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NPR's Mandelit Delbarco reports that the plaintiffs have rested their case in the civil trial of OJ Simpson, accused of the "wrongful deaths" of his former wife, Nicole, and her friend Ronald Goldman. The final witness for the plaintiffs was Fred Goldman, father of victim Ron, who testified to the tremendous pain his son's death has caused him. Now, the defense will take over, and is expected to focus on demonstrating flaws in police work following the murders.

NPR's Noah Adams talks to Chris Douridas-- who has a radio program Morning Becomes Electric on our member station KCRW in Santa Monica. Douridas talks about how everyday he gets around 50 CDs and tapes from musicians who want to be on the radio. He listens to all of them and today introduces us to the gentle giant of Hawaiian song -- he weighs some 700 pounds, but plays the ukelele gently and beautifully with incredible precision. Douridas introduces us to this artist's rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

Commentator Jacob Weisberg wonders about the latest category of crucial swing voters- "soccer moms." He says this categorization of some women is as misleading as the "angry white male" voter from the 1994 election. If you define these women as suburban and professional, they do lean toward Clinton--but this year, it's the men that are actually more fickle and likely to make up the "swing vote."

John Parker was a slave, an abolitionist and a businessman. Recently, his memoirs were discovered and published, providing a vivid account of this remarkable man's life. Actor Mississippi Charles Bevel reads excerpts from Parker's book.

Congressional and White House budget negotiators are close to agreement on a plan to balance the budget by 2002. However, Democratic congressional leaders have raised concerns that proposed spending cuts are too deep and that proposed tax cuts are too great. The White House says President Clinton won't sign on until a majority of Democrats are on board. Negotiations were expected to go all day long. NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports.

Senior news analyst Daniel Schorr says that the Clinton administration has backed itself into a corner with its objection (born of the presidential campaign) to the reelection of Boutros Boutros-Ghali as Secretary General of the United Nations.

NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports on the Commission on United States-Pacific Trade and Investment Policy. The commission has been working to draw up a list of policy options that might help pry open Asian markets. It's getting a lot of publicity because one of its members is Charles Yah Lin Trie the Democratic fundraiser who raised some allegedly improper and illegal funds for the Democratic Party.

NPR's Edward Lifson in Serbia reports that tens of thousands of Opposition demonstrators tonight walked to the central cathedral in Belgrade. Led by Serbian priests and Opposition leaders, they're celebrating Christmas Eve according to Serbian Christian Orthodox calendar.

NPR's Julie McCarthy reports that officials from the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum are working out details of a plan to bring about the most ambitious trade liberalization plan in history. But as they were meeting, there were noisy demonstrations against the plan on the streets of Manila. Opponents complain that freer trade will allow large multi-national corporations to exploit the region's poor and the environment.

Noah and Robert read from listeners' comments. To contact All Things Considered, the address is All Things Considered Letters, 635 Massachusetts Avenue Northwest, Washington D.C., 20001.

Robert talks with Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Center for People and the Press, about yesterday's elections and what the results mean for the nation. Kohut says that although there are discernable patterns in voting, there is no really defined pattern of what all the results of the races mean politically. Overall, mainstream political ideas carried the day...and neither the Republicans nor the Democrats ended up with a mandate.

NPR's Melissa Block reports on the victory of Democrat Carolyn McCarthy, giving her a House seat from New York state. McCarthy was widowed after the Long Island Railroad shootings, and defeated incumbent Republican freshman Daniel Frisa after he voted to repeal an assault weapons ban.

Junot Diaz is a young writer who was born in the Dominican Republic. He was raised there, but also in New Jersey, and he has just published a collection of stories about growing up on his old home island and in the U.S. The book is called Drown.

NPR's Julie McCarthy reports from Tokyo on the way candidates for tomorrow's Parliamentary elections in Japan are campaigning. Some are sending young women into neighborhoods with bull horns, while others are running flashy advertisements on television.

The race to succeed Illinois Sen. Paul Simon presents voters with a clear ideological choice between Democratic House member Dick Durbin and Republican State Senator Al Salvi. Durbin campaigns on a wide range of federal initiatives, while Salvi focuses on tax and budget cuts. The two met in a classic Lincoln-Douglas style debate yesterday, and we have an excerpt.

NPR's Mara Liasson reports that President Clinton opened an emergency summit today between Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Arafat. The meeting is an attempt to salvage the Middle East peace process, which unravelled in violence last week in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem. But in the opening sessions of the two-day summit, there appeared to be more distrust and anger between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders than a commitment to seek compromise.

NPR's Jim Zarroli reports that AT&T announced an aggressive expansion of its wireless telephone services today. The company plans to make a package of wireless services -- including data, paging and e-mail -- available in forty of the nation's largest markets. Several other companies are racing to provide similar services on a national basis.

NPR's Ted Clark talks with Linda about the conclusion of President Clinton's emergency summit to restart the Middle East Peace Process, which ended with only an agreement to keep talking -- back in the Middle East -- starting next Sunday. Both Israel and the Palestinians remain as divided as they were last week about the issues that resulted in 74 deaths. Any resolution of the two nations' differences has now been put off until further talks can be arranged.

Reviewer Alan Cheuse discusses the first novel by Kate Horsley, A Killing in New Town. It's set in New Mexico territory in 1879, and follows the story of a woman whose children are kidnapped by a traveling salesman. [Stations: A Killing in New Town is published by La Alameda Press.)

With improved medical care, disabled children are living longer. Already, a growing number of elderly Americans are caring for children who have never been and never will be entirely independent. NPR's Wendy Schmelzer reports that being a perpetual parent is difficult enough but as these parents grow older, they must also worry about what will happen to their children after they die.