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The Pfizer drug company agrees to pay a $430 million fine and plead guilty to illegal marketing practices, U.S. prosecutors say. The unprecedented fine comes after the company admitted that its Warner-Lambert unit promoted Neurontin, an epilepsy drug, for several unapproved uses. The drug remains a top seller for Pfizer, with 2003 sales of $2.7 billion. NPR's Snigdha Prakash reports.

A seasoned alt-rocker and coveted producer, Walker has worked with such chart-topping acts as Katy Perry, Tommy Lee and Pink. Last year, he also found time to release an album of his own, Sycamore Meadows. Named for the street where California wildfires claimed his home, the record finds Walker using his pop production experience to brighten his indie-rock sensibilities.

Apple released quarterly earnings on Tuesday that beat Wall Street's bearish expectations. Investors have done a pessimistic about-face on Apple since the company's stock price topped $700 in September. Apple's earnings were lower than a year ago for the first time in a decade. But Apple did offer investors some goodies — it increase its dividend and added $50 billion to a stock buyback program.

Mister Cartoon (AKA Mark Machado) runs a rapidly growing clothing and jewelry business from his East Los Angeles tattoo parlor. But his real claim to fame is his unique, Chicano street style tattoos. His work is a favorite among top music stars like Eminem. NPR's Michele Norris visits the artist in his studio -- see photos of Machado at work.

The Justice Department and the intelligence community say reauthorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act, which expires at the end of the year, is their top national security priority. But an interesting mix of senators are sounding alarms about whether the government is secretly gathering too much information on innocent Americans, and keeping it for far too long. They cite a newly declassified letter that exposes an incident where even the Obama administration acknowledges it went too far.

Twenty-five years after its first album, the New Jersey band is still selling out Madison Square Garden and putting out chart-topping singles. But these days, its sound is a little more country, and it's recording in Nashville. That may be because pop and rock songs have left behind the working-class, everyday guy, while country music sings straight to him.

The fallout continues Thursday after the chairman of a House panel investigating President Trump's connections to Russia revealed that Trump and aides might have been swept up in "incidental" surveillance. The chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes, reportedly apologized to the committee, and its top Democrat, Adam Schiff, and all but confirmed a CNN story suggesting there's more than circumstantial evidence tying the Trump camp to the Russians.

are you in a CWD district?

are you in a CWD district?

NPR's Pam Fessler reports on decision-making by state election officials across the country about which of the two Reform Party candidates to recognize on their presidential election ballots. Both Patrick Buchanan and John Hagelin claim to be the real Reform Party candidate. This dispute -- which has some 12-point-6 Million dollars in Federal funds ((ed: *NOT* "Federal matching funds")) riding alongside it -- will wind up in courts across the country before election day.

News analyst Daniel Schorr says the latest attempt at renewing middle east peace talks faces many hazards. President Clinton called Wednesday the deadline for the two sides to demonstrate enough potential to work towards another summit. Prime Minister Barak faces a deadline of February 6 when Israelis vote on whether or not to keep him in office---and Yasser Arafat faces the prospect of having to deal with Ariel Sharon, should Barak lose the election.

Gene Bryan Johnson of member station WNYC reports on the trial of Lemrick Nelson and Nelson Price. Nelson was acquitted of state murder charges in a previous trial. In that hearing, he was accused of stabbing Yankel Rosenbaum in the violence that occured in Crown Heights, Brooklyn after a black child was killed by a car driven by a Hasidic man 6 years ago. Nelson is now being tried on federal charges of violating Rosenbaum's civil rights. Price is charged with violating Rosenbaum's rights by whipping the crowd into a mob that searched for Jews to attack.

29) Cross Promo (:29) Station Break (:59) Forward Promo (:29) Headlines (:59) 6. Hong Kong Rights -- Jacki speaks with Edward Gargen, the New York Times correspondent in Hong Kong. Gargen says a recent statement by Hong Kong's Chinese-appointed new chief executive that he will roll back civil liberties after China regains sovereignty in July is meant to underscore Peking's determination to show that it will make the rules in Hong Kong, not the British.

NPR' s John Ydstie reports President Bush unveiled his budget blueprint today. The $1.9 trillion budget allows overall discretionary spending to rise by 4 percent, but calls for deep cuts in some programs and the elimination of others. At a briefing this morning, budget officials reiterated the administration's position that projected surpluses leave plenty of room to both boost spending on some programs while cutting taxes by $1.6 trillion over six years.

Federal prosecutors say they will retry both Charles Keating and his son (Charles Keating, III) now that their convictions on federal fraud chages have been set aside by a federal judge. The elder Keating became a symbol of the Savings and Loan debacle after federal regulators seized Keating's Lincoln S&L, which cost taxpayers an estimated $2.6 billion. The convictions were overturned because members of the jury knew of and improperly discussed the elder Keating's earlier conviction on state fraud charges. That conviction has also been overturned.

Linda Wertheimer talks with NPR's Don Gonyea, who is traveling with the president today, one day after Mr. Bush gave his budget address to a joint session of Congress. The president got good reviews on his oratory, but Democrats claim that the plan favors the rich. Mr. Bush, in visits around the country to sell his plan, insisted that the Democrats were playing "class warfare," and that the current state of the economy warrants his $1.6 trillion tax cut.

NPR's Peter Kenyon reports on Georgia Senator Zell Miller, a Democrat who has given the Bush Administration two huge gifts -- a promise to vote for the confirmation of Attorney General-designate John Ashcroft and his support for the President's 1.6-trillion-dollar tax cut. Miller was appointed to the seat last year following the death of Republican Sen. Paul Coverdell. He had a reputation for reaching across party lines, and insists this is not a precursor of switching to the GOP. But these two actions have created a buzz in Washington.

Oregon Public Radio's Ley Garnett (LEE gar-NET) reports on the worst flooding to hit the western part of the state in 30 years. The Wilamette and Columbia Rivers are expected to crest in Portland at record levels tonight as citizens battle to shore up the riverbanks and save new developments.(6:30) -b- 8. BOSNIA. Noah talks with NPR's Andy Bowers in Sarajevo. They discuss the arrest of Bosnian Serb officers and response by Serbs to quit dealing with the Muslim-led Bosnian government and to halt contact with the NATO peace mission, Also, Richard Holbrooke, U-S Assistant Secretary of Sate, is being sent to Sarajevo Sunday to help the sides start talking again.

Talk of tax cuts continues to dominate both chambers of Congress. The tax writing committee of the House this week approved a second phase of President Bush's proposed $1.6 trillion package of tax cuts, this one eliminating the so-called marriage penalty and increasing the child tax credit. But on the Senate side, talk turned to another concept -- the granting of a swift tax rebate that might pump new money into the consumer economy relatively quickly. No sooner did one Republican mention the idea than several leading Democrats adopted it. NPR's Steve Inskeep reports.

Steven Dudley reports from Bogota that Colombia's President Andres Pastrana has ordered an investigation of the military's involvement in an attack that resulted in the deaths of six schoolchildren. It took place 40-miles from Medellin. The children, aged 6-to-12, were on a school hike when gunfire erupted. The regional army commander initially said the children had been caught in crossfire between military forces and guerrillas. But survivors said that there were no guerrillas in the area and the children were pinned down for 45 minutes by military fire. The killings occurred just two months after the U-S Congress approved one-point-three billion dollars of mostly military aid to help Colombia fight the drug trade and guerrilla movements.