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Public housing authorities are being hard hit by strains on state budgets. Now, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development warns local governments that less funding is in the pipeline to local housing authorities. It's unclear how much funding will be cut. NPR's Janet Babin reports.

The Securities and Exchange Commission approves new rules to assure that accounting firms maintain independence from companies they audit. The rules stem from legislation Congress passed last summer in the wake of accounting scandals at companies such as Enron and WorldCom. Critics say the new regulations aren't as strict as they should be. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.

New census figures show the number of Hispanics as very close to the number of blacks in the United States. Depending on how the figures are tallied, the number of Hispanics may be seen as having surpassed the number of blacks. Host Robert Siegel talks with John R. Logan about the numbers and the implications of the changing proportion of minority groups in America. Logan is Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Director of the Mumford Center, State University of New York, Albany.

Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Bill Mauldin dies at age 81. Mauldin made a name for himself during World War II drawing cartoons for the Army's Stars and Stripes. Lynn Neary and Robert Siegel bring us this remembrance.

Trombone star Fred Wesley, Jr. is best known for his work as a sideman with James Brown in the 1960s and 70s, but Wesley is also a legendary R&B, soul and funk veteran, whose musical career spans five decades. NPR's Steve Inskeep talks with Wesley about the twists and turns of a long and storied career, which he explores in an autobiography called Hit Me, Fred, and subtitled "Recollections of a Sideman."

NPR's John Burnett reports on the drought that is gripping large swaths of the American West. In Santa Fe, N.M., local officials are attacking the problem in some unusual ways.

A Virginia grand jury indicts Washington, D.C.-area sniper suspect Lee Malvo on capital murder charges, moving the 17-year-old into adult court where he faces the prospect of the death penalty. NPR's Larry Abramson reports.

A report on efforts by anti-abortion activists to promote abstinence-only education as a way to prevent unwanted pregnancies and abortions. NPR's Richard Knox has the story.

NPR's Joanne Silberner has the story of how the Bush administration is approaching talk about sex in anti-abortion campaigns. She reports on a case in which administration officials quashed a family education program aimed at parents. They found some of the language used in a video to be objectionable.

Thousands demonstrate in the bitter cold in Washington -- some against abortion, others in favor of abortion rights -- on the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling that made abortion legal in the United States. NPR's Jacki Northam reports.

NPR's Robert Siegel and Lynn Neary muse on the number of times the cliche "when X gets a cold; Y catches pneumonia" is used in print. The formation applies to countries, economies, businesses.

Scientists have manipulated cells of duck and quail embryos so that the duck would have the beak of a quail and the quail would have the bill of a duck. To find out why, NPR's Lynn Neary talks with Jill Helms, associate professor, department of Orthopedic Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, and senior author of "The Cellular and Molecular Origins of Beak Morphology." The article is in the current issue of Science magazine.

With this year's Sundance Film Festival under way, we revisit a success story from last year's festival. The film Better Luck Tomorrow, about delinquent, affluent Asian-Americans in Orange County, was championed by film critic Roger Ebert and finally makes it to theaters next month. Beth Accomando of member station KPBS reports.

NPR's Guy Raz reports from London that British Prime Minister Tony Blair's close alignment with the White House on Iraq is increasingly making Blair the odd man out in Europe. Analysts say Blair risks damaging Britain's relations with Europe. What's more, the British public is strongly opposed to war in Iraq and the tabloids have taken to calling Blair "Bush's poodle."

Scientists fear that widespread disease will mean that key species of banana will go extinct within a decade. As NPR's Eric Niiler reports, genetically modified bananas that can resist disease have already been created. But growers don't want to plant them because Europe and some other nations are firmly opposed to GM foods.

The image of Denmark is of a tolerant Scandinavian nation, one of the world's most generous donors of foreign aid. In reality, a xenophobic populist party has successfully played on the public's fears in the national debate about immigration. The country has adopted new rules to limit the number of asylum-seekers by making it harder for Danes to marry foreigners... pushing some loving couples abroad. Nick Spicer reports.

NPR's Lynn Neary talks to Vinny Boulanger, who runs the Broken Spoke Saloon in Laconia, N.H., about the frigid temperatures there, and the hot drinks people have been ordering.

NPR's Ivan Watson in Istanbul reports that Turkey hosted talks among key Middle Eastern states Thursday, searching for ways to avert a new war in Iraq. Representatives from Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt and Jordan are expected to send Baghdad a message, urging compliance with U.N. disarmament demands.

The Bush administration approves a policy that could make it more difficult for Medicaid patients to receive emergency care. Federal law had required managed-care plans covering Medicare and Medicaid to cover trips to emergency rooms for those patients. The new Bush policy permits some limits on Medicaid ER use. NPR's Julie Rovner reports.

Modern technology creates problems between book publishers and libraries. The Association of American Publishers worries about the onset of the "e-book." Meanwhile, libraries are committed to giving the public access to old-fashioned books and e-books alike. NPR's Rick Karr reports.