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Yale University is in turmoil after a series of emails about culturally insensitive Halloween costumes. Some students there are protesting what they say is a hostile environment for students of color.

Daniel talks with a group of students at the University of Maryland at College Park to see how they view this year's presidential race. The majority of the students say the current candidates are not addressing the issues vital to this country's youth. Many are concerned with the status of education, the environment and health and social issues. More than 10,000 students nationwide, including students at the University of Maryland, took part in a mock primary this week, the results show many young people are looking at candidates to address their issues and reach out to them.

YES - This week we are running a series of commentaries on the issue of "English Only." We begin with Sally Peterson, a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District and president of the Learning English Advocates Drive. She says when bilingual education was introduced she thought it would work...but now she knows better. She calls it a human tragedy of national proportions and that non-English speaking kids in a bilingual environment fail to achieve their potential because they can't compete in the mainstream.

being brought against Boston University alleging discrimination in its treatment of learning disabled students. B.U.'s president, who has presided over tightened requirements for entry into special programs and the cutbacks in support services, took the stand yesterday. The plaintiffs' supporters believe his testimony showed that B.U.'s environment was hostile to the learning disabled.

Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works took him to task in a hearing on the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio today.

A train carrying lithium-ion batteries, paint and oxygen containers — which can pose a threat to the environment — went off the tracks on Thursday. There's no risk currently, the rail operator says.

With just over a week until the Iowa caucuses, organizers for various candidates are trying to make sure their troops will show up in force for one of the most important early contests for the presidential nomination. NPR's Laura Ziegler reports that for many people in Iowa, the up-close-and-personal nature of the caucus process offers them a chance to meet the candidates and for many, it is the closest encounter they have with representative democracy.

Host David Wright talks with ethnobotanist Mark J. Plotkin, Ph.D, about his new book Medicine Quest. Plotkin has done extensive research throughout the rainforests of South America to explore the healing secrets of the natural world. Plotkin says we have a lot to learn from the biodiversity of the rainforest, especially from unlikely sources such as spiders, snakes and tree bark.

NPR's Michele Kelemen reports that environmentalists in Russia are going to court over Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's restructuring of the country's environmental protection system. Activists fear that the new system is really a cover for a plan to open up long protected nature reserves to commercial usage, to bring in badly needed cash to the central overnment. Kelemen visited a reserve in southern Siberia where rangers are worried about their future and the protection of the reserve.

The Imperial Sand Dunes is a 40-mile-long corridor of wind-swept desert in the southeast corner of California -- a place treasured by off-road vehicle enthusiasts and nature lovers alike. But a proposed plan to manage the dunes is making both groups unhappy. Erik Anderson reports for Weekend All Things Considered.