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NPR's David Welna reports on Cuba's effort to increase food production by breaking its huge Soviet-style farm collectives into smaller farmer-run cooperatives. So far the project has had only limited success, largely because the co-ops are required to sell eighty percent of what they grow to the government, at artificially low official prices. In addition, the state controls what the co-ops produce. Critics say Fidel Castro doesn't want the co-ops to do too well because economic success would make them less dependent on the government.

It's still raining over much of the west. Gamblers are trapped in Reno hotels, and the casinos and bordellos are closed down for the first time in 100 years. The governor of Idaho has declared several counties disaster areas. In California, rivers in Napa and Sonoma counties are above flood stage. Damage is in the hundreds of millions of dollars -- much of it because of bad planning, according to experts. NPR's Richard Gonzales reports.

Scott talks to NPR's Joanne Silberner about health care reform in 1996, and they look ahead at what to expect in the new year.

Danny talks with Jaems Fox, Dean of the College of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University in Boston, about his reaction to recent statistics showing a national decrease in violent crime. Fox says while overall crime stats have gone down, the rate of juvenile crime is on the rise, and is likely to get worse unless cities establish more youth programs.

Daniel talks with Jorge Castaneda, professor of political science at the National University of Mexico in Mexico City, about the current state of rebel groups in Latin America. Castaneda says that though there are still a few very brutal groups left, such as the Shining Path in Peru, most rebel groups have become increasingly mild in their tactics. And recently, in a couple of countries, he notes the guerillas have put down their arms in favor of negotiation and peaceful resolutions. But Castaneda says it still remains to be seen whether or not real reform can take hold in this new 'peaceful' atmosphere. For that to happen, he says, the governments which have traditionally oppressed the lower classes, also will have to make changes.

to defend him against allegations that his past fundraising activities broke House ethics rules. Speaker Gingrich is replacing Jan Baran, Washington's leading attorney on campaign finance law, with J. Randolph Evans of Atlanta, a nationally known specialist on legal malpractice.

The post-Christmas holiday rush is on at computer helplines across the country. NPR's Adam Hochberg visits one of the largest ones - IBM. Computer helpers there answer a broad range of questions from:"how do I turn it on?" to "how do I remove the dog's tongue from my CD-ROM drive?"

Scott with some thoughts about the new year.

NPR's Mike Shuster reports on the latest squabble over NATO membership. This time the criticism is not coming from Russia, but from NATO members themselves.

NPR's Andy Bowers reports that Russians are confused about which holidays they should be celebrating.