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Noah reads from listeners' comments. To contact All Things Considered, write to All Things Considered Letters, 635 Massachusetts Avenue Northwest, Washington D-C, 20001. To contact us via the Internet, the address is ATC@ NPR.ORG.

A major environmental lobbying group has broken ranks, issuing a report that calls the Endangered Species Act a failure. The Environmental Defense Fund says the law hasn't protected species on private land and that the law needs to be overhauled to extend its reach to these areas. But other groups don't want Congress to tinker with one of environmentalism's monumental achievements. And as NPR's John Nielsen reports, ranchers and farmers are also opposed to any changes.

John Miller reports from Lima, Peru, where last night 20 more hostages ere released. 83 are still being detained by the Tupac Amaru guerillas, but hey are now signalling more willingness to negotiate.

The FCC today took the first step in a series of actions commissioners say will eventually save consumers billions of dollars in international telephone fees. Today's order will allow American phone companies to negotiate rates directly with foreign carriers. In the weeks ahead, the FCC is expected to announce another policy change that would limit the fees U.S. companies pay their foreign counterparts. NPR's Phillip Davis reports.

California voters approved an end to state-sponsored racial preferences this month. NPR's Richard Gonzales reports that supporters of affirmative action have now sued to overturn what's known as Proposition 209. In the meantime, three California cities are devising ways to keep affirmative action alive within the strictures of the new law.

Federal officials are warning people in California and other states that have legalized medicinal marijuana-smoking that the federal ban is still in effect. NPR's Chitra Ragavan reports that state proponents of decriminalizing marijuana say they hope the feds will decide not to enforce it. They say that's what happened in the days when states were repealing their liquor prohibition laws, but the federal ban had not, and the practical effect was to decriminalize alcohol.

Scott reads letters from our listeners.

NPR's Elizabeth Arnold talks with Robert about the year ahead for the 105th Congress. This new Congress is expected to have more willingness to compromise with the White House. The Senate is also expected to play a greater role in achieving Republican political goals, now that the House membership has become more bipartisan.

Of all the news stories of 1996, the standoff between the FBI and the Montana Freemen may rank as one of the most bizarre. On March 25th, a small group of anti-government protestors set up barricades and posted armed guards at an 850-acre ranch they called the "Justus Township" outside Jordan, Montana. Wanted for threatening public officials and writing bogus checks, the Freemen refused to give up. After 81 days, the group finally surrendered. But even behind bars, the Freemen remain defiant as ever. NPR's Mark Roberts reports.

The state of Virginia executed more people than any other state in the last year. The reason? Virginia has a new law that limits death row appeals. Laura Womack of member station WAMU reports.

to the business world by helping them become student entrepreneurs. He profiles a high-school senior who earns extra money as a D.J. When the student got involved in the University of California at Berkeley's entrepreneur program, he went from making 25-dollars a gig, to earning thousands of dollars a month.

and how the rebels and the authorities are using the media, or not, in the government's case.