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Numerous levees have already failed to hold back floodwaters in parts of the Midwest this week. The federal government says many more are likely to be topped. Engineering experts agree the nation's levee system needs a second look. Adriene Hill of Chicago Public Radio reports.

Updating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is one of Congress's top priorities in 2008. FISA, as the law is known, generally tells the president that he must have a court order to spy on Americans in the United States.

NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports George W. Bush says he's making education his top priority when he takes office. He has an advantage. Congress just approved the single largest increase in educational funds. Now, Bush's plan is to give states a block sum in the form of grants and each state can deem best how to use it.

Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser, plays a pivotal role in both policy and politics. He has gotten credit for the Republican victories in the midterm elections and for the president's high popularity ratings. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

Mechanical engineer Don Gilmore has the key to a persistent musical problem: how to keep a piano perpetually in tune. The top-selling line of Story-Clark grand pianos will soon be outfitted with Gilmore's self-tuning device. Hear from Gilmore and NPR's John Ydstie.

Later this year, a group of women from across North America will attempt to ski to the North Pole. If successful, they'll become the first women to reach the top of the world without the use of dog sleds or ships. Nicole Walton of member station WNMU talks with the members of the expedition as they prepare for their journey.

She edited such films as The Hustler, Bonnie and Clyde, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, and The Wonder Boys, which has just been re-released. Her Hollywood career began in the 1940s as an apprentice editor. Today shes arguably the highest paid and one of the top five film editors in the business. Allens been nominated twice for Academy awards.

People in the northeastern U.S. are digging out from the second Nor'easter in less than two weeks. The storm dumped up to two feet of snow on top of the three feet already left by a Christmas Day snowfall. North Country Public Radio's Brian Mann reports.

A top U.S. envoy today held out the prospect of energy and other forms of assistance for North Korea if Pyongyang abandons nuclear weapons development. The Bush Administration says it will not reward North Korea's threatening behavior. But analysts say Washington could help Pyongyang in indirect ways to resolve the current stand-off. NPR's Vicky O'Hara reports.

The top two Democrats in Congress, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, unveil what they called a "pre-buttal" in advance of President Bush's State of the Union address, which will be given Wednesday evening.