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The months-long stalemate over the fate of two big bills in Congress continues. With the party's agenda on the line, can Democrats get it all done?

In the final installment in our series on California's Central Valley, NPR's Richard Gonzales reports that working conditions for farm workers have not improved much in the last 50 years. Half of the valley's farm laborers are illegal immigrants, and they work for farm labor contractors and growers who take advantage of their illegal status. The system creates vague lines of responsibility for how and whether workers are paid and who is responsible if someone gets hurt. Ultimately it creates an underclass of low-skilled workers who -- unlike immigrants in the past -- have little chance to improve their lives.

Commentator Katie Davis brings us another of her neighborhood stories. Meet Don Victor Zebina, who always has the last word at the community garden in Walter Pierce Community Park. You need a piece of land; you have to go to Victor. You don't go and your plants might get ripped out. Katie Davis maps the intricate boundaries and passions of the community garden in Adams Morgan -- the most diverse neighborhood in Washington, D.C. Recently, there has been a line of people asking for new plots. The tension among gardeners has even led to "garden wars."

One comes from a line of New Orleans piano geniuses. Another comes from New York's downtown scene. They bonded over old jazz, and together, inject modern twists into early repertoire.

On Dec. 28, 1958, the New York Giants and the Baltimore Colts played a game that turned pro football into America's sport, and even a metaphor for the country. Frank Gifford was a Giants running back in that game, and he's looked up all his old teammates on both sides of the line to write a new book.

A team of Connecticut high school students danced for a little under 16 miles. To break the record, they danced outside in the midday heat on a track for 64 laps. Their dance of choice? A conga line.

The Senate passes a landmark bill for trying and questioning terrorism suspects, in a 65-34 vote that split along party lines. Final approval of the bill seemed assured earlier in the day Thursday, when an amendment aimed at preserving the right of all detainees to challenge their imprisonment in federal courts was narrowly defeated.

An emotional House debate on the war in Iraq concludes with passage of a Republican-drafted resolution. In a 256-153 vote, 42 Democrats crossed party lines to approve a document that rejects a set date for withdrawing U.S. troops from the conflict.

Army Staff Sgt. Michael Gabel, 30, was killed last week in a roadside blast in Afghanistan. In a story NPR aired last month, Gabel spoke eloquently about the loss of his best friend in the line of duty.

Tim Kelleher's Jack Russell terrier — named Jack — scarfs down anything he can get his paws on. Last week, his vet discovered the dog had scarfed down a bagel and, somewhere along the line, more than a hundred pennies. The vet operated and removed the pennies.