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Reporter Barbara Mantel (man-TELL) tells the story of the teenaged Garcia girls. They arrived in October from the Dominican Republic and now live with their fatehr in Queens divorced. This is the story of their adjustment to the U.S. They are making good progress in their ESL classes...but the 17 year old is worried about learning the language well enough to attend college. At lunch time they sit with other Spanish speaking kids...although they say confrontations between English speaking kids and Spanish speaking kids are common.

The preliminary results of a new measurement of the so-called Hubble Constant, taken by radio telescopic means at Cambridge University in England is 42. The Hubble Constant determines the speed at which galaxies are receding from each other, and thus tells us the age of the universe from the time of the Big Bang. It so happens that Douglas Adams, in the book and radio series A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in 1978 had a massive computer calculate the meaning of life and the answer was: 42.

We catch up with some of the closest and most contested election results. Neil Tickner of member station WHYY reports on the race in Pennsylvania's 13th congressional district, where a recount is being held because the winner gained victory by only ten votes.

their image of manufacturing low-quality products by sending care packages to the East during the holiday season.

Scott speaks with writer Lee Smith about her experience teaching adult literacy students creative writing at the Hindman Settlement School in Kentucky, and with one of her students there, Florida Slone, about how she feels finally being able to write down her songs and stories.

for state and federal help to aid local police, who are seemingly powerless to stop nearly 20 killings in the past two weeks.

NPR's John Burnett reports on how the Christmas season looks to some who don't recognize its religious significance. Some Christians, such as Mennonites and Jehovah's Witnesses, do not celebrate it as the Nativity. For some non-Christians, December 25th is just another day of the week, but others like to follow the secular traditions of the holiday, such as gift-giving.

NPR's Ted Clark reports that the stated US policy of making no concessions to hostage takers has evolved over thirty years of varying experiences under varying administrations with varying results. Despite the policy, the US is prepared to make concessions to hostage-takers when it believes they can help defuse the situation.

A fellow Republican Congressman from Georgia said today that House Speaker Newt Gingrich gave "an erroneous statement" to the House Ethics Committee. Representative John Linder blamed Gingrich's then-attorney, Jan Baran, for the errors. Baran announced yesterday that he had dropped Gingrich as a client. The Ethics Committee is investigating allegations that Gingrich violated tax laws in regard to a college course he taught, as well as whether he misled investigators. NPR's Peter Overby reports.

on states to suspend executions, `unless and until greater fairness and due process prevail,' in cases involving capital offenses. The ABA's House of Delegates issued the call yesterday at the ABA's national convention in San Antonio.