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We told you this morning about changes announced in China regarding the country's one-child policy, as well as an announcement that it was ending its system of labor camps. But those aren't the only policy shifts by the Communist Party.

China also said Friday that it would loosen restrictions on foreign investment in e-commerce and other businesses, and allow private competition in state-dominated sectors.

The Associated Press says the changes "could be China's biggest economic overhaul in two decades." Here's more:

"Chinese leaders are under pressure to replace a growth model based on exports and investment that delivered three decades of rapid growth but has run out of steam. Reform advocates say Beijing must curb the privileges and dominant role of state companies they say are inefficient and a drag on growth."

Bitcoin, the virtual currency that exists as alphanumeric strings online, is on the verge of getting into politics.

The Federal Election Commission is expected to vote Thursday on a proposal to allow bitcoin contributions to political action committees — even as skeptics say that bitcoins could undermine the disclosure standards of federal law.

The FEC is acting as other federal agencies are also exploring the uses, and dangers, of digital currency. At a Senate hearing on Monday, federal law enforcement officials cited Silk Road, an online illegal marketplace that used bitcoins before it was shut down.

Edward Lowery III, chief of the Secret Service Criminal Investigative Division, told the panel: "While digital currencies may provide potential benefits, they present real risks through their use by the criminal and terrorist organizations trying to conceal their illicit activity."

Still, no one at the Senate hearing wanted to stifle virtual currency, and neither does the FEC. The commission was brought into the issue by the Conservative Action Fund, a political action committee that is seeking approval to accept bitcoins as contributions.

"Our interest here is we know this is happening; we're getting requests to make this happen. We really want to understand: How do we do this right?" said Dan Backer, the PAC's lawyer, at an FEC meeting on Nov. 14.

But the six commissioners weren't sure about nongovernmental currency, as commission Chairwoman Ellen Weintraub, a Democrat, acknowledged.

Planet Money

Adam Davidson Talks Bitcoin With Stephen Colbert

Many organic farmers are hopping mad right now at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and their reason involves perhaps the most under-appreciated part of agriculture: plant food, aka fertilizer. Specifically, the FDA, as part of its overhaul of food safety regulations, wants to limit the use of animal manure.

"We think of it as the best thing in the world," says organic farmer Jim Crawford, "and they think of it as toxic and nasty and disgusting."

Every highly productive farmer depends on fertilizer. But organic farmers are practically obsessive about it, because they've renounced industrial sources of nutrients.

So on this crisp fall morning, Crawford is practically rhapsodic as he watches his field manager, Pearl Wetherall, spread manure across a field where cabbage grew last summer.

"All that green material — that cover crop and the cabbage — all mixed up with that nice black manure that's just rich and full of good microrganisms, and we're going to get a wonderful fertility situation for next spring here," he says.

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This is the first in a three-part report on Philadelphia schools in crisis.

Sharron Snyder and Othella Stanback, both seniors at Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin High, will be the first in their families to graduate from high school. This, their final year, was supposed to be memorable. Instead, these teenagers say they feel cheated.

"We're fed up with the budget cuts and everything. Like, this year, my school is like really overcrowded. We don't even have lockers because it's, like, too many students," Sharron says.

Franklin High doubled in size because it absorbed hundreds of kids from two high schools the district could not afford to keep open this fall.

But "we didn't gain an extra counselor, we didn't gain extra teachers," Othella says.

Timeline: The Quest To Fix Philadelphia Public Schools

1998 — Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell and David Hornbeck, school district superintendent, sue Pennsylvania, accusing the state of not adequately funding the city's public schools. The suit goes nowhere.

2001 — Pennsylvania moves to take over the school district, citing a total breakdown in administration as well as scandalously low test scores and graduation rates. Hornbeck and the city's elected school board are ousted. The state creates a five-member School Reform Commission (SRC).

2002-2011 — The SRC oversees a massive expansion of charter schools and takeover of struggling schools by private third-party operators. Dozens of private foundations pour millions of dollars into Philadelphia, mostly to subsidize charter schools.

2011 — Philadelphia loses almost $200 million due to federal aid budget cuts.

Feb. 2012 — The SRC hires a global business consulting group to help the district devise a cost-cutting plan. The group's $2.7 million fee is paid with private donations, reportedly from powerful pro-charter, pro-voucher advocates. The group wants to expand privately run, publicly funded charter schools, shut down 60 traditional public schools over five years and reorganize all other schools.

June 2012 — In the face of a $304 million budget deficit, the SRC eliminates athletics, art, music and most extracurricular activities. Layoff notices go out to 3,800 district employees, including teachers, counselors, administrators, aides and clerical staff.

Fall 2013 — Still broke, the district announces it will have to permanently close more than 20 schools. The mayor borrows money to open the remaining schools with bare-bones budgets. Many parents are asked to buy paper, books and basic supplies for schools to operate.

Oct. 2013 — The SRC restores music, art and athletics programs and rehires some guidance counselors and support staff after Gov. Tom Corbett releases $45 million he had been withholding pending discussions with Philadelphia's teachers union. Superintendent William Hite warns that without union concessions on pay and health benefits, the district next year will be back to where it was: broke and unable to operate.