To tackle poverty, more states will offer bigger child tax credits in 2024 The new benefits take a cue from a pandemic success story — when an expanded U.S. child tax credit briefly cut child poverty in half. Some states include immigrants and index credits to inflation. Read more on NPR

‘Steamboat Willie’ is now in the public domain. What does that mean for Mickey Mouse? A 1928 movie featuring the first appearance of Mickey Mouse enters public domain on Jan. 1. But creative and commercial access to the character is complicated by both copyright and trademark law. Read more on NPR

Strong quakes prompt tsunami warnings along Japan’s western coast Japan’s Meterological Agency reported quakes off the coast of Ishikawa and nearby prefectures and issued tsunami warnings or advisories for the rest of the western coast of Japan’s island of Honshu. Read more on NPR