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NPR's John Nielsen reports that congressional Republicans and the Clinton White House are moving closer to a showdown over Medicare reform. First, House Republicans unveiled a plan to wring $270 billion from the national health insurance program for the elderly. Then, President Clinton threatened a veto, unless the cuts were scaled back. Now, Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole says the cutbacks in the Senate's Medicare reform bill will probably equal the savings in the house bill.

As a child, commentator Bill Harley had never been exposed to beets or John Coltrane because his father didn't like them. When he first tried beets and heard Coltran'e music in college, he didn't like them either. But recently, he tried beets and liked them. Then he listened to Coltrane again and like that, too.

The Democratic National Committee has released 10-thousand pages of documents relating to former fundraiser John Huang. The papers were subpoenaed by Congressional investigators who are looking into improper donations. Among the memos is a list of so-called "must considers," the rolls of party fundraisers that the DNC urged the incoming Clinton administration to consider for jobs. Huang was included on the lists for jobs at the Treasury, State and Commerce Departments. NPR's Peter Overby reports.

Film critic STEPHEN SCHIFF reviews, "In the Line of Fire," the new film starring Clint Eastwood and John Malkovich.

NPR's John Ydstie reports on "tax freedom day" the day the Tax Foundation tells us is the day we begin working for ourselves and not to pay taxes. This year the average American has to work until May 7th in order to satisfy his tax liabilites, according to the Foundation. But critics argue the concept of a tax freedom day makes little sense...since your taxes are used to provide services you use year-round.

One might imagine that being a wedding photographer is a fairly pleasant job, where one is surrounded by happy people. Commentator John Rosenthal discovered, though, that is not always the case. He describes a wedding where the groom's buddies put a ball and chain around his ankle. The groom thinks this is hilarious, until the bride demands he take it off or she will call off the wedding.

The Postal Service is facing increasing attacks against its workers, especially on days when government checks are mailed. The wave of attacks first became evident on the West Coast, but quickly spread to other regions. NPR's John Nielsen looks at what the Postal Service is doing to try to protect letter carriers and other endangered employees.

NPR's Tovia Smith reports that John Salvi, convicted of killing two health clinic workers in 1994, was found dead in his Walpole, Massachusetts prison cell today, the victim of an apparent suicide. Salvi killed the two people and wounded five others in the most serious anti-abortion violence in US history when he fired shots at 3 different abortion clinics. He claimed he was combatting an anti-Catholic conspiracy.

NPR's John Burnett reports on the increasing allure that the Orthodox Christian Church holds for American Protestants. One Orthodox congregation in Northern California is representative. Virtually the entire membership of St. Peter and Paul Orthodox church is American converts, attracted by the ancient, rigorous theology and its sheer constancy across the centuries. But ethnic traditionalists worry that even the most devout American converts carry with them the unwelcome seeds of change.

John Reznikoff collects hair. The president of University Archives, a company that buys and sells valuable manuscripts, currently has 101 hair locks in his collection that originate from a wide range of celebrities, from George and Martha Washington to Geronimo to England's King Charles I. Daniel talks with Reznikoff, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist who is currently allowing some of his hair samples to be used for their DNA in "DNA Jewelry," which Reznikoff is now marketing.

Conservationists argue that the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species should begin regulating trade in Chilean sea bass. Pirate fishing fleets have put a sharp dent in stocks of the popular food fish. NPR's John Nielsen reports.

John Ydstie talks with NPR's Ivan Watson in Istanbul about Turkish politician Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose Justice and Development Party won a sweeping victory in Sunday's parliamentary elections. Despite the triumph, Erdogan's political future remains in doubt because he is barred from holding public office after a 1998 conviction for religious incitement. (3:30)

President Bush has been traversing the country campaigning on behalf of Republican candidates. His itinerary is telling about which races are the tightest. NPR's White House correspondent Don Gonyea has been on the trail with the White House team and tells John Ydstie about the various congressional and gubernatorial races where both parties are throwing all of their weight into winning. (2:45)

President Bush today announced his new choice for treasury secretary: John W. Snow, chairman of the nation's largest railroad. Snow will now become the leading figure on the president's economic policy team, replacing Paul O'Neill, who was forced out last week. NPR's White House correspondent Don Gonyea reports.

Raquel Maria Dillon reports Boston area critics of the Roman Catholic Church have turned their sites north, to the Bishop of Manchester, New Hampshire. John McCormack was a top aid to Cardinal Bernard Law, who stepped down last month as a result of the priest sex abuse scandal. The protesters say McCormack is also to blame for the abuse, and they want him to step down.

NPR's John Burnett rejoins Steve Inskeep from the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, where NASA missions are directed and its people are considered to be friends and family. The front gate of the space center there has become a place to gather and mourn, as Ground Zero did after Sept. 11.

In Britain, where a gallon of diesel fuel can cost $5, some people are experimenting with what they say are cheaper, cleaner-burning fuels -- including cooking oil. NPR's Robert Siegel talks with John Nicholson, a director of the Bio-Power (UK) Network, an organization that researches alternative fuels.

Paleontologists say they've found in China the fossilized remains of a small flying dinosaur with four wings. Experts on the links between dinosaurs and birds say this could be one of the most important fossils ever found. They also say this fossil could turn out to be a fake. NPR's John Nielsen reports.

Jazz percussionist Mongo Santamaria dies on Feb. 1 at 85. Santamaria scored a Top-10 hit with his version of Herbie Hancock's jazz-funk classic "Watermelon Man" in 1963. He also wrote the song "Afro Blue," later performed and made famous by John Coltrane. NPR's Elizabeth Blair has a remembrance.

With the 108th Congress less than two weeks old, new lawmakers in both houses settle in and prepare for next week's State of the Union speech. NPR's Bob Edwards talks to Sens. Mark Pryor (D-AK) and John Sununu (R-NH).