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NPR's John Ydstie reports California utilities managed to avoid "rolling blackouts" today, but for the 11th day in a row the state spent the day under a Stage 3 alert. On one level, California's power crisis is simple: too much demand, not enough supply. The full explanation is much more complicated, though, and involves a lot of bad luck, a shortage of rainfall and a botched de-regulation plan.

NPR's Cheryl Corley reports on a turf battle in the snowy streets of Chicago. Tradition there says the tough work of digging out a snowbound car should be rewarded with the right to dibs the space. It's common to see chairs, traffic cones, or other objects saving a curbside space for a driver's return. Now some in the city say parking on public streets can't be reserved.

April Baer of member station WCPN reports that Cleveland-based LTV Corporation filed for bankruptcy protection today. The troubled steelmaker did manage to negotiate a last minute financing deal that will allow it to avoid a shutdown. The company's 18,000 employees will continue working while the company tries to reorganize under bankruptcy protectionfor a second time. The company blames cheap imports. It hasn't been profitable since 1997.

NPR's Michael Sullivan reports that the Parsis, ethnic Persians who follow the prophet Zoroaster, may become the first ethnic group in India to become extinct this millenium. The Parsis have been very successful over the centuries in India in politics, academia and business, but their population in India is aging rapidly and many young people are moving abroad. So the Parsis are considering whether to change their definition of Parsis by allowing converts and by allowing Parsis to marry into other groups.

NPR's Pam Fessler reports on President-elect Bush's final Cabinet appointments of the year; Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson for Secretary of Health and Human Services, former Colorado state attorney general Gale Norton for Interior, Rod Paige, an educator from Houston, for Education, and Anthony Principi, a decorated Navy veteran, for Veterans Affairs. Bush left Washington and headed back to Austin for the New Year, leaving three Cabinet posts still to be filled: Labor, Energy and Transportation.

The most anticipated musical of the season, The Seussical, arrived on Broadway preceded by a flurry of bad buzz that first appeared on the Internet. The buzz started to hum during the show's Boston tryouts. It used to be that out-of-town tryouts were a safe way to work out the kinks in a show. But the Internet has changed that. From New York, Jeff Lunden reports.

NPR's David Welna reports that Interior Secretary-designate Gale Norton has won widespread backing in the Senate Energy Committee, which approved her nomination by an 18-2 vote. It now goes to the full Senate. The vote was a defeat for many environmental groups, who have organized a stop-Norton campaign. Meanwhile, the Senate has confirmed several more Bush Cabinet officials.

NPR's Peter Kenyon reports on the one-week delay for the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote on John Ashcroft's nomination to be the next Attorney General. Vermont's Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the panel, said he asked for the seven day delay to examine Ashcroft's responses to their questions. Many feel the time will be used to galvanize the opposition to the former Missouri senator, who has become a lightning rod of criticism by abortion-rights, civil-rights, and gun-control groups.

NPR's Peter Overby reports on Senator John McCain's meeting with President Bush at the White House late yesterday, in which they talked about campaign finance reform. McCain and Wisconsin Senator Russell Feingold (fine-gold) have again introduced legislation that would tighten controls on political money. The meeting between the President and Senator McCain was described as a general discussion of the issue.

NPR's Peter Overby reports on today's budget surplus forecast by the Congressional Budget Office. The CBO is projecting a surplus of more than three-trillion dollars over the next decade -- or 5.6-trillion if you count the Social Security surplus. Republicans say that means there's plenty of room for a big tax cut. Democrats argue that the projections of a huge surplus may be overly optimistic in the long term. They are supporting smaller tax cuts.