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In the second of five reports on child welfare, NPR's Brian Naylor examines the condition of child protective services in New York City. Following the beating death of a six-year-old girl in 1995, New York made fundamental reforms in its child welfare system, and it became a successful model for municipalities in other states. Now, the New York City Administration for Children's Services (ACS) is facing criticism and caught in a budget crunch.

Susanna Capelouto of Peachstate Public Radio reports that Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell has proposed a new affirmative action program for his administration that he hopes will have an impact on the private sector. Under the current plan, a business getting a city contract has to share about a third of the contract with a company owned by women or minorities. Under his new plan, to be eligible for a city contract, a company must show that it is already using minority or women sub-contractors. The earlier plan faces a court challenge from a conservative legal group and the mayor expects them to challenge the new plan, too. Mayor Campbell has said he will do anything in his power to preserve affirmative action in Atlanta.

Bloomington Police are investigating a second report of shots fired in as many days. One was on the city's south end and the second was on the city's east side.

One parking officer decided to cross the picket line when city employees went on Strike in Oakland, Calif., and he wrote tickets. He said he was happy with his pay and didn't want to strike. Employee of the month? No. The city said all tickets he wrote would be voided.

U.S. warplanes again bombed what were described as suspected terrorist targets in the flashpoint city of Fallujah, and tensions are still running high elsewhere in the country ahead of next week's transfer of sovereignty to Iraq's interim government. The air strike, the third such attack this week, is in response to Thursday's coordinated bombing attacks in several Iraqi cities that left more than 100 dead. NPR's Emily Harris reports from Baghdad.

People across the city noticed the squirrels flat on their stomachs — all four legs splayed out. The city's parks department said it's normal for four-legged critters to cool down by flattening out.

Unemployment dropped half a point in Bloomington-Normal last month. The Twin Cities is tied with the Quad Cities for the lowest jobless rate in the state at less than 3.4%, according to state labor data.

The writer who explored Baltimore on the small screen turns his attention to a city that, even after Hurricane Katrina, is like no other. Simon and actor Clarke Peters, of both The Wire and Treme, speak about their new television series.

NPR's Philip Reeves reports from Baghdad on the situation in the Shiite Muslim holy city of Najaf, which has calmed down considerably in the wake of several weeks of fighting between U.S. forces and militias loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The cleric is keeping a low profile, and most Najaf residents are much more concerned about the economy and the notoriously insecure highway that links their city to the Iraqi capital.

In Pakistan on Saturday, pro- and anti-government demonstrators clashed in the city of Karachi, leaving 30 people dead and more than 100 wounded. Gunfire erupted in several parts of the city. The violence was prompted by a visit to Karachi by Pakistan's chief justice, a man President Musharraf suspended two months ago in what critics of the government say is a battle over judicial independence. Jacki Lyden talks with Phillip Reeves.