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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.

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.

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.

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.

As Robert Iger prepares to take over the top position at Walt Disney Co., he must step out of the shadow cast by current chief Michael Eisner. Eisner is scheduled to step down in the fall after a period of transition.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle becomes the first Senate leader in half a century to lose a bid for re-election. Republicans had made the Democrat's defeat one of their top priorities and threw powerful support behind the challenger, John Thune. Hear NPR's David Welna.