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NPR's Mark Roberts reports on the difficulty many small towns have recruiting volunteer firefighters. Many potential volunteers must commute to other areas for work, and are unable to respond quickly to emergency calls. Others find the demand on their personal time hard to deal with. Some municipalities are adding to a few paid firefighters to their volunteer staffs, but even that solution has its drawbacks.

Hershel Felder's one-man show on George Gershwin closed last night in on Sunday. The show is now headed to Broadway. NPR's Renee Montagne reports.

NPR's Ina Jaffe reports that civil rights groups and people who've sued the Los Angeles police department over racial profiling want to become monitors of the city's consent decree, which is designed to reform the L.A.P.D. With President-elect Bush on the record opposing such decrees, they are concerned that an appointed federal monitor won't effectively enforce the city's agreement.

Commentator Rich Galen is pleased that the Presidential election finally has been decided. He says things could have gotten a whole lot messier if the election dispute had played out much longer.

NPR's Sarah Chayes reports that France is investigating its responsibility for the fall of Srebrenica during the war in Bosnia. About eight thousand Muslim men and boys were killed. The Muslim enclave was under the protection of UN peacekeeping forces, which was then commanded by a French general.

From Member Station WBNI, Kristen Durst reports Fort Wayne, Indiana is hiding an architectural treasure. A house designed by renowned architect Michael Graves lies outside the city in a state of dilapidation. Yet there is little hope it will ever recapture the grandeur its designer intended.

Commentator Bill Lessard says the gloomy financial outlook for dot-com companies is a boon for consumers. A competitive marketplace online means better products and better customer service.

NPR's Special Correspondent Susan Stamberg continues her December series on "giving," in a conversation with Lois Lowry, author of the Newberry Award winning novel, The Giver. It's a coming of age tale aimed at adolescents.

NPR John Ydstie reports one of the first challenges President Elect Bush and his top advisors will likely face is how to restart the stalled US economy. Bush has said a tax cut is the solution. Some experts disagree.

NPR's Steve Inskeep reports on President-Elect George W. Bush's trip to Washington. Yesterday, he met at the capitol with leaders of both parties from the House and Senate. Bush says he still plans to send an education reform bill to Congress after he takes office, and he will also pursue a large tax cut, though some Republican leaders seem wary of it.

NPR's John McChesney has a profile of Jeff Hawkins. Four years ago, Hawkins changed the direction of computing with the Palm Pilot. Handheld computers -- or personal digital assistants, as they are also known -- are a huge hit. And Hawkins is still in the thick of the competition, even though he left Palm several years ago. Hawkins is now the CEO of Handspring, and Handspring's Visor is successfully stealing market share from the dominant Palm Pilot.

Three centuries ago, Italian scientist, Galileo was publicly denounced by a Catholic priest. He had been dubbed an enemy of true religion. And he would be remembered as the man that started the debate regarding the separation of science and religion. Joseph Loconte talks about the relationship between science and religion -- a relationship which at one time had been interfused. Loconte is the William E. Simon Fellow in Religion and a Free Society at the Heritage Foundation.