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The cost of college is increasing while financial aid is less available, a new study says. Sixteen states have hiked tuition and fees at public colleges and universities by more than 10 percent over the last year. Hear from NPR's Lynn Neary and Patrick Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.

Morning Edition's week long series on child care continues today with a report on what new studies in brain development mean for parents and child care providers. Kathyrn Baron of member station KQED reports on the importance of providing children with stable, challenging environments. Experts say development from birth to age five lays the foundation for how well a child learns and grows. But few childcare centers are able to provide the enrichment children need at a price most parents can afford. (

Florida's state courts took center stage today in the continuing tally of the presidential vote. A judge in Tallahassee said the state could cut off its tallying of votes at 5 p.m. Tuesday, but he also said amended returns filed later should be considered at the discretion of Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris. The campaign of Texas Governor George W. Bush applauded the upholding of the deadline, while the campaign of Vice President Al Gore said the judge was really telling Harris to respect amended returns that may be filed later. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports.

NPR's Julie McCarthy reports that surgeons in Manchester, England have been separating conjoined twin girls at the center of a lengthy legal battle. The girls were born last August, joined at the abdomen and with a fused spin. They share a single heart and a pair of lungs. Their parents -- devout Roman Catholics -- brought them from Malta to Britain, seeking medical care. But the parents resisted surgery after learning that the operation would in all probability cause the death of one of the twins, in order to save the other. After a long ethical battle in the courts, the parents finally dropped the fight.

NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports from Rome that the Vatican has launched a campaign against a new "morning after pill" being sold in Italy. The hormone-based pill Norlevo prevents a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus, if given within 72 hours of sexual intercourse. The Vatican has denounced the pill as a form of abortion and urged Italian pharmacists not to fill prescriptions for it. Some members of Italy's center-left government have accused the Church of trying to overturn the separation of church and state.

NPR's Margot Adler reports on the opening of The American Family Immigration History Center at Ellis Island. The records of immigrants who came through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924 are now available online. Ellis Island officials and the Mormons -- the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints -- have worked together to create a searchable database containing about 70 percent of all arrivals to the Port of New York during that period. (4:30) www.ellisislandrecords.org.

Betty White died last month and on Monday the TV icon would have celebrated her 100th birthday. Some of the money raised will go to an animal rescue center, a cause close to her heart.

Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh was among the first to publish details of the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq. In a new book, Chain of Command, Hersh alleges that the Bush administration knew in the fall of 2002 about abuse at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He speaks with NPR's Steve Inskeep.

U.S. troops and Iraqi forces storm into the center of Najaf in what Marine commanders are calling a final push to crush a rebellion by supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The cleric and hundreds of his followers are believed to be inside the Imam Ali shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam. Hear NPR's Melissa Block and NPR's Ivan Watson.

A new poll from the Pew Research Center shows President Bush and his Democratic rival, Sen. John Kerry, running dead even at 47 percent among both registered and likely voters, with Kerry wiping out the president's edge over the past few weeks. Andrew Kohut of Pew discusses the results with NPR's Melissa Block.