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if the government were to change the way it calculates inflation, as recommended by a Congressional commission. To protect taxpayers from inflation, the tax code is pegged to the Consumer Price Index. Reducing the CPI by one-point-one percent a year, as the commission recommends, would effectively raise most people's taxes.

While many efforts to use the Internet for commerce have proved disappointing, there are a few web-based businesses that appear to have the right formula. One such company is Tunes.com...the company runs a web site that allows you to listen to a little bit of every track from a cd. Tunes.com already has more than 200,000 music tracks available. NPR's John McChesney reports on how the company has managed to combine novelty and profitability.

They were designed to let drivers avoid accidents...but a new study shows that fatality rates are actually higher for autos equipped with anti-lock brakes. For instance, the study, conducted by a insurance industry group, found that passengers were more likely to die in single-car crashes in cars with anti-lock brakes. As NPR's Don Gonyea reports, the experts say they're not yet sure what accounts for the loss in safety benefits.

Commentator David Greenberger thinks the phrase "no problem" is a bad substitute for "you're welcome." It emphasizes the negative -- saying "this kindness I showed you could have resulted in discomfort to me, but lucky for you, it didn't."

The budget of the District of Columbia has been in trouble for years, and President Clinton has made a proposal to help the city in his new federal budget. Under the plan, about three-point-nine billion dollars of federal money would be spent on Washington, D-C over the next five years. Nearly half of that money would go to expand, renovate and operate the city's prisons. NPR's Kathleen Schlach reports on the problems that led to the District's prison crisis.

Independent filmmaker LOUIS MASSIAH. He is founder and Executive Director of the Scribe Video Center in Philadelphia. He has won numerous awards for the films he has produced for public television. Messiah's latest project is a documentary featuring the late civil rights activist and NAACP co-founder W.E.B. DuBois (dew-boyz) It is called "W.E.B. DuBois: A Biography in Four Voices." It premiers on PBS this month.

the U.S. owes the United Nations in back dues and how that is affecting both the U.N.'s ability to carry out its obligations and the U.S. position in the U.N. President Clinton requested the money in his new budget, but Congress is unlikely to approve it, until the U.N. promises to make reforms.

NPR's Barbara Bradley joins Congress incoming freshman class at their orientation. This is when the new legislators learn how to organize their offices and become familiar with the nuts-and-bolts details of their next two years. And, as Bradley reports, this class is different from its predecessors: they're already talking compromise.

for power between the Taliban militia and forces loyal to the ousted government.

for a rendezvous with the Hubble telescope. During the mission the astronauts will upgrade equipment on the telescope.