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The Justice Department is investigating the videotaped beating of a black suspect by Philadelphia police officers yesterday. The incident was captured on tape from a TV news helicopter which and replayed repeatedly on national television. Philadelphia police commissioner John Timmoney says while the videotape appears inflammatory, it is not yet clear whether police used excessive force to subdue Thomas Jones. Police say Jones had hijacked a police car, and exchanged gun fire with officers before he was cornered by police. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports.

NPR's Ted Clark reports the Mideast peace talks continued at Camp David today but without President Clinton who left for a few hours to attend to other matters including a visit to Congress.

Noah talks with Jerold A. Edmondson, Professor of Linguistics, and Chair of the Linguistics Department at the University of Texas. Edmondson has documented two languages in North Vietnam that had previously been unknown to linguistics experts. He recorded samples of the language directly on his laptop computer in the field. (4:30) More information is available at http://ling.uta.edu/~jerry/research/

NPR's Patricia Neighmond reports on two studies in this week's New England Journal of Medicine, that show how emergency rooms could save millions of dollars in X-Rays and CAT scans.

NPR's Mike Shuster concludes a 4-part series on national missile defenses with a report on the political considerations in deciding whether to develop such a system. In 1996, President Clinton dropped his opposition to proceeding with development. He agreed to continue research on missile defenses but didn't commit to a specific deployment date. That has enabled the Republican Congress to keep missile defenses alive. The research and development is very expensive, and forging ahead with it has damaged U.S. relations with Russia and China.

NPR's Jack Speer reports that corporate earnings are coming in strong, but are not strong enough to outweigh the fear of higher interest rates.

NPR's Jim Zarroli reports that due to the cost of producing television shows, some networks are considering charging their affiliate stations for the use of their signal. Local stations, who used to be paid by the networks for access to their audiences, are fighting the move. They say if they are forced to pay to access the programming they rely on, many stations may go out of business.

Host Madeleine Brand talks to NPR's Ted Clark about President Clinton's role in the Middle East peace negotiations being held at Camp David which also involve Israel's President Barak and Palestinian leader Arafat and their aides. President Clinton had dinner with the two leaders last night, but Barak and Arafat have not held direct discussions.

NPR's Richard Harris reports on the future of the international space station. Russia launched a new module for the station yesterday after two years of delays. This move brings the space station closer to being a permanent outpost, though it will probably be another six years before the station is finally complete.

Janet Heimlich reports from Austin, on the way public defenders in capital murder cases are chosen in Texas. County judges appoint private attorneys to represent indigent murder defendants. Critics say the system is flawed because there's no guarantee that a defendant will get a competent lawyer, or that the judge will approve funds to properly investigate the defendant's case.