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NPR's Tovia Smith reports on an aggressive new policing program in Boston. The program sends cops and local probation officers out at night together to look for offenders out past curfew. Unlike police, probation officers don't need a warrant to go into an offender's home. Officials say they're catching lots of violators this way, but critics charge it crosses the line and is a violation of privacy.

NPR's Phillip Davis reports on the competing strategies for giving away pieces of the broadcast spectrum. The extra capacity will allow digital television to be phased in while analog service continues. The current telecommunications law orders the FCC to give them to braodcasters free, a plan bradcasters support. Others, including consumer groups and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain of Arizona want the agency to auction the frequencies.

NPR's Ann Cooper reports from Johannesburg that South Africa's highest court today approved the country's new, post-apartheid constitution. The document is one of the most liberal in the world; besides guaranteeing racial and gender equality, it outlaws capital punishment and protects gay rights. The Inkatha Freedom Party, the rival to the ruling African National Congress, criticized the constitution on the grounds that it grants too much power to the central government.

NPR's Peter Kenyon reports that the Immigration and Naturalization Service is changing the procedures it uses to screen immigrants before granting them citizenship to ensure that convicted felons and other criminals do not get through. Republicans had charged before the election that the Clinton administration was rushing through thousands of citizenships to boost the voter rolls with new immigrants who might vote Democratic. As a result of the rush, several cases of convicted felons being granted citizenship by mistake were uncovered.

Among the more unusual initiatives on ballots around the country next month is Proposition 215 in California. Prop 215 would legalize the cultivation and use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Supporters say smoking pot helps more than taking cannabis pills, as NPR's Richard Gonzales in San Francisco reports. But the state is solidly against the proposal, despite the lampooning the state's officials are getting from cartoon characters in the Doonesbury comic strip.

NPR's Andy Bowers reports on Ulitsa Sezam, the Russian Courtyard that's home to Zeliboba and his friends - Vlas and Yenick, and Aunt Dashe. If this sounds familiar, it is. The Russian version of Sesame Street premiered today, brought to you by the letter Bukva. There was concern before the show made it to Russian airwaves that it might be just another unwanted import of American culture, although it's too soon to tell what public reaction is to the show.

Margot Adler reports that although most of the mainstream media has been debunking the story, a controversial account of the introduction of crack into the streets of Los Angeles... and its connection to the CIA and the war in Nicaragua... has been fueling black talk-radio shows for the past two months. Discussion is particularly strong on this topic on the Internet. It has led to demonstrations, a hunger strike, and even a Senate hearing.

Many of choreographer George Balanchine's important early works are still alive in the memory of dancers who are growing older. One of those dancers is Maria Tallchief, for whom Balanchine choreographed some of his greatest works. Now 71, Tallchief is coaching younger dancers in these roles. This Sunday Tallchief receives an award from the Kennedy Center for her lifetime achievements in dance. Jean Battey Lewis reports.

NPR's Brooke Gladstone reports on a group of renegade advertisers who are breaking with the pack to OPPOSE pitching tobacco to children. Last August, the FDA established new limits on cigarette advertising. The tobacco and ad industries have formed a coalition to fight those limits. Now this breakaway group is launching an ad campaign to convince their advertising compatriots to get behind the government.

Gillian Sharpe reports from The Hague on a pre-sentencing hearing at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal. The only person to have pleaded quilty to war crimes charges, Drazen Erdemovic, (DRAH-zen ur-DEM-uh-vitch) is asking for a lighter sentence in exchange for his cooperation with prosecutors. The three-member panel will be weighing his pleas against his admission that he killed at least 70 Bosnian Muslim civilians.