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The city's debt has reached 400-million-dollars. City buildings are running out of toilet paper, schools are without books, and when some police officers respond to emergency calls, they have to walk. Adding to the District's troubles, Congress has rejected the 1996 budget for a third time.

Jean Battey Lewis reports on the Kennedy Center tribute to the great ballet choreographer George Balanchine, one of the 20th Century's most significant contributors to the art form. Six companies are performing during the celebration in Washington. They include members of the Bolshoi Ballet, the San Francisco Ballet, the Miami City Ballet, and Suzanne Farrell's Company. Conspiculously absent is the New York City Ballet, the company Balanchine created and made famous during his lifetime.

NPR's Jim Zarroli reports on the economic boom that's creating prosperity in suburban Rochester, New York, but hardly benefiting the center city. For example, the suburb of Henrietta, south of Rochester, has attracted a number of new businesses and jobs. Prosperity values in older downtown neighborhoods have declined, and the city's tax base has weakened, as businesses have moved out. Those neighborhoods are left with a greater concentration of poverty and crime.

NPR's Ina Jaffe reports on a plague that is threatening the sunny image of Beverly Hills. Something is causing some of the city's signature palm trees to lose their heads. The tops, or crowns, of a number of trees have simply broken off and crashed to the ground. But with $1.5 million in its "urban forestry" budget, the city is working hard to root out the cause and keep it from spreading. After all, just imagine what a palm crown weighing a ton and a half could do if it fell on someone's Ferrari!

NPR's Cheryl Corley reports that the Chicago City Council recently passed an ordinance which will deny business licenses to parents behind in their child support payments. Chicago is the first city to pass this kind of an ordinance. Nineteen states with similar legislation report improved collection rates. Opponents say that by taking away licenses and business opportunities it's harder for people to pay child support in the future.

NPR's Sylvia Poggioli visits with some young people from Banja (BAN-yah) Luka, the Serb-held city which was the headquarters of the Bosnian Serb Army. Little was known about the city during the war as reporters were blocked from visiting it. The local economy now produces almost nothing for export and only about ten percent of the local population is legitimately employed. Young people in Banja Luka are skeptical about the future and maintain a deep aversion for the Bosnian Serbs.

NPR'S Margot Adler reports that there are more tourists in New York City than ever before. Thirty million so far this year, one million just for Christmas week. Traffic too seems more congested. While there are some obvious explanations for the surge...like crime is down and the economy is up... nobody is certain just why the city has become such a tourist sensation.

has asked the federal government to take over many of the city's financially-crippled programs, including Medicare, Medicaid and prisons...or the District will have to cut much of that one billion dollar bill. Other cities pass many costs onto their state government, D.C. doesn't have that option.

The Sundance Film Festival is going on through Saturday in Park City, Ut. Sundance has been widely credited with bringing independent films to mainstream audiences. Commentator Jake Tapper is in Park City this week, covering the festival for the Sundance Channel's nightly show. He says that one thing that distinguishes an independent film is that it is highly personal -- about the filmmaker's own revelation or catharsis. But just because an idea or subject is important to a filmmaker does not mean that the rest of the world will be moved by it.

NPR's Anne Garrels reports from Mitrovica that nearly a year and a half after NATO forces entered Kosovo, this city remains a hotbed of ethnic tensions. Albanians and Serbs are locked in a stand-off over apartments, and jobs in the region's rusting heavy industry. But the United Nations administrator of the city, Bill Nash, is beginning to get the two sides to cooperate. Nash says the fall of Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade should make it easier for moderate Serbs to deal with the ethnic Albanian community.