Your customized headlines for Fri, Mar 9, 2012

As the financial industry faces deteriorating public opinion and a raft of new regulations, one bank is adopting an un­or­tho­dox philosophy: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Barclays this week announced that it is launching a new credit card that will use social media to crowdsource features that could range from where call centers are located to the size of late fees. The British bank said the goal is to rebuild trust among increasingly wary consumers and create a new level of transparency for credit cards. It even plans to disclose how much it makes off the card — and potentially return some of that money to customers.

Labor costs have risen sharply, outpacing inflation for only the second time since the beginning of the financial crisis. Labor costs per unit grew 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, in large part because of higher compensation, the Wall Street Journal reports. It's the biggest increase since the end of 2008, and it could be a good for workers, who may be having an easier time bargaining for higher salaries as there's more demand for new employees.

Whenever global warming drops off Congress's radar, some environmentalists point out the real action is occurring locally, anyway. Some 500 U.S. mayors have signed pledges to reduce carbon emissions. Berkeley, for one, promises an 80 percent cut by 2050. But do these plans actually do anything?

Two weeks ago I wrote about the abortion rights movement's big strategic success in Virginia. Advocates had used emotional, highly charged language to rally supporters against a mandatory ultrasound law that had already passed in seven other states with little backlash or fanfare.