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NPR's Don Gonyea reports the Bush administration is going to court in support of three white university students who say their school uses racial quotas. The White House is accusing the University of Michigan of using quotas in deciding who is admitted. The university says its policy is constitutional, and that race is one of many factors it considers in its selection process. Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress say after the racial remarks made by Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS), now is not the time for the administration to challenge the factor of race in admissions.

Guest host John Ydstie talks with Jeffrey Lehman, dean of the University of Michigan Law School, and Cornell's president-elect, about the affirmative action policies of the law school at Michigan.

A juvenile court judge in Fairfax County, Va., rules that Washington, D.C.-area sniper suspect Lee Malvo, 17, can be tried as an adult for the murder of an FBI analyst. He and another suspect are implicated in 12 other fatal shootings. The ruling makes Malvo eligible for the death penalty. NPR's Brian Naylor reports.

David D'Arcy reports on this year's Sundance Film Festival, widely regarded as the most prestigious showcase for independent films and documentaries, which opens tonight. One film features a handful of the 40,000 Cubans who left their island on rafts in the 1990s.

DuPont and other multinational corporations announce the launch of the Chicago Climate Exchange. The effort is the first major attempt at establishing a market for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. NPR's Robert Siegel talks to Andrew Aulisi, a policy analyst with Environmental Defense.

Enormous deficits loom over the federal budget this year and next. The White House is pressing Senate Republicans to trim nearly $10 billion from spending bills approved last year when Democrats ran the Senate. Democrats respond that the president's proposed tax cuts need trimming -- not federal spending. NPR's David Welna reports.

The Bush administration prepares to file a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of three white students who have challenged the University of Michigan's admissions programs. The students allege the university uses a quota system that unfairly benefits minority applicants. Hear NPR's Don Gonyea and U-M Law School Dean Jeffrey Lehman.

U.N. weapons inspectors find 11 empty chemical warheads in an ammunition storage area in southern Iraq. They are said to be in excellent condition, but it's unclear if they've ever actually contained chemical agents. NPR's Kate Seelye reports.

Over the past decade the states have added safeguarding the environment to their to-do lists. Now, states struggle with the worst fiscal crisis in 50 years, and they're being forced to make tough choices and review priorities. Environmental protection moves pretty far down the list. NPR's Greg Allen reports.

NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports that a World Trade Organization court has ruled that the so-call Byrd Amendment to U.S. trade law is a violation of international trade rules. The amendment, named after Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV), requires the Customs Service to hand over the anti-dumping duties it collects to the companies that brought the unfair trade complaints. Hard-pressed steel companies were the main beneficiary of the law. The U.S. Trade Representative's Office says it will work with Congress to bring U.S. law into compliance with international trade rules.