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NPR's Julie Rovner reports that the House of Representatives is voting this week on legislation known as the Patients' Bill of Rights, an issue Congress has been working for nearly five years. But health care officials argue that changes in the health care system have made the legislation irrelevant.

NPR's Jackie Northam reports on a U.S. District Court judge's decision to allow Timothy McVeigh's to end the appeals process and expedite his execution. The judge felt McVeigh was competent enough to seek this outcome, but is giving the convicted terrorist until January 11th to change his mind.

NPR's Madeleine Brand reports from New York on how some taxpayers are planning to spend their rebate checks. The first refund checks from President Bush's tax cut have already started arriving in households across the country. The President says the extra money will help to boost the economy.

These are bad times for Lloyd's of London, the venerable British insurance concern that has long been synonymous with the idea of stability. But Lloyd's has been hit with some unusually large claims since the late Eighties, and many of its investors have lost significant amounts of money. Now, as NPR's Jim Zarroli reports, the company's reputation, and much more, may be at stake.

NPR's Renee Montagne [mon-TAYNE] reports from Johannesburg on the changes in the South African police force over the last two years. Under apartheid, white police officers helped enforce apartheid; black officers were viewed as traitors. Today the force is 60 percent black.. and officers are regarded as friends of the community.

In a deposition released today, a Secret Service agent told a House panel that the White House had overruled a Secret Service decision to deny White House security passes to a number of employees who had used drugs in the past. The White House set up a voluntary drug testing program, and Senate Republicans say they will hold hearings on that program. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports.

- Daniel talks with political scientist Larry Sabato (of the University of Virginia/Charlottesville) about voter and election fraud. Sabato is the co-author - with Wall Street Journal reporter Glenn Simpson - of the book, "Dirty Little Secrets: The Persistence of Corruption in American Politics" (Times Books). The authors charge widespread use of fraudalent absentee ballots and the buying of votes.

The Supreme Court ruled today that the Virginia Military Institute must admit women as long as it is receiving state funding. The decision also applies to The Citadel in South Carolina. A lower court had approved VMI's establishment of an alternative program at a women's college, but the Court said that this program did not provide an equal education to women. NPR's Nina Totenberg reports.

NPR's Richard Harris reports on the implications of the recent disclosure that some U.S. troops may have been exposed to chemical weapons during the Gulf War for so-called "Gulf War Syndrome." There have been suspicions that chemical or biological weapons could be to blame for some of the baffling symptoms that soldiers have complained about.

NPR'S Melissa Block reports on the bust of a huge video piracy ring in New York city. Three dozen people were arrested for selling an estimated 100,000 counterfeit tapes each week throughout the country. Not only were many current movies found on tape, but also master copies of movies that haven't made it to the theatres yet.