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Commentator Mickey Edwards wonders whether Republicans will keep up their contentious adversarial relationship with the Democrats, or whether 1997 will bring a new era of cooperation.

Commentator Kristine Holmgren says as a young girl she was taught to remember the poor -- to be generous and share. Now she says there is little respect for the poor...they are seen as evil and the demonization of the poor is breeding cynicism about poverty. She worries that the plight of the poor in general no longer moves us. Rather, we are only moved by an interruption in our own material success.

The French jazz bass player Renaud Garcia Fons is making his U.S. debut with a record featuring two basses, accordion, and drums. The music incorporates influences from Spanish flamenco, to Moroccan, to Japanese music.

Commentator David Brooks writes in support of the election of Newt Gingrich. He says ousting Newt would have been an extreme punishment for some rather minor infractions...and that Republicans would have gotten only a short-term boost if they "betrayed" their leader. He says the Republicans today struck a blow for loyalty, for simple justice and for the good of the country.

- Reporter Alex Van Oss reports that the people of Finland consider Santa Claus one of their own...and have a workshop near the Arctic Circle to prove it. Van Oss visits the Finnish Embassy Christmas party where diplomats give their government's official policy on the origins of Santa.

NPR's Ted Clark reports on the resignation of Secretary of State Warren Christopher and the expected departure of many on his foreign policy team. Who President Clinton picks to succeed Christopher will indicate whether Clinton's second term will follow the same tenuous foreign policy...or whether there will be new initiatives in Bosnia, the Middle East, Russia and China...and in the area of international peacekeeping.

Robert speaks with Hassan Rahman, chief representative of the Palestinian Liberation Organization to the United States, about the sticking points in the negotiations over Israeli withdrawal from Hebron. Rahman says the unwillingness of the Israelis to set a timetable for the implementation of the rest of the Oslo Peace agreement is preventing a final agreement on Hebron.

Senior news analyst Daniel Schorr says that Gingrich yesterday appeared to have been made over as a new man, but whether his apologetic persona will be able to command respect as Speaker and rally the conservative troops remains in question.

NPR's Mike Shuster reports that Islam is making a resurgence in the countries of Central Asia. When many of these regions were controlled by the Soviet Union, mosques were closed and religious education curtailed. But now that independence has been achieved, there's been intense interest in recapturing the Islamic heritage of the Central Asian states.

Despite the 3.5 billion dollars that this country spends on substance abuse prevention programs in the nation's schools, drug use is going up sharply among teenagers...especially marijuana and cigarette use among young teens aged 13 and 14. As the Clinton Administration announced these statistics yesterday, government health officials promised new initiatives to try and reverse this trend. But no one believes that doing so will be easy. Experts say drug use among teens is a terribly compex problem, and the view from the street makes that very clear. NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports.

The NPR Players explore the possibility that its not just the FBI and CIA that is infested with employees willing to sell secrets. This satire exposes that the treachery reaches down to the ATF, GAO, FCC, BLM and even PBS.

NPR's David Baron reports that Massachusetts has become the first state in the nation to make detailed information on doctors easily available to the public. As of today, consumers can get comprehensive profiles of physicians licensed in the state. These profiles include previously confidential information about malpractice suits. Some doctors complain the information isn't a good measure of quality.

Linda speaks with White House Correspondent Mara Liasson about the coming year for the White House...she says the President will not be seeking to pass huge legislative packages (like health care..) as he did in his first administration--and he faces many investigations into everything from Whitewater to campaign finance--but one new tool he will have in his second term will be the line item veto.

Commentator David Crystal says there is a role for senseless babble, whether for baby talk, or skat in jazz music.

Senior news analyst Daniel Schorr says that now that the hoopla of election night is over, it is apparent that the results show some alarming trends in the American electorate.

Linda talks with Tyler Nordgren, a graduate student of astronomy at Cornell University. They talks about how Carl Sagan, who died today at the age of 62, inspired him to study astronomy. Nordgren used to rush home from school to watch Sagan's PBS series "Cosmos" on television, and eventually decided to study interacting galaxies as a result.

NPR's Tom Gjelten reports that in Argentina, President Carlos Menem (MEN-um) continues to confound his critics. Since taking office in 1989, his government has stopped hyperinflation and put the Argentine economy on a high-growth track, mainly by selling off money-losing state industries. Menem's policy surprised many Argentines ...he campaigned for president as a follower of Juan Peron (purr-OHN), who built up the big state sector as Argentina's president fifty years ago. Now in his second term, Carlos Menem is shaking the Peronist (PAIR-oh-nist) party again, this time by challenging labor unions, the traditional base of the Peronist movement. Menem's reforms raise the question of whether Peronism (PAIR-uh-nizm) is finished in Argentina.

The budget of the District of Columbia has been in trouble for years, and President Clinton has made a proposal to help the city in his new federal budget. Under the plan, about three-point-nine billion dollars of federal money would be spent on Washington, D-C over the next five years. Nearly half of that money would go to expand, renovate and operate the city's prisons. NPR's Kathleen Schlach reports on the problems that led to the District's prison crisis.

NPR's John Burnett reports on Texas Attorney General Dan Morales' order barring affirmative action by public colleges and universities. Colleges may not use race as a factor in admissions, scholarships or recruitment programs.