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Educating diabetics is key to their well being. But only about 20% of them get the information and counseling they need. Bill Zeeble from member station KERA looks at some innovative programs in the Dallas area, which has a high concentration of patients with diabetes.

Commentator Michael Berube talks about his son Jamie, who has Downs Syndrome and attends a mainstream public school in Champaign, Illinois. One of Michael's low points in his son's academic year is the annual holiday concert, where, on stage, Jamie never seems to perform as well his father knows he can. Michael wants the other parents to see how well Jamie is doing, so they will understand that not only are their children teaching Jamie, but Jamie is also teaching them about what it means to be different.

NPR's Patricia Neighmond reports on a new study showing that HMOs and other health plans save money when they provide comprehensive treatment to diabetics. The study, published in today's Journal of the American Medical Association, supports closely monitoring diabetics' blood sugar and aggressively controlling it with insulin or other drugs.

Noah talks with Stanley R. Mohler, M.D., who teaches aerospace medicine at the Wright State University School of Medicine, about the increasing number of people with blood clots and what causes them. Long flights are being linked to a number of patients who have been diagnosed with blood clots. Dr. Mohler says that when we sit in cramped quarters for long periods of time, our blood circulation slows down, causing clots to form. He suggests trying to keep moving about to keep the blood flowing.

There's a new granite sculpture of the 32nd president in a wheelchair at the F.D.R. Memorial. It's an image President Franklin Roosevelt seldom shared with the public. President Clinton unveils the statue today. Alex Van Oss reports.

NPR's Phillip Davis reports that the US Civil Rights Commission opens two days of hearings today in Tallahassee into allegations of voting irregularities in Florida's Presidential election. The Civil Rights Commission has subpoenaed state officials to testify. In another case in Miami, the NAACP, the ACLU, and other civil rights groups have filed a class action suit against Florida. They allege that poorly maintained voter rolls prevented many African Americans from voting, and that there was a pattern of substandard voting equipment in minority neighborhoods.

Scott Horsley of member station KPBS reports on the latest developments in California's electricity crisis. The US Department of Energy Department refuses to extend an emergency order that requires out-of-state power companies to supply electricity to California. The order expires at midnight tonight. California's electric system has been dangerously close to collapse, and some industrial customers have been asked to cut back in order to prevent rolling blackouts.

NPR's Larry Abramson reports on researchers that are studying how to fight a specific type of virus--the kind that attacks your computer.

NPR's Eric Westervelt reports on what one Maryland school district is doing to combat gun violence. The district requires gun safety awareness for all grade levels. So far the curriculum satisfies most parents on both sides of the gun issues, and other school districts are looking to the program as a model.

NPR's Joe Palca reports on a recent discovery about stars that's confirming observations Chinese astronomers made over a thousand years ago. The discovery has to do with the position of a pulsar...also known as a spinning neutron star...within the remnants of a supernova.

NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports on a new study showing that most states fail to give public school students the help they need to succeed.

In the U.S, new roads built in national forests has just been banned by executive order. But in Canada old growth forest is being leveled at a rate that alarms environmentalists. NPR's Kathy Schalch reports.

Several environmental groups are protesting President-elect George Bush's nomination for Interior Secretary Gale Norton. NPR's Peter Overby reports on efforts to derail the nomination.

Beth Fertig of member station WNYC reports that a judge has ruled that school children in New York City aren't receiving a large enough portion of the state's education dollars. He says inadequate funding is costing the students a sufficient education.

Scientists often use genetically modified mice to study human diseases. It's a very big leap to take the research from Mice to Humans. Now scientists have created a genetically modified rhesus monkey.

Poet and commentator Andrei Codrescu offers a meditation about the human body.

Dave Hirschman, reporter for the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, and author of Hijacked: the Heroes of Flight 705, joins Robert by phone to talk about the new arrangement between Federal Express and the U.S. Postal Service. (4:30) Hijacked: the Heroes of Flight 705, is published by William Morrow, 1998.

Californians braced for rolling blackouts today as a major coastal storm delivered another blow to a state reeling from tight supplies of electricity. Energy officials declared their highest level power emergency, meaning that entire neighborhoods could lose power for an hour at a time to ease the strain on the system. Officials said as many as two million residents could be affected. The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant north of Los Angeles cut back to 20 percent of normal output because of the storm. Scott Horsley reports.

Jason Beaubien reports on President Clinton's return to New Hampshire, the state he credits with giving him the momentum to say in the 1992 Presidential race. Clinton used today's speech in Dover to talk about the social and economic improvements of the last eight years.

NPR's Pam Fessler reports on President-elect Bush's selection of a new Labor Secretary-designate and a US Trade Representative-designate. Elaine Chao is being tapped to follow Linda Chavez, who withdrew her name for the Labor Department. Robert Zoellick is in line for U.S. Trade Representative. At a news conference today, Bush also defended two other nominees, saying he will stand by John Ashcroft for Attorney General and Gayle Norton for Interior Secretary.

Following the shooting on the set of Rust, NPR's Sarah McCammon talks with Maryann Gray, founder of Accidental Impacts, a support group for people who have caused accidental deaths or injury.

Lisa Simeone talks with NPR's Brian Naylor about the more controversial of President-elect Bush's cabinet appointments.

Thailand's opposition party - the Thai Rak Thai - won an overwhelming victory in the country's Parliamentary election yesterday. But the results of the election have not been officially recognized due to concerns about voting irregularities and corruption. From Bangkok, Gina Wilkinson reports.

NPR's Margot Adler reports on the Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmental group that has claimed responsibility for dozens of acts of violence against luxury homes, resorts, and slaughterhouses.

Lisa talks with writer Paule Marshall about her new book, THE FISHER KING, a story of jazz and family strife in Brooklyn, New York. (THE FISHER KING is published by Scribner)