The United States has a new top diplomat, and we’ll get to that change in a moment. But here’s a longer-term shift that caught our eye: Between 2010 and 2015 the money held by women grew from 28 percent to 30 percent of all global wealth. That's modest progress that’s likely to continue, says the Boston Consulting Group.

Even more interesting is that women tend to make different moral choices – and often smarter ones – when they control the wealth, says a recent Economist article. Men tend to be overconfident. Women tend to seek advice, and they outperformed men in the markets by one percentage point each year, according to one study.

Here’s another difference: Women tend to care about others. Surveys show women want financial returns and social or environmental returns. For some wealthy women that means investing in women. They’re using a “gender lens” to choose stocks. While social investing has gotten a bad reputation for involving more risk and lower returns, that isn’t always true. Studies show that companies with more women in the top jobs perform better than those without. In fact, paying attention to gender equity is often an indicator of good company management.

Now to our five selected stories, reporting on what might be a voter shift on gun rights in Colorado, melding justice and motherhood in Costa Rica, and a new test of sustainable suburban living in the Sunshine State.