Jen Poyant

Back in 2008, the price of a barrel of oil rose to $133, and prices at the pump topped $4 per gallon. As the economy slowed, and demand for oil dropped, the price did as well. However, the cost of oil has risen to just over $90 a barrel, as confidence in the economic recovery grows stronger and the price of filling up your car is expected to keep rising throughout 2011. What will happen to our economic recovery if we hit the psychological benchmark of $100 per barrel or higher this year?

On this last day of 2010 we revisit the story taking place in Ciudad Juarez, in Mexico. It's a story that we've been sad to return to repeatedly, not just this last year, but over the last four years. Yesterday we heard reports of four more dead in the longstanding Mexican drug war between drug cartels and border troops. Gunmen believed to be linked to the cartels killed four police officers and a doctor in coordinated attacks around the nearby city of Monterrey.

Anticipating the future is a classic (and possibly uniquely) human pastime. For as long as humans have kept records of the past, we have also tried to predict our future...and in so doing, control our destiny. Why do we cling to these predictions? The end of the world, the end of humanity, even our future fortunes…why do we anticipate so much?

2010 is coming to an end and a whole new year of news and culture awaits us. All week long, we've been talking with big thinkers about what they’re anticipating, from new music to world events. Today we take a look at the movies you'll likely be talking about in the year ahead.

All week long we're talking with some of our favorite guests from 2010 about the year that was…the good, the bad, and the ridiculous. Today, our subject is the year’s big breakups, and our guest is author, humorist, and newshound Andy Borowitz. But rather than just talk about or look at the breakups, we’re also inviting listeners to participate and answer a quiz that we’re calling the Takeaway’s 2010 Breakup Quiz.

All week long we're talking with some of our favorite guests from the past year about the year that was. Today we're having a conversation about the teachable moments of 2010. What lessons can we take away from the major world events of the past year?

Inauguration ceremonies for governors will take place in states across the country over the next few weeks. We’re taking a look at states where new leaders will have to face major deficits, population shifts and rising unemployment as they move into their mansions. How are these new governors going to fare when faced with their states' looming budget problems? Today we look to California to consider Jerry Brown, who served as governor there from 1975 to 1983. Brown returns to the statehouse at the age of 74, older and — perhaps — wiser.

All week long we're talking with some of our favorite guests from the past year about the year that was, and what they foresee in the year ahead. Today we're having a conversation with our friend Kristen Rouse. Rouse is a first lieutenant in the Army National Guard, and a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. She returned from her most recent deployment two weeks ago.

As Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo heads to Albany, he'll be entering a context created by his own family (father Mario Cuomo held the position for over a decade), as well as what people on both sides of the aisle acknowledge is a legislative mess. The public perception of the New York governor's office has been in flux ever since Eliot Spitzer resigned, after his prostitution scandal. Andrew Cuomo, New York’s attorney general, ran on a reform ticket, pledging that he’d get notoriously-gridlocked Albany back in working order. Can he do it? 

The inauguration season for the nation’s newly elected governors will take place over the next few weeks. Republicans gained six governorships, which means they’ll hold 29 seats, while Democrats will hold 20.  (Lincoln Chafee, in Rhode Island, will be the only independent). The executive control these governors wield in state governments across the country will have a noticeable impact on the balance of power for both parties in the coming years.

All week long we're talking with some of our favorite guests from the past year about the year that was, and what they foresee in the year ahead.

Today: a conversation about the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry…the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which leaked over 205 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf this past spring and summer. The leaking oilhead was capped in July: how are people in Gulf states doing today?

The holiday blizzard of 2010 knocked East Coasters out of their routines this week, but there was a hint of deja vú as the snow fell. Big weather events have been making headlines across the country and around the world for several years, now. Last week, enough snow fell in Minneapolis that the roof of the Metrodome collapsed. Blizzards crippled Western Europe's airports and rain deluged San Diego. Is this bad weather part of a new normal? Is global warming bearing down on us at a hastening pace?

NFL playoffs begin next week, kicking off the countdown to the Super Bowl. That also means the competition to be named the league's MVP has heated up. One of the top two contenders is Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback Michael Vick. Some think of him as the comeback story of the year, having returned to football after serving time for his dogfighting conviction. Tom Brady, the other top contender, seems to be leading his Patriots inexorably for the Super Bowl. So who deserves the title?

As 2010 draws to a close, we look forward to another year of music in 2011. We speak with Caryn Ganz, editor of the Yahoo music blog "The Amplifier," about what she's expecting from Lady Gaga and Kanye West, along with perennial favorites P. J. Harvey and R.E.M.

All week long we're talking with some of our favorite guests from the past year about the year that was, and what they foresee in the year ahead. Today, we discuss the economy. According to some financial reporters and analysts, the economy is on a slow, gradual upswing. But is this upswing something non-analysts are feeling?

The University of Connecticut women's basketball team won their 89th straight game last night, surpassing John Wooden's UCLA men's team, who won 88 games in a row from 1971-1974. Connecticut's Huskies beat Florida State 93-62; Maya Moore led the team with a career-high 41 points and 10 rebounds.

Lenders typically ask to access someone's credit scores in order to see what kind of loans they have paid back in the past. Agreeing to a credit check has become an expected part of preparing to lease a car, buy a house or rent an apartment. But did you know a potential employer may also check your credit score before you get hired?

The historic slave trade from Africa to the Americas was so widespread and so horrific as to remain difficult to entirely grasp. A new book, “Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade," aims to turn historic data from the period into a more coherent view, through maps and data. The book uncovers information that may soon have us all reconsidering not only America's history, but many of our own personal stories. 

We love music on The Takeaway, and we know you do to. So it's no surprise that when we asked, you delivered. A ton of responses this morning to our question: What are your most loved or most hated holiday songs?

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has been charged, along with his father and three top aides, with racketeering, extortion, taking kickbacks and attempting to personally enrich themselves through the mayor's high office. The case is one of the biggest corruption indictments in Detroit history.