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NPR's Melissa Block reports from New York City, one of the many places where immigrants are perplexed about tomorrow's changes in the immigration and welfare laws. While most immigrants won't be immediately affected by the laws, many are panicking. Some will lose their food stamps privileges, and others could be "excluded" from the country...that is, kept from reentering the country after their visas expire.

For years Americans have gone to the polls every four years trusting that their vote counts. They trust that after coming together to cast their ballots on election day a president will be elected and everyone will come together, at least for a brief honeymoon period, behind that president. What happens when such a fundamental trust in the way things work, is broken? NPR's Lynn Neary has a report if the trust can be restored.

In Detroit unions announced today they're ending a boycott of the city's two daily newspapers. For 5 years strikers have refused to buy the papers or support their advertisers. The labor dispute has been bitter and costly for both sides. Despite dropping their boycott unions are still claiming victory because the newspapers failed to break them, as WDET's Quinn Klinefelter reports from Detroit.

NPR's Guy Raz reports from Leipzig that more than a decade after reunification, many Germans still talk about a mental divide between eastern and western Germans. For the older generation whose sensibilities were shaped by the communist East German state, the adjustment to capitalism has been difficult and frustrating. But young people in the east -- indistinguishable from their western counterparts -- have wholeheartedly embraced the new Germany.

NPR's Peter Overby reports President elect George W. Bush chose Don Evans as commerce secretary yesterday. Evans, an oilman from Texas, Evans was also chairman of Bush's campaign fundraising. The Bush campaign broke records with the amounts of money it raised and Bush has high hopes that Evans sill continue that trend in his new position.

NPR's Rob Gifford reports from northern China that feeding the country's huge population has become even more difficult because of desertification. For years, the government encouraged Chinese peasants to clear more forests and produce more crops and livestock. But this has caused soil erosion, flooding and the spread of the Gobi desert. Now the government is encouraging tree planting, restricting the peasants' freedom to plant... and feed themselves.

NPR's Julie McCarthy reports from Coventry, England, where president Clinton wrapped up his final trip as president to Europe today. The president congratulated President-elect George Bush and pledged his support for a smooth transition of power. Mr. Clinton stayed up late into the night to watch his vice president, Al Gore, concede and President-elect Bush accept the concession.

President Elect George W. Bush had a lunch meeting in Austin today with Democratic Senator John Breaux of Louisiana to talk about ways of bridging the gap between the parties back in Washington. One way to do it might be to appoint Democrats to the president's Cabinet, of course, and Breaux himself has been mentioned as a candidate for the Energy Department. NPR's Don Gonyea reports from the Texas capital.

The end of this year's election season is also the end for many political websites. At the start of the election process there were dozens of sites offering voters a place to exchange ideas and opinions. Providing quality content was expensive and advertising wasn't as strong as projected. Now many political websites are undergoing strategic makeovers to survive. NPR's Jackie Northam reports.

NPR's Snigdha Prakash reports the holiday shopping sales have been disappointing. But the season is not over yet; many people have been saving their holiday shopping until after Christmas. Almost every retail outlet is having a post Christmas sale, and with savings up to 75 percent it may be worth the wait.