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John Biewen of Minnesota Public Radio reports on the rise of the so-called fringe banks...pawn shops and check cashing businesses which charge very high rates of interest and cater to the poor. An increasing number of poor families have no relationship with a traditional bank or savings and loan. Advocates for the poor say that higher and more pervasive fees are pushing the poor out of banks and into the pawn shops. Bankers disagree and suggest there are lots of reasons why poor people prefer "fringe" banking.

NPR's diplomatic correspondents... Ted Clark, Tom Gjelten and Mike Shuster... talk with Noah about the various world-wide challenges and unfinished business that President Clinton's new National Security staff will face in such arenas as Bosnia, the Middle East, NATO, Russia and China in the coming four years.

Daniel Schorr proposes a somewhat unorthodox way that President Clinton might raise money for his legal defense fund.

NPR's Mary Kay Magistad reports that China is proceeding full speed ahead with construction of a gigantic dam at the site in the central part of the country. Chinese officials said the Three Gorges dam will help alleviate periodic flooding that rountinely kills thousands of people in China, but many environmentalists dispute that. They say the dam will disrupt the lives of thousands of people and do severe damage to the environment.

Robert talks with Maryam Elahi, the program officer for the Middle East, North Africa and Europe for Amnesty International. They discuss the report released this week about the torture of prisoners by the Palestinian Authority, and her visits to that region to check of reports of human rights abuses.

Commissioners in Miami are trying to sort out the city's troubled finances. With a sixty-eight million dollar deficit, the city is in a state of financial emergency. NPR's Debbie Elliott reports that Miami officials are now scrambling to collect fees to make up some of the shortfall.

Senior news analyst Daniel Schorr says that there is much to be learned from previous hostage-taking situations.

NPR's Brooke Gladstone reports that the Supreme Court has agreed to decide on the constitutionality of the Communications Decency Act. Passed by Congress early this year as part of the massive Telecommunications law, the Act restricts the transmission of so-called indecent material on the Internet. A federal judge declared the Act violated free speech guarantees and blocked its enforcement. The Supreme Court will hear the government's appeal of that decision. A ruling is expected next summer.

President Clinton's choice for defense secretary, retiring Senator William Cohen, is expected to win easy confirmation by the Senate. The Senate usually embraces nominations of former members. Plus, Cohen is a Republican, seeking the approval of the GOP-led body. Democrats are expected to support the appointment, in part because Cohen has been independent during his three terms, opposing Republican leaders on issues including the Iran-Contra affair. NPR's Elizabeth Arnold has a profile.

Steven LaFon is the Associate Director of the Anti-Viral Clinical research for Glaxo-Wellcome. He says he empathizes with Getty, and that the company's researchers are working as fast as they can to get the drug 15-92 to the marketplace. He says although the results of trials have been very encouraging, it is still in the very early stages of the approval and marketing process.

NPR's Debbie Elliott reports from New Orleans, the site of this weekend's freighter accident. Investigators are saying "it's a Christmas miracle" that apparently no one was killed when the giant freighter crashed into a shopping complex on a downtown wharf. NTSB investigators start hearings tomorrow to interview ship officials so that the safety board can try to recreate the accident.

Commentator Marion Winik struggles with how to talk to her kids about drugs. Since drugs were a big part of her life and her husband Tony struggled with them until the day he died, she feels she can not simply counsel her children to "just say no".

Commentator Andrew Lam uses his family's story as Vietnamese immigrants to frame his concerns about the current anger over immigration. He says that neither presidential candidate argues for the essential role of immigrants in our national life but vie instead to beef up border patrols.

On the day before the Presidential election, senior news analyst Daniel Schorr sums up some of the lessons learned from this campaign season.

Tom Manoff reviews "Vikings of the Sunrise: Fantasy on the Polynesian Star Path Navigators," by Stephen Scott and the Bowed Piano Ensemble. The piece was composed as a meditation on navigators of the Pacific Ocean...from the ancient Polynesians to the 16th Century Portuguese to Thor Heyerdahl. Scott and his musicians create sounds by playing the interior metal strings of pianos, making for an ethereal, layered sound.

A commentary from Jeff Getty, a man who has AIDS. One year ago, he was given a baboon marrow transplant in an attempt to restore his immune system. He is doing well, but Getty complains about a sense that the company Glaxo-Wellcome is keeping the AIDS drug 15-92 off the market because it wants to maximize its profits for the old AIDS drug AZT. Getty also says he thinks there has been a whole bureaucracy built up around AIDS, with people making six-figure salaries. In the meantime, those with the disease are dying.

Critic Bob Mondello has a review of the new romantic comedy "Jerry Maguire," which stars Tom Cruise and newcomer Renee Zellweger. It's about a sports agent who decides to put people ahead of profit...and what happens after he conveys his new philosophy to his clients. Mondello says the film is smart and appealing.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports from Kigali that Zairean Tutsi rebels today declared a unilateral three-week ceasefire. The guerrillas say the truce is designed to give more than one million Rwandan Hutu refugees in Zaire a chance to go home. In the past two weeks, the rebels have captured all of the main cities along Zaire's border with Burundi and Rwanda, and foreign relief agencies have evacuated their staffs. There is little hope the refugees will return to Tutsi-controlled Rwanda, and relief groups say shortages of food and medicine could soon lead to mass starvation and epidemics among the refugees.

NPR's Cheryl Devall reports from St. Petersburg, Florida - the site of two riots this fall. The city's racial divisions are deep and long-lived. Citizens in the city's black community fear the police; white residents say they don't understand the black community's frustrations.

NPR's Edward Lifson reports from Belgrade that it appears today as if Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic is giving in to Opposition protesters. For nearly nine weeks, a coalition of demonstrators has been rallying against the Milosevic government. They have been protesting a decision in November that annulled the results of municipal elections. Today, the election commission, thought to be controlled by Milosevic, announced the Opposition had won the Belgrade city assembly and the country's second largest city, Nis (NEESH). This isn't a final decision, however, and the Opposition is still wary. Leaders say the demonstrations will continue.