NPR News

Black Friday sales surged to their highest level since 2007, and early results from Cyber Monday's online sales are up almost 20 percent over 2010. The U.S. economy and many consumers continue to struggle, however, and some forecasters worry that the encouraging retail boost is unsustainable.

Actor Alan Rickman has played a loving husband, leader to a group of terrorist henchmen, a stern professor of the dark arts and even a caterpillar.

From Sense And Sensibility to Die Hard to Hogwarts, Rickman's talents have made him recognizable to several generations of moviegoers. Now, Rickman is hoping to continue that trend on stage in the new play, Seminar, which recently opened on Broadway.

Occupy Wall Street protests around the country have raised questions about the role of the police. Norm Stamper, Seattle's former police chief, Philadelphia police commissioner Charles Ramsey and Brooklyn College sociologist Alex Vitale talk about the evolution of crowd control tactics.

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

It's Tuesday and time to read from your comments. On Thanksgiving, we talked to Dave Isay, founder of StoryCorps, about the National Day of Listening, which focused this year on teachers. Kavon Hasari(ph) wrote, I came to the United States at age 12 from Puerto Rico. The rigor and criticism of several English teachers and the French teacher in Miami made me want to become a better writer. Now I make a living writing in English and French.