Erika Beras

Reporter

SHORT BIO

Erika Beras is a former reporter at Marketplace. She has covered wealth & poverty, aging and other beats for Marketplace's programs.

Latest Stories (345)

Trump trying to fill Pentagon posts

Jan 2, 2018
This week, the Senate is set to vote on President Donald Trump’s nominee for Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. But like many of Trump’s picks, John Rood is a controversial nominee.  Click the audio player above to hear the full story. 

As President Trump turns to infrastructure, which projects will be funded?

Dec 27, 2017
Likely next up for President Trump’s new year agenda is tackling America’s infrastructure. But can lawmakers pull it together to fund improvements to our public works? And what exactly will be funded?  Click the audio player above to hear the full story. 

SpongeBob’s Broadway musical hits the right notes

Dec 25, 2017
Over the last 18 years, SpongeBob SquarePants and his friends in the underwater town of Bikini Bottom have been a pop culture juggernaut — a long-running TV show, a movie franchise, tons of tie-ins. And now SpongeBob is making his mark on the Broadway stage.  Click the audio player above to hear the full story. 

Commuters would lose an employee perk under the tax plan

Dec 19, 2017
Republicans on their way to the first big victory of the Trump administration keep talking about how many winners there are under their negotiated tax bill.  But the likely losers? Commuters, who have their parking, transit or bicycling subsidized by their companies. The new tax plan eliminates the incentive for private employers to continue offering […]

Disney announces deal with Fox

Dec 14, 2017
A look at the ways Disney will now have an advantage in the streaming landscape.

Despite high interest rates, people still sign up for department credit cards

Dec 11, 2017
Department store credit cards, which tend to have high interest rates, have fallen out of fashion. But for some with bad credit, they are the only option.
Credit cards are pictured, on February 5, 2013 in Rennes, western France.
DAMIEN MEYER/AFP/Getty Images

House threat to tuition assistance tax break worries employers

Dec 8, 2017
Some Republican lawmakers join push to save the perk for employers and their employees.

Proposed tax credit change could reduce future affordable housing

Dec 7, 2017
Advocates for affordable housing worry that the elimination of an incentive program for developers in the House version of the tax bill could result in less low-income housing built in the future.
A construction site stands around neglected housing in Manhattan on November 30, 2017 in New York City. Republicans are coming closer to getting the votes needed to pass their proposed tax cut which many economists predict will benefit the wealthy at the expense of the poor and middle class.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

There's no giving up on coal in Greene County, Pennsylvania

Dec 1, 2017
While there's plenty of money for free job training in health care and trucking, local workers pack coal classes instead.
Students sit in a miner training class at a career center in Greene County, Pennsylvania.
Erika Beras/Marketplace

Graduate students could lose big in the GOP tax plan

Nov 9, 2017
Many students rely on tax-free tuition waivers to make education affordable.