decided to dig deeper.
They analyzed patterns of letters to the editor over the last decade and found a remarkable increase in what they call "prolific debutantes" — new authors who suddenly had dozens, even hundreds of letters published, starting right around the time OpenAI’s ChatGPT came out.
Why would academics want to do this? Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Chaccour to find out.
The Daily - The Autism Diagnosis Problem
Once primarily limited to severely disabled people, autism began to be viewed as a spectrum that included children and adults far less impaired. Along the way, the disorder also became an identity, embraced by college graduates and even by some of the world’s most successful people, like Elon Musk and Bill Gates.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called the steep rise in autism cases “an epidemic.” He blames theories of causality that mainstream scientists reject — like vaccines and, more recently, Tylenol — and has instructed the C.D.C. to abandon its longstanding position that vaccines do not cause autism.
Today, Azeen Ghorayshi explains what’s really driving the increase in diagnoses.
Guest: Azeen Ghorayshi, a science reporter for The New York Times.
Background reading:
- Should the autism spectrum be split apart?
- There are no easy answers for parents of children with autism.
Photo: Eric Gay/Associated Press
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Up First from NPR - Updated Ukraine Peace Plan, MAGA Fractures, Fragile Gaza Ceasefire
The U.S. and Ukraine have updated President Trump’s 28-point peace proposal. They acted after widespread criticism of the original plan that appeared to heavily favor Russia.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia announced that she will resign form Congress early next year following a feud with Trump. She also said Trump and her party lost their ways.
Also, Israel and Hamas are accusing each other of ceasefire violations.Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.
Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Willem Marx, Krishnadev Calamur, Miguel Macias, HJ Mai and Martha Ann Overland.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
And our Supervising Producers are Vince Pearson and Michael Lipkin.
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Start Here - MAGA’s Confusing Weekend
President Trump bewilders allies with his praise of incoming New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Diplomats scramble to craft a peace plan in Ukraine. And a new feature upends X accounts by disclosing their country of origin.
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