Shannon Mullen

With 4.8 million people now playing, pickleball is ready for the big time.

More than a half century after the addictive sport of pickleball was created in an American backyard, it's been exploding in popularity — thanks to its affordability and cross-generational appeal.

Some people who get cards this holiday season will need a smartphone to see what's inside. Hallmark is selling video greetings that make it easy to send montages of personalized videos.

Maine's vital lobster industry is facing big challenges: new regulations; fewer young people entering the business; and threats to its thriving lobster population, including climate change.

This year American consumers are expected to take advantage of retailers' holiday promotions and spend big on gifts for themselves. Fifty-nine percent of shoppers polled plan to "self-gift" — the highest number in a retail industry survey's 10-year history.

Since the Susan G. Komen 3-Day walks began nine years ago, participants have raised more than $600 million nationwide for breast cancer research. Now, in the wake of a controversy over Komen's grants to Planned Parenthood, some participants are worried it might be harder to get donations this year.

At the Fife and Drum Restaurant, located in a Massachusetts minimum-security prison, inmates learn to cook and wait tables. Regulars praise the tasty lunches served up at bargain prices. Prison officials say such job training reduces the chances prisoners will re-offend.

The nation's oldest black church reopens to the public this week after a $9-million restoration fueled in part by federal stimulus funds, and completed in painstaking detail despite the recession. Shannon Mullen tours Boston's African Meeting House with the woman who led the project.

Salem, Mass., is a major tourist attraction thanks to its infamous 17th-century witch trials. Tourists really pour in around Halloween for a good scream, and this year, a high-tech haunted house is bringing a new edge to a local tradition.

Hurling, the sport that was created by ancient Celtic warriors, has found a niche following among some soldiers in the U.S. A group of National Guardsmen in New Hampshire formed a team to stay in shape after Middle East deployments. But they found benefits much more than physical.