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NPR's Kate Seelye reports from Damascus on a group of African-American Muslims sent to Syria to study Arabic and Islam for two years. The hope is, when they return, they will be able to teach others what they've learned and build community life within mainstream Islam in the United States.

Dogs have been guiding the blind for more than 70 years in the United States. The first guide school opened in 1929, and since then has trained more than 12-thousand dogs to assist the visually impaired. But this year, at a farm in North Carolina, another animal is learning the craft. From member station WFAE in Charlotte, Scott Jagow reports.

NPR's Emily Harris reports that child safety advocates testified before a congressional committee yesterday that children between the ages of five and nine need additional seatbelt protection. They recommended that parents be required by law to install booster seats for children who are too big for infant car seats but not big enough to be protected by regular seat belts.

Legislators in North Carolina and throughout the Southeast and Midwest are proposing cuts in higher education to deal with their budget shortfalls. North Carolina has called for a 7 percent reduction in higher education. NPR's Adam Hochberg reports the proposal has met with student protest rallies and prompted administrators to say they will have to cut course selections and lay off faculty.

NPR's Guy Raz reports from Berlin on a controversial exhibit that is drawing huge crowds. The artist -- German anatomy professor Gunther Von Hagens -- mummifies human and animal organs and bodies by immersing them in a polymer solution. He then poses and displays the bodies. Von Hagens says his exhibit is intended to "enlighten" the public, and indeed many visitors see it as educational. The Roman Catholic Church, however, sees it as a perversion.

Maura Ferrelly of Georgia Public Radio reports that residents of Savannah, Georgia are divided over a statue that would commemorate slaves and their contribution to the city. The focus of the controversy is an inscription on the proposed slave memorial by poet Maya Angelou describing the horrors of the "middle passage," the voyage slaves took from Africa to the New World. Opponents say the inscription is divisive, others believe it is an accurate reflection of the voyage.

Medical labs and drive-in banks are still using the pneumatic tube, whose heyday was back in the 19th century when the device was a means of sending messages from building to building. The tube made a comeback in the 1970's when engineers figured out how to make it gentle enough for hospitals to transport blood samples. Joel Obermayer reports from Danville, Pennsylvania.

NPR's David Welna reports from Orange, Texas, where a dozen residents took part in a role-playing exercise as a congressional committee trying to divvy up the federal budget. The group concluded that the $1.6 trillion tax cut proposed by President George Bush wasn't a prudent idea until the national debt is paid off.

A New Jersey state supreme court justice will not face impeachment proceedings. Justice Peter Verniero is accused of misleading the public about the use of racial profiling by state police, but a top lawmaker has said he will block any attempt at impeachment. Eugene Sonn reports from member station WHYY in Philadelphia.

NPR's Eric Westervelt reports on President Bush's appearance at the Democratic legislative retreat in Pennsylvania yesterday. Mr. Bush continued his attempt to charm the opposition. Though some members seemed charmed, he faced tough questions from Democrats, many of whom remain skeptical of finding common legislative ground with the new president.