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State and local officials buy electronic voting machines in hopes of avoiding the low-tech messiness of pencil marks on paper ballots and so-called "hanging chads." But some computer scientists say vote-counting computers are inaccurate. NPR's Dan Charles reports.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today on two cases testing whether people can sue states for damages under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The cases, both from Alabama, involved a nurse with breast cancer and a security guard with asthma. They accuse state-owned institutions of discriminating against them based on their disabilities, although they were competent to do their jobs. NPR's Nina Totenberg reports that in recent years the Court has cut back on the power of Congress to subject the states to lawsuits.

NPR's John Ydstie reports that two Americans will share the Nobel Prize for Economics. James Heckman of the University of Chicago and Daniel McFadden of the University of California at Berkeley were cited for their work in microeconometrics, which combines economics and statistics. Heckman designed new methods for evaluating the effectiveness of various social programs from affirmative action to job training. McFadden was credited with developing statistical methods that transformed empirical research.

NPR's Anne Garrels reports from Belgrade that Yugoslavia's new president Vojislav Kostunica met with a special U.S. envoy, James O'Brien, today and expressed hope for a normalization in relations. In Washington, President Clinton announced a lifting of sanctions against Serbia, including an oil embargo and flight ban. His moves were welcomed not only by president Kostunica but by ordinary Serbs, who will face a long, cold winter without help from the international community.

In Minnesota, a first-term Republican is facing an uphill battle in his bid for re-election to the U.S. Senate. Polls show Senator Rod Grams running behind his wealthy Democratic challenger, department store heir Mark Dayton. Grams' seat is considered one of the most vulnerable in a Senate where Republicans currently hold only a slim majority. NPR's David Welna reports from Saint Paul.

NPR's David Welna reports that Minnesotans in the Saint Paul area are being treated to one of the more surprising campaigns this election season. Three candidates are vying for the district's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives -- a democrat, a republican and a member of the Independence party founded by Jesse Ventura. Any of the three could come away with the victory, and for the fledgling Independence party, a win might silence critics that claim the party exists in name only.

NPR's Rob Gifford reports on a controversy over the design of a new national theater building in Beijing. Building a national theatre is a matter of great pride to the people of Beijing. The Chinese capital has no such facility and lags far behind the city of Shanghai in theatre arts. But many are upset over the design, by a French architect. It calls for something resembling a huge titanium egg, surrounded by the monolithic, very square Stalinist buildings that rim Tiananmen Square, the spiritual heart of the city.

Susan Kaplan of member station WFCR reports on the problem of gangs in rural areas. Gangs call these areas "virgin territory," and move in gradually, hoping to control the drug activities there, and recruit new members. Local law enforcement often doesn't distinguish between gang activity and crime...and some parents don't realize that members of these gangs can be their own kids.

NPR's Alex Chadwick has the last of three reports on the megatransect: a year-long journey across part of Africa undertaken by field scientist Michael Fay. Fay is walking from the northern Congo basin to the Atlantic coast, following animal trails where there are no roads, foot paths, or villages. Today, he talks with Chadwick by satellite phone as he camps out in the mountains of southwestern Gabon .

NPR's John Nielsen reports that increasing the supply of iron in the world's oceans could help fight global warming. More iron in the ocean generates larger phytoplankton which in turn soak up carbon dioxide, the main contributor to global warming. The idea, known as the "iron hypothesis," has been around for years, but is slowly gaining more currency among oceanographers. (3:40) (Stations: studies on the topic are featured in the latest edition of the journal, "Nat