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NPR's Elaine Korry reports on a growing trend among some companies to file for bankruptcy when they're not really broke. Sizzler International's recent decision to seek protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code while boasting of its financial health is the latest example. Sizzler is using the rules of the Code to close some of its less profitable restaurants and legally break leases and fire employees as part of its restructuring.

From member station W-B-U-R, NPR's Tovia Smith reports that as excavations continue on Boston's Harbor Tunnel project, archeologists are nearing the place where colonists dumped tea into the harbor 222 years ago. They hold out a chance that they may find the wooden tea crates still in place. The dumping site of the tea crates was in deep waters two centuries ago but today it's solid landfill.

Samuel Hendren of member station of WUAL reports that many of the residents of the tiny community of Gees Bend, in Alabama are excited of the prospects that ferry service will be restored to their town after 30 years. The community, one of the poorest in the state, is located in an oxbow of the Alabama River, surrounded on three sides by water. Thirty-five years ago ferry service was terminated to prevent civil rights organizers from working with the residents, who are the descendents of former slaves. (s

The Senate Whitewater Committee is wrapping up the week's hearing schedule with more witnesses from the fringes of the controversy. Republicans are keeping the panel going with second-tier witnesses, because the independent counsel has barred them from calling the higher-profile players during his investigation. The committee chairman, Sen. Alphonse D'Amato, hopes he can keep the panel in business long enough to get that possibly-explosive testimony. NPR's Jon Greenberg reports.

NPR's Mike Shuster reports that some of America's allies, as well as many in the US business community, are not happy with legislation agreed to yesterday that will tighten sanctions against Cuba. After Cuba downed two American planes last weekend, President Clinton and Congress worked out their differences on the proposed law. Countries such as Canada, which does a lot of business in Cuba, are angered that the bill would permit lawsuits against foreign companies which invest in Cuba.

Ley (Lee) Garnett of Oregon Public Broadcasting reports from Portland on the devastation from the week's rain and melting snow. The week's downpour has killed at least three people in Oregon and one in southern Washington state. In Portland, retaining walls along the Willamette River have been holding as the river nears it crest. But the Columbia River on the city's north side continues to rise. Half of Oregon's counties are disaster areas and the governor has asked for federal relief.

NPR's Jim Zarroli reports that the debate over the North American Free Trade Agreement has resurfaced, with political candidates making claims and counter-claims about the trade agreement's effect on jobs in the U.S. Pat Buchanan insists that NAFTA has cost the U.S. 300,000 jobs, but most economists say he has no hard evidence to support such claim.

NPR's Eric Weiner reports on violent protests yesterday in Israel by Ethiopian Jews following their discovery that Israeli blood banks, after drawing blood from the immigrants, throw the blood away, fearing it may be contaminated with HIV. Israel officials explain this was done quietly so as not to hurt the Ethiopians' feelings. But Ethiopian Jews say the disqualification of their blood is just one more example of thr discrimination they suffer at the hands of Israel's white, European-born majority.

Wendy Kaufman reports from Seattle on a new law in the State of Washington requiring health insurers to cover non-traditional medical services. These include services for chiropractors, massage therapists, and acupuncturists. The new law says that if an insurance plan covers treatment for certain conditions, then the insurance company must pay for the treatment regardless of who provides it--as long as the provider is licensed and qualified to do it. The law went into effect on January First.

In the second part of our series on the income gap, NPR's Margot Adler reports on the debate over the relationship between technology and income disparity in the United States. Economists generally believe that technological innovation is good for the economy, good for jobs, and, in the long-run, good for our overall standard of living. But economists are also coming to the conclusion that modern technology is adding to the already significant income gap between rich and poor in this country.