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NPR's Adam Hochberg reports that National Transportation Safety Board officials say they have obtained good data from the flight recorder from ValuJet 592 recovered yesterday in the Everglades. They declined to be more specific this afternoon, saying they were still analyzing the data that will hopefully shed some light on why the DC-9 crashed three days, killing 109 people.

Researchers at the Harvard Business School and the University of North Carolina say sharing music files over the Internet has not adversely affected CD sales. The study compares downloads of music files with store sales of those same songs. Officials in the recording industry have long blamed file sharing for the decline in CD sales in recent years. NPR's Felix Contreras reports.

Melissa Block talks to Arizona Ostrich Rancher D.C. Cogburn about the day his ostriches stampeded several years ago, and the financial woes he's had ever since. He says a hot-air balloon so spooked the birds that they panicked; many were seriously injured. His loss to the balloonists in a civil lawsuit has led Cogburn to quit the business.

Commentator Leonard Rosen compares himself and his family's holiday visits to the seasonal migration of birds, whales and other animals, whose instints force them to travel, sometimes hundreds of miles, to get "back home." In observing the travel patterns of millions of people during the holiday season, Rosen notes that people also have that instinctual urge to "get up, move, go back."

Up until this summer, Los Angeles-based singer Alex Lilly had been known mostly for her role as backup singer for pop duo The Bird and the Bee. Recently, however, Lilly embarked upon a new project and took the spotlight for herself. With the help of 10 of her friends, she's created the band Obi Best and recorded the keyboard-driven pop debut, Capades.

The U.S. economy is slowing down from its red-hot growth of the past few years. As NPR's John Ydstie reports, most economists believe the economy is in fine shape, growing at a sustainable level without significant inflation. But some worry that there are enough trouble spots -- declining corporate profits, a cheerless stock market and uncertainty over the presidential election -- to throw the economy into recession.

Linda talks to Stanley Henshaw, deputy director of research at the Guttmacher Institute and co-author of the study "Abortion Patients in 1994-1995: Characteristics and Contraception Use." The study says that about half of all women in the U-S will have an abortion at some time in their lives, that 18% of women who had abortions were born-again Christians, and that the abortion rate among teenagers has declined.

NPR's David Molpus reports that Bush and Gore lawyers have filed briefs with the federal appeals court in Atlanta. Bush's lawyers are asking the court to block further recounts of the Florida vote, maintaining that the procedures are unconstitutional and are undermining the integrity of the election. Gore's lawyers say Florida courts should have control, and the appeals court should uphold lower federal judges, who declined to intervene.

The State Department issues its revised terrorism report, correcting its annual paper released in April. The initial findings, showing a decline in terrorism during 2003, led some U.S. officials to claim the country was winning the war against terrorists. But the revised report, using more accurate data, shows that terrorist attacks actually increased in 2003. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

In the 1980s and 1990s, asthma rates in U.S. kids reached epidemic proportions. Though studies indicate the rates are leveling off, rates for African American and Hispanic children and inner-city populations aren't declining. New research suggests poverty, stress and poor mental health may be fueling the problem. Madge Kaplan of member station WGBH reports.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told lawmakers that progress toward bringing down the nation's high unemployment rate will be "frustratingly slow." He reiterated previous statements that the Fed stands ready to do more, but declined to be specific about what it would do. Bernanke also defended the Fed's role in addressing the manipulation of a benchmark interest rate by at least one big bank.

19th Century composer and piano virtuoso Franz Liszt (frahnz list) was a deeply religious man who sometimes wrote music inspired by his faith. He wrote two pieces for piano dedicated to St. Francis; we'll hear one of them, Legend: St. Francis Preaching to the Birds, along with a brief explanation of the music by Tom Mastroianni, president of the American Liszt Society.

- On election night, news networks will be predicting winners hours before polls close around the country. Daniel talks with Curtis Gans about the effect of these projections on voter turnouts. Gans is the Director of the Non-Partisan Committee for the Study of the American Electorate. He says many studies show a decline in voting on the West coast after networks begin projecting winners, which could make a big difference in this election.

Stocks were trading sharply lower this afternoon following a disappointing earnings report from technology leader Hewlett-Packard and continued uncertainty over the presidential election. As NPR's Jim Zarroli reports, the Nasdaq composite index has fallen especially hard in recent days, with shares of highly profitable, dominant companies tumbling, a situation more worrying to many investors than the decline of the dot-coms.

NPR's Tovia Smith reports on the case of Rebecca Corneau, the Massachusetts cult member who was jailed last month in an effort to make sure her baby is born safely. Corneau has declined to appeal. Another pregnant woman, known as Barbara F., tried to challenge the ruling, saying it would have a chilling effect on *all* pregnant women. Yesterday, Massachusetts' highest court denied that effort.

Rbert talks to Barton Gellman, Jerusalem Bureau Chief for the Washington Post , about the decline in popularity of Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. In the six months since Netanyahu took office, there have been events that led to questions about Netanyahu's effectiveness...such as the violent response to the Israeli government's opening of a tourist tunnel and the inability of the government to negotiate a plan for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Hebron. At home and abroad, confidence in Netanyahu's effectiveness as a leader has waned.

The United Auto Workers union broke with tradition in its on-going contract negotiations with Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler. The union has declined to formally announce a strike target, as is typically done by Labor Day of the contract year. However NPR's Don Gonyea reports that there are indications that the union is focusing its attention on one company, Ford, in hopes of reaching a settlement that can serve as a pattern for the other two companies.

Appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, President Bush's nominee to replace Gen. Tommy Franks as head of the U.S. Central Command defends the pre-war intelligence the administration presented on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Lt. Gen. John Abizaid says he expects U.S. forces to remain in Iraq "a long time" but declines to offer specifics. NPR's David Welna reports.

For decades, coal represented half of the nation's electricity generation, but it dropped to only 34 percent for the month of March. While the decline is partially due to a warmer winter and stricter environmental regulations, the real culprit may be natural gas. Technological breakthroughs in fracking have led to a gas boom that's caused prices to plummet. As a result, power plants are switching from coal to natural gas and mines in Appalachia are shutting down.

Noah Adams talks to Dot Jackson, who lives by herself near the border between North Carolina and South Carolina. She says that she hasn't had power for two days because of the weather, but she isn't too cold because she has a wood stove. She says that whenever she goes to get wood, all the birds hiding from the cold in her woodpile fly out.