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Besides being the day tax returns are due, today is the deadline for Congress to pass a budget plan for next year. As usual, the deadline won't be met. Negotiators for the House, Senate and White House have been meeting for weeks now and are far from an agreement on how to balance the budget by the year 2002. Differences between the parties on tax cuts and cuts in Medicare and Medicaid spending are broad. However, some progress has been made on potential cuts in several smaller programs such as student loans. NPR's Brian Naylor reports.

One of the most important...and controversial...West Coast sculptors of the 1950's through the '90's (but especially the 1960's), Kienholz (pronounced KEEN-holz) created life-sized tableaux comprised of casts of human figures and real objects in various settings: "Back Seat Dodge" and "The Illegal Operation" are perhaps his best-known....not to mention most self-explanatory...titles. The first major retrospective of his work EVER is at the Whitney Museum of Art in New York city now. Karen Michel reports

Texas Republicans are meeting in San Antonio this week at their state convention and the issue of abortion is proving extremely divisive. Many state party activists are furious with the Dole campaign and moderate party leaders for not holding firm against including language stating tolerance for other views on abortion in the party platform. Some are threatening to stop one of the state's senators, Kay Bailey Hutchison, from being a state delegate to the Republican national convention. NPR's Wade Goodwyn reports.

A plan to build a new satellite-based communications network that would provide wireless internet service around the globe received a boost yesterday. Boeing has announced that it will be the lead contractor on Teledesic Corporation's $9 billion plan to put a network of low-orbit satellites in space. But Teledisic may find the skies crowded by the time it gets there. There are at least three similar projects already in the works. Teledesic, is owned by Bill Gates and cellular phone billionaire, Craig McCaw. NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports.

Fallout continues from the indefinite postponement of a hearing on House Speaker Newt Gingrich's violations of ethics standards. A Democratic member of the ethics panel has called the announcement a "Thursday Night Massacre," and the casualties are bipartisan consensus and ethics process. Meanwhile, Republicans are calling for a criminal investigation into tape recordings of a cellular phone conversation in which Gingrich is heard discussing plans to manage the public disclosure of the charges against him, an apparent violation of a promise to the committee. NPR's Brian Naylor has a report.

A special commission set up by Congress to study the accuracy of the consumer price index has concluded the C.P.I. overstates inflation by approximately 1.1%. The commission, headed up by former Bush Administration economic advisor, Michael Boskin, made several recommendations for correcting the upward bias...which costs the federal government billions of dollars every year because the C.P.I. is used to adjust benefit payments to millions of American retirees and veterans. NPR's John Ydstie reports.

Jury deliberations resumed today in federal court in Louisiana in an insurance fraud trial involving former Governor Edwin Edwards. Edwards, the State Insurance Commission, Jim Brown, and a lawyer are accused of corruption and witness tampering. The three are alleged to have created a favorable settlement in 1996 for the owner of a failed insurance company. Earlier this year, Edwards was convicted in an unrelated racketeering case involving the licensing of riverboat casinos. NPR's Debbie Elliott reports.

The Ivory Coast's military government has decreed a state of emergency and imposed a curfew on the country's main city, after troops clashed with supporters of an opposition candidate from Sunday's presidential election. Military ruler General Robert Guei called off the vote-count and proclaimed himself the victor in the election. But initial returns showed the opposition leader Laurent Gbago with a commanding lead -- and he has also declared himself president. NPR's Kenneth Walker in Abidjan reports.

It's been a rough month for organized labor, as Congress repealed workplace rules on repetitive stress and the Bush administration intervened to forestall threatened strikes against airlines. In the months ahead, congressional leaders are promising more hard looks at laws and regulations favored by the unions. Labor weighed in heavily during the election campaign on behalf of Democratic candidates, but union leaders still seem stunned at how far and how fast their standing in Washington has fallen. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

President Bush's effort to channel more social service money to faith-based organizations has run into problems with some religious leaders. Several high profile spokesmen have said the president's initiative, while welcome, would pose too many risks of government interference in the work of religious charities. But today, a group of African-American ministers came to Washington to proclaim their willingness to work with White House and federal agencies under the program. NPR's Brian Naylor reports.