Staples' top executives didn't make their performance targets last year but got paid a special bonus anyway for effort. The company said the awards were needed to retain key talent and motivate workers.

Sumner Redstone, who will turn 91 on Tuesday, has recently raised more than $200 million selling stock in the two companies he controls: Viacom and CBS Corp.

By Sarah E. Needleman and Ruth Simon Tisto Chapman, an owner of a Powerhouse Gym in Burbank, Calif., said that in August he paid a St. Louis broker thousands of dollars to help him obtain a bank loan to upgrade his facilities and refinance debt. It seemed like a no-lose proposition, in part because the broker, Richard Saddler, promised to refund him the $12,500 fee if the loan didn't materialize, Mr. Chapman said. In the next month and a half, Mr. Saddler repeatedly reassured Mr. Chapman that the loan was being processed, according to the gym owner.

Longhand note takers learn by reframing lecturers’ ideas in their own words.

It's not because of a great diversity program or women's network.