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Phillip Davis reports on the political battle surrounding rising hurricane insurance rates in Florida. Florida insurers have used a scientific model they commissioned to argue that global warming means that Hurricane strength will continue to increase in the coming years, thus the need for rate increases. State meteorologists are not convinced. But efforts to get money appropriated for an independent state study have been killed by the insurance lobby.

Sarah Chayes reports the French government has offered a package of tax reductions to the fishing industry to offset the high price of fuel. Fishers enraged by prices that have increased 140-percent in a year have been blockading ports around France for the past week. Following the government's concessions, fishing unions have urged an end to the protests. But not all the fishermen have complied, and taxi drivers, truckers and farmers say the tax reductions for fishers do nothing to alleviate their high fuel prices.

Minority enrollment is up at Florida's state universities and Governor Jeb Bush is attributing the increase to his "One Florida" program. The governor's plan abolished affirmative action in state college and university admissions. It substituted a program where the top 20% of students in each high school class is guaranteed admission to a state institution. But critics say the governor is off base, because other outreach and recruiting efforts are really behind the increase. Susan Gage of Florida Public Radio reports.

Bernd Klosterfelde talks about his new CD, Nie Mehr Allein (Alone No More), released in Germany last February. The CD is a compilation of household sounds intended to evoke the presence of a non-existent partner. Klosterfelde came up with the idea after his divorce. He says the disc can be used to make one feel less lonely, or to remind one of how annoying a partner can be. Klosterfelde says an English version will be released soon. (4:45) The label is Delta Music.

Jason Beaubien reports on tensions between teachers unions and school districts in Boston and Philadelphia - tensions that could lead to teachers' strikes in those cities. One issue is that teachers' hard-won rights regarding seniority are clashing with attempts to make poor-performing schools better.

Novelist James Welch has a new novel called The Heartsong of Charging Elk, based on an Oglala Sioux Indian who was part of the cast of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. From this historical incident novelist James Welch has made his new work -- (1:30) The Heartsong of Charging Elk is published by Doubleday.

After a volunteer collected more than 200 dead migratory birds from the sidewalks around the World Trade Center, bird groups in the city called on the complex to dim unnecessary lights at night.

NPR's Gerry Hadden reports traditional Indian medicine men in the southern state of Chiapas, Mexico, are trying to stop transnational companies from what they call bio-piracy -- making off with medicinal plants from the region and then taking out patents for any pharmaceutical potential. The Mayans say that such drug prospecting does not benefit Indian communities. The companies and some scientists say they stand to lose billions of dollars and perhaps the chance to cure deadly diseases.

Robert talks to ABC News reporter Robert Krulwich, about his 3-part series airing next week on Nightline, called "Hip Hop." Before beginning his research, Krulwich professed to be no expert on the subject of hip-hip culture, but wanted to understand why it was so compelling to kids, like his son, and millions of other teens and 20-somethings. In the first segment he profiles Russell Simmons, a hip-hop executive and record producer -- a household name to many hip-hop lovers, but previously unknown to Krulwich. Krulwich comes to understand that hip-hop is music, clothing, image, attitude -- a collage of ghetto and street, and the aspirations and signs of wealth and success. And he also discovers that the business of hip-hop is unlike any model he'd seen before, where music and fashion executives hold no distinctions between race, gender, or sex. He found it refreshing.

A federal appeals court today decided to keep former Los Alamos nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee in jail, in response to a Justice Department request. A lower court federal judge had ruled last week that Lee should be allowed to return home, but will remain under house arrest until his trial on charges of breaching national security. The Justice Department asked for more time to prove that Lee's release would be a threat to national security. Critics of the investigation and Lee's defense team allege that Lee was targeted as an espionage suspect by federal agents because of his race. NPR's Barbara Bradley reports.