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Nearly 12 percent of all live births are premature and the newborns at risk for serious medical problems. But researchers find a hormone -- progesterone -- that significantly lowers rates of early births. Hear NPR's Michele Norris and Dr. Paul Meis, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Wake Forest University.

The books of Jill Connor Browne -- better known as the Sweet Potato Queen -- are shooting up the best-seller lists. She recently packed a Washington, D.C. bookstore with converts of her sassy, irreverent humor. Her latest book, The Sweet Potato Queens' Big-Ass Cookbook and Financial Planner, is already a hit. Listen to her entire hour-long monolouge from the Politics and Prose bookstore.

The unemployment rate falls to 5.7 percent in January, a drop of 0.3 percent. The improvement is tied to hiring in the retail sector, but the surge was a bit misleading. Restaurants and other retailers hired fewer people than usual in December, and that threw January's numbers off. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.

When international politics mixes with business, the course of commerce can get complicated. Americans negotiating a deal in England may find themselves defending their nation's foreign policy, or German companies may find it tougher dealing with U.S. firms because of their nation's stance against the Bush administration's plans for action in Iraq. NPR's Chris Arnold reports on how conducting foreign policy interacts with conducting business.

Wal-Mart, Target and some other online retailers start collecting sales tax on their online sales. The development might foretell big changes for Internet commerce and provide welcome revenue to states struggling to close budget shortfalls. NPR's Jack Speer reports.

In the 1980s and 1990s, asthma rates in U.S. kids reached epidemic proportions. Though studies indicate the rates are leveling off, rates for African American and Hispanic children and inner-city populations aren't declining. New research suggests poverty, stress and poor mental health may be fueling the problem. Madge Kaplan of member station WGBH reports.

Secretary of State Colin Powell is set to address the U.N. Security Council tomorrow to present new evidence that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is hiding weapons. NPR's Michele Norris and NPR's Robert Siegel remark on how Powell's appearance at the United Nations is reminiscent of Adlai Stevenson's famous speech during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Two hundred years ago this year, Captain Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and the Corps of Discovery set out on their 7,000-mile, two-year trek across the wilderness of the new West. The explorers kept meticulous diaries -- including details of what they ate. Now a new cookbook with authentic recipes gives readers a taste of what what the Corps cooked on their journey.

Statehouses across the nation struggle to achieve break-even budgets under the challenge of a weak economy. Many already have tapped "rainy day" funds, dismissed workers, and cut back their spending for education, health care and services to deal with shortfalls in this year's budget. NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports.

The Pentagon puts bombers on alert for possible deployment near North Korea. The apparent message is that the Bush administration is not too distracted by Iraq to respond to a threat on the Korean peninsula. But the administration says it's committed to a diplomatic solution to North Korea's renewed pursuit of nuclear weapons. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.