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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.

NPR's Melissa Block reports that the announcement last week of three arrests in New York in an alleged cellular phone fraud ring is the latest chapter in an ongoing story. Estimates are that fraud will cost the cellular industry nearly a billion dollars this year. And even as the cellular companies come up with technologies to make cellular phones more secure, crooks manage to outsmart them every step of the way.

The 104th Congress officially begins its second session this week. But NPR's Peter Kenyon reports that with budget negotiations still at an impasse, lawmakers are expected to accomplish few legislative matters this session. Today, the debt limit was the issue going back and forth between the White House and Congress. House Majority Leader Dick Armey says House GOP will block raising the debt limit until the White House accepts much of their agenda.

Commentator Sam Fulwood III says after spending most of his life believing in intergration, he's frustrated by the persistance of racism and finds himself retreating into his own community of middle class blacks...and fears that the opportunity for whites to embrace blacks may have been missed. Fullwood is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times and author of "Waking from the Dream: My Life in the Black Middle Class" published by Anchor books.

NPR's Adam Hochberg reports that officials in Macon County in western North Carolina want to build an industrial park on the site of an ancient Cherokee burial ground. The county is one of the poorest in the state and the burial ground is the only site suitable for development. The Cherokees are understandably upset, but don't even have standing to take the matter to court. County officials have already refused an offer from an archeological preservation society to buy the site.

Senator Bob Dole, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, addressed The Catholic Press Association in Philadelphia today, criticizing President Clinton's decision to veto legislation banning late-term abortions. Dole also used the speech to unveil a proposed tax credit for charitable deductions to help the poor. Abortion looms as a divisive campaign issue, not only between Dole and Clinton but within the Republican party. NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports.

NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports that Senator Bob Dole gave a speech today on his plans to reform the welfare system if he is elected President. The presumptive Republican nominee called for a five-year lifetime limit on receiving welfare benefits and said states should have the option of testing recipients for drugs. He criticized President Clinton for failing to reform welfare, as Clinton had promised to do before being elected to the White House.

NPR's Adam Hochberg reports that Olympic organizers are concnerned about a shortage of workers to fill about 4,000 unskilled jobs at the games. . .jobs like ticket takers, baggage handlers. The jobs pay up to $15 an hour, but response has been poor because they are temporary and because Georgia has a low unemployment rate. Other employers in Atlanta are afraid that the Olympics will try and raid their businesses for workers.