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NPR's Richard Harris reports on new research suggesting that plants communicate with one another using chemicals that float through the air. A report in the journal Nature suggests that plants infected with a virus produce a chemical that can waft to uninfected plants and help them guard against infection. Scientists don't know to what extent this happens in gardens, fields and meadows.

NPR's Don Gonyea reports that General Motors is expected to announce the winner of a month-long bidding contest for the defense operations of its Hughes Electronics Corporation today. Published reports suggest that Massachusetts-based Raytheon has the inside track, but Northrup-Grumman is said to be still in the running. General Motors is expected to get more than $9 billion for the aircraft division of Hughes.

Ben Gilbert reports on a controversy in Massachusetts over one woman's plan to build a rehabilitation community for recovering substance abuse patients on a 50-acre plot that used to be a farm. But opponents see it less as a farm, and more as "their backyard." This report is part of NPR's year-long "Housing First" series.

A report from the joint House-Senate intelligence panel recommends overhauling the U.S. intelligence system. Sources familiar with the congressional report say it blames the FBI and the CIA in general, but no individuals specifically, for mishandling intelligence about possible terrorist attacks. Hear NPR's Larry Abramson.

Many of the neediest in rural America face a crisis: Funding has dropped sharply for a federal program that creates affordable rental housing. In the latest report in the Housing First series, NPR's Madeleine Brand reports that some landlords want out of the program -- leaving the tenants with nowhere to go.

In the third of four reports on how America can break its dependence on foreign oil, NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports on the reluctance of Americans to trade in their sport utility vehicles for more "patriotic" modes of transportation.

NPR's Diplomatic Correspondent Ted Clark reports a former chairman of the US Joint Chiefs has recommended new steps to bolster support for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban. The treaty was rejected by the Senate in 1999. In a report to President Clinton, Retired General John Shalikashvili recommends a number of steps aimed at overcoming opposition to the pact.

NPR's John Hamilton reports on two studies that appear this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. Though there had been anecdotal reports that linked the hepatitis B vaccine to such health problems as multiple sclerosis, researchers in both studies say they don't believe the vaccine poses any health risk.

NPR's Eric Westervelt reports on a new study of the Philadelphia police department, which has been operating under a federal consent decree since 1996 - to address what civil rights groups call a pattern of racial discrimination in policing. The report says some officers still see crime through a racial lens.

NPR's Sarah Chayes reports from France where officials are still trying to ascertain the severity of the spill from a cargo ship that sank in the English Channel last week. A noxious smell reported by sailors in the area has raised fears of a spill from the load of chemicals the tanker was carrying, but stormy conditions have kept officials from investigating fully.