
Sonari Glinton
Sonari Glinton is a NPR Business Desk Correspondent based at our NPR West bureau. He covers the auto industry, consumer goods, and consumer behavior, as well as marketing and advertising for NPR and Planet Money.
In this position, which he has held since late 2010, Glinton has tackled big stories including GM's road back to profitability and Toyota's continuing struggles. In addition, Glinton covered the 2012 presidential race, the Winter Olympics in Sochi, as well as the U.S. Senate and House for NPR.
Glinton came to NPR in August 2007 and worked as a producer for All Things Considered. Over the years Glinton has produced dozen of segments about the great American Song Book and pop culture for NPR's signature programs most notably the 50 Great Voices piece on Nat King Cole feature he produced for Robert Siegel.
Glinton began his public radio career as an intern at Member station WBEZ in Chicago. He worked his way through his public radio internships working for Chicago Jazz impresario Joe Segal, waiting tables and meeting legends such as Ray Brown, Oscar Brown Jr., Marian MacPartland, Ed Thigpen, Ernestine Andersen, and Betty Carter.
Glinton attended Boston University. A Sinatra fan since his mid-teens, Glinton's first forays into journalism were album revues and a college jazz show at Boston University's WTBU. In his spare time Glinton indulges his passions for baking, vinyl albums, and the evolution of the Billboard charts.
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Services where regular people use their cars to take passengers to their destinations have found a foothold in the smartphone age. And for many participating in this sharing economy, the appeal is in more than just the cost savings or convenience.
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Many Federal government websites are dark because of the shutdown. But not operating the sites could come at a cost.
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Profits for the nation's carmakers are on the rise, but after years of doing more with less, higher profits are unlikely to translate into significant numbers of new jobs. There are eight fewer plants and hundreds of thousands fewer workers in the industry than before the Great Recession.
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The founders of financially troubled Fisker Automotive were grilled by Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill Wednesday. The electric car maker received a $529 million loan from the Department of Energy in 2009. The carmaker is now on the edge of collapse. Fisker has laid off most of its employees and hired bankruptcy advisers.
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With ad sales soaring, Google posted a 16 percent increase in first quarter profits. Google earned more than $3.3 billion during the quarter. Another big player in the technology sector, Microsoft also posted positive earnings.
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Both housing and the stock market have been on the upswing in recent months. But a full recovery in the housing market would be more significant to the overall economy. That's because more Americans have something at stake in home values than in stock prices.
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In the latest example of porous computer security, hackers have posted financial information about celebrities and political figures, including Michelle Obama, Vice President Biden, Beyonce and Ashton Kutcher.
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The Ford F-150 has been the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. for 31 years. Amid rumors of a new version of the Ford truck, GM is readying pickup launches of its own as signs of a housing industry comeback signal increased demand for the heavy-duty vehicles.
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Carmakers are taking advantage of innovations in electronics and software to trick out the interiors of their vehicles. The gizmos appeal to tech-savvy buyers. But those interior features are quietly aimed at another audience: aging baby boomers.
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After voting for Barack Obama in 2008, the state went for Mitt Romney Tuesday night. It also elected Republican Mike Pence as governor. There was an exception to the red tide that swept across the Hoosier state. Democrats picked up a Senate seat once held by outgoing Republican Richard Lugar.