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The U.N. agency that sponsors the marathon said it "regrets" the decision, but blamed the Islamist movement for the move. Hamas says it doesn't "want me and women running together."

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In a letter to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., the attorney general noted that such a situation could be imagined only in an "extraordinary circumstance" such as the attack on Pearl Harbor or on Sept. 11, 2001. The letter was in response to inquiries from Paul regarding the legality of military strikes within the country.

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A judge has blocked Alabama's governor from signing a school choice bill, after a lawsuit alleged that lawmakers bypassed state rules when they substantially revised the legislation in committee. A vote on the bill was marked by confusion, anger, and accusations of "sleaziness" and "hypocrisy."

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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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The populist president was an ally of dictators like Cuba's Fidel Castro and loudly opposed the United States. Chavez claimed capitalism was destroying the world and tried to transform Venezuela into a socialist state.

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The government of Venezuela announced today that President Hugo Chavez died at the age of 58.

Marketplace's Scott Tong reported on Chavez's legacy back in January. "Early on in his administration, Chavez took control of biggest piece of the economy: oil," Tong reported.

"He ran the place," Tong said today. "And several people I talked to said the Chavez model goes to the grave with him."

Read Tong's story on the economics of Chavez here.

Chávez, one of Washington's most intransigent adversaries, had served as the Venezuelan president since 1999.

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Fred Butler has done many things in his 106 years, from serving in two military theaters of World War II to helping raise five children. But he had never gone to high school, or earned a diploma — the result of leaving school after the eighth grade to work full-time in a print shop to help support his family.

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Americans lost about 40 percent of their net worth between 2007 and 2010, thanks to the recession and stock market collapse. So if you heard the news about the Dow, you may be thinking: Have I made back the money I lost?

James Angel, who teaches finance at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business, says it all depends on what you did when the market dropped.

“If you panicked and sold when the market went down you probably bought high and sold low, so you’re out of luck,” he says. If on the other hand, you viewed the dip in the market as a buying opportunity, “you’re probably really happy today.”

But, before you get overly excited, consider what Jeremy Siegel, who teaches finance at Wharton, has to say: “The Dow is not the whole market.”

And Siegel notes that only a little over half of Americans own stock. According to a Gallup poll, that’s down from 65 percent of the country before the recession.

Matt Coffina, editor of Morningstar’s newsletter, StockInvestor, says when it comes to concerns about investments, many Americans’ thoughts don’t stray far from home.

“For the typical household, the value of their house probably matters more to their personal wealth than the value of their stock holdings,” he says.

Coffina says that in terms of people’s well-being, even more important than their investments, is their income. But he points out that in general, household income has been stagnant for the last five years. Today’s Dow reflects corporate profits growing much more quickly then household income.

“Unless you’re Mitt Romney, I don’t think you’re feeling all that wealthy, or all that well off,” he says.

But good news for the 50 percent of Americans who do own stock can means good news for the rest of the country. If investors feel better about their wealth, they’re more likely to spend it.
We asked you on social media how the Dow's high has affected you, if at all. Here's what you said:
[View the story "The Dow hits a record high -- how does this affect you?" on Storify]
Weigh in on the comments below or by tweeting us @MarketplaceAPM.

Despite market euphoria today, one could quibble about the Dow closing at an all-time high. The index isn't inflation-adjusted. It's just 30 big companies. So as economic indicators go, the 117-year-old index has its problems. 

Turn your gaze away from the skyward green arrow on Dow graphics and you see a broader economy that’s a rather mixed bag for ordinary Americans. The positive news of rising home prices mingles with a murky job picture and payroll tax hike.

“Put it together and you have an economy that’s still moving forward,” says Mesirow Financial chief economist Diane Swonk. “But it certainly isn’t booming, and the Dow would leave you feeling as if everything’s booming.”

She adds that much of the corporate profit fueling stock surges is not from strong sales or overall economic strength, but company’s slashing budgets. The stock markets are also up because the Fed has been flooding the economy with cheap money.

Even if the much-hyped Dow ultimately presents a rather limited picture, it can have a psychological impact. The wealth effect is the economic concept that when share prices go up, people will spend more because they feel richer. When the Dow smashes through a barrier, it could open wealthy wallets a little wider.

“There is an impact, there’s no question about it,” says Wichita State University economics professor William Miles, who researches the wealth effect.

Miles adds that it’s felt strongest among high earners, those who tend to have more wealth in stocks. It’s worth nothing that not all economists believe the wealth effect has a major impact.

One place where Dow milestones absolutely always have an impact is CNBC. Broken records are heralded with extensive coverage and flashy graphics. The network plans ahead for big Dow days, even if it can’t predict them.

“We’re always preparing,” says Nik Deogun, the network's senior vice president and editor-in-chief of business news. “Obviously, the days you prepare for it usually aren’t the days it happens.”

When it does happen, like Tuesday, he says it gets “adrenaline and energy” flowing on set and in the newsroom.

“People know that they’re playing on a big stage and they wanna do the best job possible at moments when there are more people watching,” Deogun says.

There’s a lot the Dow doesn’t tell us about the broader economy. But it does put on a good show.

Kai Ryssdal: One could quibble -- should one choose -- about the close on the Dow today. It's not inflation-adjusted, some will say. It's just 30 companies, after all.

So as economic indicators go, the Dow has its problems. But it is worth a moment -- 90 seconds perhaps -- to consider what it does mean. To put a 117-year-old market index into some modern-day context. Marketplace's Mark Garrison drew the short straw today.

Mark Garrison: Turn your gaze away from the skyward green arrow on Dow graphics and you see a broader economy that’s a rather mixed bag for ordinary Americans. Among the positives: rising home prices. On the negative end, a murky job picture and payroll tax hike.

Diane Swonk: Put it together and you have an economy that’s still moving forward, but it certainly isn’t booming and the Dow would leave you feeling as if everything’s booming.

Mesirow Financial chief economist Diane Swonk points out that much of the corporate profit fueling stock surges is not from strong sales, but budget cutting.

Swonk: We don’t want to see profits from cost-cutting alone. We wanna see profits from improvements in the economy.

The stock markets are also up because the Fed has been flooding the economy with cheap money. When share prices go up, there’s an idea in economics that people will spend more because they feel richer. That’s called the wealth effect, something Wichita State economist William Miles specializes in.

William Miles: There is an impact, there’s no question about it. I think it tends to be concentrated on people in the upper income brackets, because they’re the ones that own the most stock.

So a rising Dow could open wealthy wallets a little wider. It’s worth nothing, not all economists think the wealth effect has a major impact. One place where Dow milestones absolutely always have an impact: CNBC.

Nik Deogun is the network’s Editor in Chief.

Nik Deogun: We’re always preparing and, obviously, the days you prepare for it usually aren’t the days it happens.

When it does happen, like today, he says it gets the adrenaline flowing on set.

Deogun: People know that they’re playing on a big stage and they wanna do the best job possible at moments when there are more people watching.

There’s a lot the Dow doesn’t tell us about the broader economy. But it does put on a good show. In New York, I'm Mark Garrison, for Marketplace.

The bulls continued to run on Wall Street, where the Dow surpassed its all-time high.

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The TSA says the changes are part of their risk-based approach to security and bring the U.S. in line with European standards.

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The former Florida governor spent Tuesday clarifying statements about immigration in his new book, and some made as recently as Monday. Bush's back-and-forth on what to do about 11 million or so undocumented immigrants already in the country has become the story of a nascent 2016 presidential campaign.

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With a 12 to 3 vote, the Intelligence Committee gave the nomination of John Brennan as CIA director the go-ahead.

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Augusta National Golf Club says the jacket won by Art Wall Jr. in 1959 was later stolen; a Florida collector and a Texas auction house insist the jacket was obtained legally and can be sold to the highest bidder.

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Early March is when Yosemite National Park officials would normally be gearing up for the busy tourist season. Instead, they're figuring out how to cut $1.5 million from their budget because of the recent sequestration that forced across-the-board cuts. The National Park Service must now cut $134 million from sites around the country.

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Early March is when Yosemite National Park officials would normally be gearing up for the busy tourist season. Instead, they're figuring out how to cut $1.5 million from their budget because of the recent sequestration that forced across-the-board cuts. The National Park Service must now cut $134 million from sites around the country.

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Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez has died at the age of 58, according to AP reports. Besides his geopolitical influence, Chavez's legacy will be an economic one -- the socialist strongman fused his ideas and his country's oil money to refashion the country, for better or worse.

Chavez economics starts with Chavez ideology. He took office in 1999, pledging to fight corruption and share the wealth.

"People tend to vote with their pocketbooks, even here," said business publisher and consultant Robert Bottome in Caracas, back in January*. "And so Chavez was offering a change. He was going to get the economy growing again. Throw the bastards out. He has tremendous personal appeal."

Early on in his administration, Chavez took control of the biggest piece of his country's economy: oil.

Foreign companies like ExxonMobil and Conoco Phillips operated there. But Bottome says Chavez was unsatisfied with the royalty payment negotiated in a contract. So he doubled it.

"And then he doubled it again," Bottome said. "He didn't like the tax scale. And then finally he said he didn't like my partners. So he told them from now on instead of being majority owners and operators, you can be minority partner if you like. And I am going to run the show. "

Speaking of show, Chavez hosted his own talk show every Sunday. As in him talking.

"He once fired all the top management of the national oil company" during the show, said former Venezuelan trade minister Moises Naim, now with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "In other instances of his show, he would nationalize a bank or the electricity company."

What you and I consider independent economic data is hard to come by in Venezuela.

But there's no question Chavez spent money on the poor -- on health care, appliances, subsidized gas. And he drove out lots of foreign companies and private-sector investors.

Pomona College historian Miguel Tinker Salas said Venezuela's now a hybrid economy -- part socialist, part consumption capitalist.

"You can have on the one hand a discourse about socialism, but the malls are full," Tinker Salas said in January. "Venezuela is the highest consumer of scotch whiskey per capita in the world."

Chavez also sent money to neighboring countries, often in the form of cheap energy.

Some were friends of the ideological revolution, like Cuba. Others were marriages of political convenience.

"So if there are votes in organizations that come up about Venezuela," said Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, D.C., "those countries are more likely to be influenced if get good deal on oil to vote with Venezuela as opposed to against Venezuela."

It's been a potent fusion of power, ideology, and economic leverage, says Shifter.

Which raises the question: is this how every strongman economy tends to work?

"I don't think it necessarily has to go this way," Shifter said. "You have Evo Morales who is a close ally of Hugo Chavez. But the Bolivian economy is much better managed than the Venezuelan economy."

Today, Venezuela faces double-digit inflation, billions in debt, and remains highly dependent on the oil sector. When energy prices fall, the economy goes with it.

And yet the socialist experiment continues.

Why? Oil money to bankroll it, said Moises Naim at Carnegie.

"That allows you to experiment, and provides you a cushion to cover your mistakes," Naim said. "The 'oil curse' allows for sustained bad ideas to linger over time."

On his show late last year, Chavez picked a successor.

"I don't think there's any going back," said Tinker Salas. "Venezuela has changed. People who have been in power are not going to retreat into the margins any more. Venezuela will not change, whether Chavez is there or not."

*UPDATED: This article is an updated version of a story on Hugo Chavez that ran on Marketplace in January.

The White House was responding to an online petition signed by more than 114,000 people. The administration said Americans should also be able to unlock tablets.

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Federal health officials warned that a dangerous group of superbugs has become increasingly common in hospitals throughout the past decade. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the bacteria are resistant to virtually all antibiotics, including the ones doctors use as a last-ditch option.

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