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Most days, Laura Perille shows up to the office, planning on a full day of fund raising, grant reviews and phone calls.

Perille is the executive director of Edvestors, a small non-profit that works to bring private investment to urban public schools.

But today isn't one of those days. Today is the day after.

The day after two bombs went off in Boston, just a few blocks from EdVestors offices in the heart of Back Bay. The day after three people were killed and more than a hundred injured. Today, business is a lot less about business and a lot more about family.

"The number one thing people are looking for is information and reassurance and community," Perille said. "In moments of great tragedy and damage, that's what people look for. And so in our very small way, that's what we were doing."

So, today, coffee and pastry greeted workers at EdVestors as they came into the office.

And the usual meetings, calls and tasks were pushed to the side.

People in and around the city are rattled. One of yesterday's victims – 8-year-old Martin Richard — attended Neighborhood House Charter School, a school Edvestors works with.

Richard's mother and 6-year-old sister were seriously injured in the blasts.

Perille knows minds will wander, and they must.

"It's a day to take time to reflect. It doesn't have to be about getting the job done," she says.

Yesterday after the bombs went off, Perille immediately began tracking her people down, including Rachael Alldian. She's the youngest and newest staff member. She was running the marathon and had yet to cross the finish line.

"As soon as I saw [the explosions], the next thought was I have to make sure Rachael is ok," Perille said.

She fired off a text.

"Are you OK?"

Thirty long minutes later, Rachael replied.

"I'm OK. We were right there. Was anyone else there? Is everyone OK?"

Perille told everyone to avoid the chaos of rush hour and come in late today, and if that was too much – the office is just outside the 15-block crime scene – it was fine to work from home.

Perille says from EdVestors earliest days, back in 2002 when it had just two employees, Perille has tried to create an atmosphere where people are valued professionally and personally.

"I am responsible. I don't think of it as being the boss. I think of it as being the leader. It is the leader's job to set the tone. That's the culture we have. And that's what my team would expect from me," she says.

Perille says keeping people informed and demonstrating her care is one way to make sure her employees give their best effort when it comes to their job helping to improve Boston public schools.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in a case testing the meaning and reach of the Indian Child Welfare Act. The question before the court was whether a Native American biological father who gave up his parental rights could later object after the non-Indian mother gave up the child for adoption.

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Housing starts in March rose to the highest level in five years. If developers keep building at that rate, there’d be one million new houses by the end of the year.

So, what are builders building and what kind of homes do consumers want? The granite countertop of the new kitchen is like the leather interior of a new car -- a standard, special order must-have.

Kira Sterling, chief marketing officer for Toll Brothers, a custom home builder, says buyers want kitchens that look semi-professional and bathrooms that could rival a spa. “They are spending a lot of money in the kitchen, and in the master bath,” she says.

And since mortgage rates are so low, and Sterling notes, money is “almost free”, she says new home buyers are looking to reward themselves with special features throughout the house. “Like man caves, cathedral ceilings, additional bedrooms and bathrooms.”

Don’t forget the bonus room. Extra space, in your house for... whatever you want.  

David Crowe, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders, says that homes are a little larger than before the recession. “They’re particularly bigger than during the recession,” he says.

Crowe notes that while the average size of a home fell during the recession now it’s picking up again. “But that has more to do with the fact that only those with very good credit ratings and employment histories can purchase right now, can get a mortgage,” he says.

While single-family home construction is up over last year, according to Crowe the rise in housing building is really due to new apartments. Younger workers often don’t have cash for a mortgage and choose to rent instead.

What about those who can afford to buy a brand new home? Susan Wachter, a professor of real estate and finance at Wharton, says there’s a new trend going on -- smaller houses in more urban areas. “There’s an actual increase in demand for city living, for being closer to transit, or less commuting,“ she says.

For those buying homes on smaller lots, Wachter says it’s not just proximity to the potential jobs. It’s also because land prices are coming back strong.

Illustration: Reporter Sally Herships' illustration of what would appear in her own house, if it was only six rooms.

Travel can be romantic, adventurous, and exciting--but it's also a big business, says Elizabeth Becker, author of "Overbooked: The Exploding Business of Travel and Tourism."

"It is one of the world's biggest industries" she says. One of every 11 people is employed in tourism. It is the second only to the energy field [when it comes to a] strategy of poorer countries ... to climb out of their poverty.

But wealth it brings can have negative consequences as well.

"You can see the schizophrenia when a local government wants to make money but then they're seeing the incredible destruction" she says."They drain the services and often they don't give much back to the local economy." Venice is one example Becker points to in the book. Visitors can overwhelm the city at times, far outnumbering Venetians. Stores favored by locals, like grocery stores, are pushed out for businesses that cater to tourists, including high-end chain stores.

The cruise industry has created similar problems in the spots they've chosen for docking and single-day destinations. Becker notes that some sites have created "sacrifice zones" -- "areas where tourists would be gently pushed to protect the greater area." Countries like Belize have resorted to the so-called sacrifice zones to help protect nature preserves.

Who's doing all this travel? And who causes the biggest problems? Becker says American tourists are getting a better reputation. But as for those traveling the most? That soon will be the Chinese.

"In 2009, more Chinese visited Paris than all of the United States." And the French have embraced them. Some stores have hired translators, restaurants have encouraged fusion Franco-Chinese cooking, and the French tourism board has paid close attention to the habits and likes of the Chinese tourist.

There are, without question, benefits to be gained by opening a country up to tourism. But still, "tourism is the typical double edged sword where it can bring so much pleasure but so much destruction." It's up to governments to figure out the right balance of regulation to preserve their resources and their economies.

Sports columnist Dan Shaughnessy talks with Fresh Air's Terry Gross about Monday's events at the Boston Marathon, the place the marathon holds in the life of the city, its importance in the international world of running, and the history of attacks at sporting events.

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Dozens of Boston blocks are locked down so investigators can pick through bombing evidence in the triangle-shaped crime scene. But just outside borders of that triangle, small businesses are reopening. They’re unlocking their doors because they feel a deep connection and obligation to the community that houses them.

Transit and traffic difficulties have convinced many to steer clear of the area near the attacks, meaning fewer people walking around. The drop in pedestrians gives the area the feel of a college town when students are on break: Not empty, but tangibly lacking.

Just outside the police barricades are the pleasant and stately grounds of the Christian Science Plaza. On most sunny days like Tuesday, people lounge around the gardens and hear chirping birds, so long as they aren't too close to the Massachusetts Avenue traffic. But today the birds also competed with the sound of police helicopters overhead.

Among the businesses along Massachusetts Avenue that opened was a flower shop called Fern.

Crystal Cobb Collier was sweeping up as she recalled Monday’s events. Through the store windows, she saw people both fleeing the blast and running toward it to help. Staffers weren’t sure if their street would be accessible Tuesday, but once they knew it would open, the owner decided the store would too. But few customers came through.

“It’s been a slow morning,” Collier sighs.

It’s the same story for a lot of businesses nearby. None of them expressed surprise. Collier says that one reason to open in the face of slow sales is to be there for special transactions that occur without words or money. She described a man wearing his marathon jacket who stepped into the shop today. He said and bought nothing, merely leaning in to inhale the floral aroma.

“I guess he was just taking in that moment to thank God he made it through another day,” Collier says. “I didn’t say anything; I just kinda let him take that moment.”

A florist is a rare kind of business that serves people at their most joyous and darkest moments. Monday’s attacks turned one into the other. Flowers that might have graced bouquets for triumphant runners now await service in a memorial arrangement.

Massachusetts Avenue connects with Boylston Street, where the bombs exploded. But just beyond that is the quirky shopping of Newbury Street. Open for business Tuesday was Bauer Wine & Spirits, a business dating to the mid '60s. In normal years, the marathon’s aftermath was filled with popping corks. But there’s no such thirst this year.

“They’re not celebrating,” says general manager Howie Rubin. “I don’t think we’re gonna sell any champagne for a while.”

Just a block off the blast site, Newbury Street wasn’t guaranteed to be accessible today. But once Rubin found out it was, he decided to open. He says customers come in wanting to talk about their experience. And he wants to make sure they can gather over a drink if they prefer.

“You’ve gotta get life back to normal after something like that,” he explains. “People do want to get together with their friends and try and resume life as they knew it as quickly as they can.”

The Fairy Shop is near the wine store and closer still to the blast site. Michael Selletto closed about 20 minutes after hearing, feeling and smelling the explosions. The eclectic, fantasy-focused store has loyal fans, who thanked him for opening and providing an otherworldly escape from the week’s events. He shrugged off the possibility of slow sales this week when he decided to reopen.

“Bringing a little magic into the world,” he says. “That’s really what drives me.”

What does it take to ride a bicycle at 100 miles per hour? That's the question being explored by Britain's Donhou Bicycles and frame builder Tom Donhou, who has mounted a mammoth chainring onto a custom steel bicycle. He says the machine has already hit 60 miles per hour on the open road.

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The bill allows undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship, if the U.S. borders are secured.

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Advocates for the people living on the city's streets were very skeptical two years ago that much could be done. But some substantial progress has been made since then. Now, as new people turn to the streets, can the county still help?

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Advocates for the people living on the city's streets were very skeptical two years ago that much could be done. But some substantial progress has been made since then. Now, as new people turn to the streets, can the county still help?

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The Goa state government says it cannot grant permission for the new club, which was to be the first of eight to be built over the next three years in India.

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It may take runners a long time to erase the memory of bombs exploding right at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, one of the most celebrated races in the world. But many runners say continuing to run offers a small, symbolic way of putting such violence behind them.

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Two art museums in Boston are offering free admission Tuesday in the wake of the explosions at the Boston Marathon. They hope that residents will find comfort and community.

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A third of Italians are now making pizza at home, and 19 percent are baking their own bread, an association of Italian farmers reports. Bakeries are adapting by by offering prepared food, and more importantly, sandwiches.

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After the explosions, comes the investigation. The president has said that authorities will "follow every lead," and Boston's mayor is reminding the public that "no piece of information or detail is too small." But in an age of surveillance cameras on nearly every block, and cell phone cameras in nearly every pocket, how do investigators actually wade through all that possibly helpful video they're going to get?

Consider that almost as soon as the bombs went off, social media sites were full of snippets of the tragedy that people had captured on their cell phones. But it's not just dramatic footage like this that could help investigators.

“As important is a video five minutes before the explosion, two blocks away,” says Angelo Guarino, president of Ocean Systems, a company that develops forensic video technology for use by law enforcement. He says in a moment where you might be waving "hi mom" into the camera, in the background a person that investigators have connected to the attack might be walking by, “and that might be where they get the best image.”

Investigators will likely gather thousands of hours of video, from cell phones and store security cameras. And ATM cameras.  And traffic light cameras. But it will be in hundreds of different digital formats, many of them proprietary, so just collecting it all into one system is tough. Guarino warns that the usual ways we share videos, over YouTube, or burned on a dvd, involve data compression, to make the files smaller and easier to send. “That means throwing data away, throwing evidence away,” he says.  “It could come down to a pixel.”

To tackle that issue, companies like Guarino’s have developed special technology that can be used to gather and copy video without compromising its quality. Once all that video is gathered, it goes to a place like the Digital Media Evidence Processing Lab at the University of Indianapolis, where, someone like Grant Fredericks -- a forensic video expert -- sifts through it all, frame by frame, trying to make connections.

Fredericks says his team will tag everything, including “clothing descriptions, hat descriptions, backpack descriptions, shoes descriptions, location descriptions.” Those tags are cross-referenced so “you can then track an individual across the city,” he says. 

But is all this technology, all this combing of video, worth it? When asked what are the odds that the person who planted the package would have actually been caught on video yesterday, Fredericks doesn’t hesitate. “One hundred percent likely, probably 100 times or more,” he says.

On an average day, a person is likely to be recorded 30 times, he adds. And this was the Boston Marathon.

Tens of thousands of kids in Arizona got a free breakfast this week from McDonald's. Franchise owners in a handful of states have gotten together to give out food on the days that schools administer big standardized tests.

The promotion was such a big draw at a Central Phoenix McDonald's Tuesday morning that it took some effort to squeeze through the front door. "I suspect that we'll serve over 500 students this morning, just in this restaurant alone," says franchise operator Jerry Gehrke.

Last year, Arizona McDonald's restaurants gave out more than 81,000 meals to kids on test day. Restaurants in a handful of other states, including Florida, Oklahoma and Minnesota, have also participated. Gehrke spends $2 a head on each student's Egg McMuffin, a pack of apple slices, and a carton of milk or orange juice. He says it's good for the kids, who need brain food to ace the state's standardized tests.

The free breakfast also builds customer loyalty.

"It does. It makes me feel like, oh my God, after so much money being spent here, I finally get something back," says mom Naomi Quintero, who eats at the restaurant every weekend with her family.

Quintero's sons will each get 18 grams of protein in their egg sandwich. That's pretty good fuel for a test, said Simin Levinson, a nutritionist at Arizona State University. "I would consider it to be a well-rounded meal," she says.

But it's not the only place to get one. The nearby Creighton School District says about 4,700 students eat a free breakfast every day. Their families are poor enough to qualify for subsidized meals. Levinson says these meals are nutritionally similar to the free McDonald's menu. But if she had a choice, she'd take the one that's free of corporate influence.

"This is where I can't help but be a little bit skeptical: Is this a ploy that McDonald's is using in creating a whole new generation of consumers that will be brand loyal specific to McDonald's?" she says.

That worries Levinson because she says the next time those 500 kids are in line, they're likely to chose something loaded with fat and sodium.

The city of Boston is coming together for prayer vigils and reflections following yesterday's explosions at the Boston Marathon. Host Michel Martin talks with Bishop Gayle Harris, of The Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, about how Bostonians are handling the shock and the faith community's response.

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Investigators are following every lead after yesterday's bombings at the Boston Marathon. Host Michel Martin speaks with Don Borelli, a former FBI special agent on terrorism, to hear how investigators piece together a crime like this, and determine who is responsible.

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For the first time, China gives numbers for its ground, air and naval forces. It also slams the U.S. for its shift to Asia.

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A day after three people were killed and over 130 injured by two bombings at the Boston Marathon, the search for answers is well underway. The FBI has taken charge of the investigation and is appealing for any video, audio and still images taken by spectators. But sifting through all the submissions in an organized fashion presents a significant challenge.

Of all the programs in the federal budget, Section 8 housing doesn't have much fat to cut. The program provides rent vouchers to families earning an average of less than $13,000 a year. But sequestration has left housing authorities with a stark choice: Eliminate some vouchers altogether, or ask people to contribute more.

Yahoo has bought Summly, Snip.It, and Jybe among other small startups you may never have heard of. The strategy, basically is: Smart people will develop smarter products. Shares are up more than 50 percent under Mayer, but analysts say it has nothing to do with her or Yahoo's main business.