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President Bush says the administration will file a brief supporting white students who sued the University of Michigan's law school. The Supreme Court is hearing the students' challenge to an affirmative action policy that gives minority students an advantage in applying for admission. Hear NPR's Michele Norris, NPR's Don Gonyea and NPR's Mara Liasson.

NPR's Don Gonyea reports the Bush administration is going to court in support of three white university students who say their school uses racial quotas. The White House is accusing the University of Michigan of using quotas in deciding who is admitted. The university says its policy is constitutional, and that race is one of many factors it considers in its selection process. Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress say after the racial remarks made by Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS), now is not the time for the administration to challenge the factor of race in admissions.

NPR's Robert Siegel and NPR's Michele Norris read from some of this week's listener letters.

Everyone who has ever pondered whether chicken wings serve a purpose beyond deep fat fryers and bleu cheese sauce will be bowled over by the apparent benefits of wing flapping in flightless birds. NPR's John Nielsen reports on a study in this week's Science magazine showing how true flight may have evolved from these beginnings.

They have collaborated on the new book Freedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights. Patricia Due was a civil rights activist with CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) and was part of the movement's landmark "jail-in." Protesters served time instead of paying a fine for the so-called crime of sitting at a Woolworth lunch counter. Patricia Due worked with many of the movement's great figures during the 1960s. Tananarive Due is a former features writer for The Miami Herald, and has written the novels The Black Rose, My Soul to Keep and The Living Blood.

Enormous deficits loom over the federal budget this year and next. The White House is pressing Senate Republicans to trim nearly $10 billion from spending bills approved last year when Democrats ran the Senate. Democrats respond that the president's proposed tax cuts need trimming -- not federal spending. NPR's David Welna reports.

Some Minnesota towns put old schoolhouses up for sale. The price is right, but prospective buyers also need to do their homework on a site development plan.

U.N. weapons inspectors find 11 empty chemical warheads in an ammunition storage area in southern Iraq. They are said to be in excellent condition, but it's unclear if they've ever actually contained chemical agents. NPR's Kate Seelye reports.

Autism is a disease that often drives people apart. It separates children from parents, and can leave parents feeling abandoned by researchers who offer no cure and little hope. But the MIND Institute, founded by fathers of autistic sons, is trying to change that by making parents key players in the search for a cure. NPR's Jon Hamilton reports.

The United States lost nearly one million manufacturing jobs in 2002, but the foreign-car industry continues to grow. The boom of foreign automakers in the South has brought prosperity to the region and introduced a new workplace culture. NPR's Adam Hochberg reports.