Your customized headlines for Mon, Apr 2, 2012

The burden of paying for college is wreaking havoc on the finances of an unexpected demographic: senior citizens.

New research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows that Americans 60 and older still owe about $36 billion in student loans, providing a rare window into the dynamics of student debt. More than 10 percent of those loans are delinquent. As a result, consumer advocates say, it is not uncommon for Social Security checks to be garnished or for debt collectors to harass borrowers in their 80s over student loans that are decades old.

Herndon-based GeoEye and a competitor that also produces satellite images of Earth are bracing for a reduction in federal funding they had hoped would help sustain their businesses over the next decade.

Not a single shipment of shark fins moved through the Port of Baltimore last year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. But Maryland still may ban the sale and trade of the Asian delicacy, much to the ire of some fishermen and restaurant owners.

Duane M. Cummins has removed gum from the rooftop of the W Hotel, the entrance of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and from under the tables at Dave & Buster's.

The D.C. native has made a living — and annual revenue upwards of $100,000 — from cleaning gum off the sidewalks outside commercial office buildings, government institutions and college campuses throughout the Washington area.

Chief executives of Washington's most active trade lobby groups defied the sluggish economy and enjoyed pay increases averaging 16 percent.

Heads of the 30 top industry associations took home an average of $2.34 million in 2010, up from $2.02 million the previous year, according to tax data. Those groups have spent $1.67 billion in Washington lobbying since Barack Obama entered the White House, with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce accounting for one-third of that amount.

Say you're a state politician. Your local roads, bridges, and transit systems are all in dire need of upgrades. But there's not much money left. Budgets are crunched. No one wants to raise taxes. And Congress is throttling back on transportation funding. So what's left? Privatization, of course.

Here is a guest post from Andy Chan, vice president of the Wake Forest University Office of Personal and Career Development, and Jacquelyn S. Fetrow, Reynolds Professor of Computational Biophysics and dean of Wake Forest College. From April 11-13, they will co-host "Rethinking Success: From the Liberal Arts to Careers in the 21st Century," a national conference to examine issues related to the relevance and value of the liberal arts education to the workforce today.