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Normally, writer Carol Wasserman doesn't do much cooking now that her husband is dead. One thing she likes to cook is rutabaga. The problem -- it knocks out the power. She realizes that she is among the very fewer generations of woman who could have survived alone in a dark house.

NPR's Peter Kenyon reports on President-elect George W. Bush's transition to the White House. Over the weekend, he selected Condoleezza Rice as National Security Advisor and Colin Powell as Secretary of State. While his initial appointments may be well-received, questions of bi-partisanship in Washington remain.

Reading Sunday papers in a coffee house, Commentator Andrei Codrescu was once the unwilling witness to a medical resident doing freelance cosmetic surgery on two women joggers at the next table.

NPR's Libby Lewis reports on a U.S. attorney's controversial decision to prosecute owners of clubs where raves happen under laws designed to shut down crack houses. The government says the club operators are responsible for the use and sale of ecstacy in the clubs.

Alan Furst specializes in atmospheric spy thrillers set during the Nazi occupation of Europe. Paris in the spring of 1938 is the dateline of his latest book. Alan Cheuse has a review of Kingdom of Shadows. (2:00) Kingdom of Shadows, by Alan Furst is published by Random House.

NPR's Adam Hochberg reports that the 2000 census reveals a boom in growth in America's coastal areas. Demographers say the population explosion is driven by relatively cheap housing prices, desire to live near water, and technological advances that allow telecommuting. Environmentalists worry that the development boom threatens fragile coastal ecological systems.

Scott talks with history professor and FDR biographer Patrick Maney about the enormous number of songs that were written for Franklin Delano and Eleanor Roosevelt during their time in the White House. (12:00) For more on this story, visit our FDR music feature page.

NPR's Danny Zwerdling goes to Guatemala to trace coffee's passage to coffee houses in this country. Coffee prices are high, but farmers in places such as Guatemala get very little of what consumers pay out. This inequity, however, may be changing soon.

Lisa talks with NPR's White House correspondent Don Gonyea about the continuing diplomatic stand-off with China over the collision between a U.S. military spy plane and a Chinese jet fighter. Twenty-four American military personnel remain detained on the Chinese island of Hainan.

Linda Wertheimer interviews Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, former director of the White House Office of National Drug Policy under President Clinton. He is now president of McCaffrey Associates. They discuss the U.S. relationship with Peru and the war on drugs.