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to read a poem at President Clinton's inauguration later this month. Williams is a professor of English and Foreign Languages at the University of Arkansas. He follows poet Maya Angelou, who read her work at the inauguration four years ago.

NPR's David Welna reports on Cuba's effort to increase food production by breaking its huge Soviet-style farm collectives into smaller farmer-run cooperatives. So far the project has had only limited success, largely because the co-ops are required to sell eighty percent of what they grow to the government, at artificially low official prices. In addition, the state controls what the co-ops produce. Critics say Fidel Castro doesn't want the co-ops to do too well because economic success would make them less dependent on the government.

The post-Christmas holiday rush is on at computer helplines across the country. NPR's Adam Hochberg visits one of the largest ones - IBM. Computer helpers there answer a broad range of questions from:"how do I turn it on?" to "how do I remove the dog's tongue from my CD-ROM drive?"

Linda talks with U-S Representative David Skaggs (D, CO) about the lawsuit he and five other members of Congress filed, challenging the constitutionality of the new law which gives the President line-item veto power. Skaggs believes the line-item veto law tips the balance of power in favor of the executive branch and away from Congress.

Scott talks to NPR's Joanne Silberner about health care reform in 1996, and they look ahead at what to expect in the new year.

Danny talks with Jaems Fox, Dean of the College of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University in Boston, about his reaction to recent statistics showing a national decrease in violent crime. Fox says while overall crime stats have gone down, the rate of juvenile crime is on the rise, and is likely to get worse unless cities establish more youth programs.

Liane Hansen speaks with NPR's Andy Bowers in Moscow about the aftermath of Russian President Boris Yeltsin's meeting yesterday with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. The two discussed planned expansion of NATO towards the Russian border.

NPR's Mark Roberts reports from Denver, the site of the Federal trial of Oklahoma City bombing defendant, Timothy McVeigh. Throngs of media and family members of the 168 victims are nervously awaiting a verdict outside the Byron C. Rogers Federal Courthoue. On Friday, the case went to the jury. The jury continues it's deliberations today.

It's still raining over much of the west. Gamblers are trapped in Reno hotels, and the casinos and bordellos are closed down for the first time in 100 years. The governor of Idaho has declared several counties disaster areas. In California, rivers in Napa and Sonoma counties are above flood stage. Damage is in the hundreds of millions of dollars -- much of it because of bad planning, according to experts. NPR's Richard Gonzales reports.

NPR's Mike Shuster reports on the latest squabble over NATO membership. This time the criticism is not coming from Russia, but from NATO members themselves.