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2: Recently the Food and Drug Administration conditionally approved the sale of RU486, the French abortion pill, in the United States. The drug won't be available widely until mid next year. DR. ELIZABETH NEWHALL (pronounced "NEW-HALL") works in a clinic in Portland, Oregon, where they have been testing the drug with their patients.

Commentator Andrei Codrescu explores the twisted qualities of health care in the age of HMO's. He talks about the absurdity of insurance companies that put financial profits before human life.

Linguist WILLIAM LABOV (pronounced La Bove (like "cove") from the University of Pennsylvania discusses Ebonics. He's been studying Black English for 30 years and traced the rules governing Black and White English. He also examined the differences between the two and explored the roots of the changes taking place in the languages. (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES THRU THE END OF THE SHOW). LABOV continued. 12:58:30 NEXT SHOW PROMO (:29) PROMO COPY On the next Fresh Air. . .part art, part industry, rock and roll music has become a $20 billion business It's the subject of former Rolling Stone editor FRED GOODMAN's new book, "The Mansion on the Hill." He talks with Terry about what has changed since the sixties that has made rock and roll a commercial powerhouse. Also, linguist WILLIAM LABOV (pronounced LA-Bove, like "Cove") on Ebonics. He's been studying Black English for 30 years. That and more coming up on today's Fresh Air.

They discuss one of this season's top players, Center Tim Duncan of Wake Forest, who has resisted offers to go professional before finishing college. Wake Forest is ranked number two in the nation, largely because of Duncan. Tomorrow, he and his teammates take on the University of Maryland, which is ranked number five.

and their possible effect on election results. Again this year, there is widespread concern in western states that voters will refrain from voting in local, state, and Congressional elections, once television networks project the winner of the Presidential election, based on exit polling.

critic MILO MILES reviews "The Best of the Barely Works" (on Cooking Vinyal).REV. 2:Commentator GERALD EARLY wonders why black community does and doesn''t work.

committee responsible for investigating such allegations of improper fundraising. The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee split directly along party lines this week on its first vote: how much money to spend on the investigation. Republicans supported the six-point-five million dollar supplemental budget request. Democrats opposed it as too expensive.

Steve Young of Vermont Public Radio reports on a lawsuit filed on behalf of a young Vermont student from a relatively poor school district. The suit, like others in other states, challenges the way Vermont distributes tax funds for schools and argues that it creates huge disparities in education state-wide.

A massive irrigation and hydropower project in Turkey is alarming Syria and Iraq. They fear that around half their current supply of fresh water could be cut off by their neighbor. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports from Turkey that its plan to build 22 dams has the region realizing that water is as strategic a resource as oil has been to the area's politics and economies.

Key members of Congress say they are ready to negotiate on President Clinton's proposal to take over some of the responsibilities of the District of Columbia government. The city would lose its annual 660 million dollar payment, but would be relieved of jobs like collecting city income taxes and running prisons for the most serious offenders. NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports that proponents hope the federal government can do better than the city, which they see as badly mismanaged.

Julian Crandall Hollick reports on the Shidhis, Pakistanis whose skin color and features are distinctly East African. Many are descended from slaves that were brought across the Arabian Sea to Pakistan. They say they are discriminated against because of their color; they say they are treated as second-class citizens in Pakistan. And many, still, are essentially slaves, sold as parts of dowries from family to family.

Commentator Stuart Cheifet explains that an "avatar" is the incarnation or embodiment of a spirit or concept. Now in cyberspace, you can create a "virtual you" — a graphic image representing who you are. These avatars can wander through a 3D cyber environment, meeting other avatars along the way.