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A former hotshot firefighter and an associate editor at Outside Magazine shares his in-depth reporting on the Yarnell Hill fire that burned more than 8,000 acres and killed 19 firefighters.

Thomas Martinez and Tamara Hardy dreamed of leaving home and going to college. But they grew up on a Navajo reservation and were torn, between those aspirations and their ties to their poverty-stricken community. Up Heartbreak Hill follows the high school seniors as they struggle with the decision.

Two math majors at Reed College in Portland. Ore., created a wintery masterpiece: A snowball weighing about 800 lbs. The students built it on the quad, but decide to roll it down a walk. Then the snowball took off down a hill and smashed into a dorm wall so hard it crushed it.

In one of the strangest moments of a strange few weeks on Capitol Hill, the House stenographer launched a tirade about God, the Constitution and Freemasonry

NPr's Ann Cooper reports that the New U-N Secretary General Kofi Annan (KOH-fee AN-nan) took his promises of reform to Capitol Hill today, trying to convince skeptical members of Congress that the United Nations is still a vital investment. The U-S has failed to pay over a billion dollars that it owes to the U-N, partly because of intense congressional criticism of U-N management. In a meeting with Annan today, House Speaker Newt Gingrich said that he believed problems with the U-N could be worked out, and made it clear that Congress does NOT want to shut the world body of diplomats down.

NPR's Peter Kenyon reports from Capitol Hill, where Dick Cheney visited Republican lawmakers to update them on the Bush transition plans. But if Cheney was going through what may have appeared as something just short a victory lap, Republicans faced potential difficulty on another front. The victory of Maria Cantwell in Washington means that the new Senate will be split down the middle -- 50 Democrats, 50 Republicans. Though Cheney, should he become vice president, would break the tie, giving the GOP nominal control, Democrats are insisting on a power-sharing arrangement -- everything from a better ratio of committee members to potential control of some committees.

The nation's 108th Congress convenes Tuesday with a considerable hangover of unfinished business from its last session. Before adjourning, lawmakers failed to strike agreement on extending unemployment insurance for 750,000 jobless people. Hill-watchers also expect heavy lobbying from the White House for quick action on the administration's new economic stimulus package. NPR's David Welna reports.

When Hmong hill tribesmen fled their native Laos after the Vietnam War, many ended up in neighboring Thailand, where they have lived in poverty for decades. Last December, some 15,000 of these stateless citizens were offered citizenship in the United States. The first of the Hmong refugees are arriving at various destinations in the United States this week. Doualy Xaykaothao traveled to the refugee camp near Tham Krabock temple in central Thailand to report on preparations for their departure.

For many, Clarence Thomas will be forever linked to Anita Hill, accusations of workplace harassment, and a bruising confirmation hearing. A new book, Supreme Discomfort, traces the conservative jurist's rise to the nation's highest court.

The Big Three automakers are visiting Capitol Hill again to seek a bailout for their struggling industry. A repeated criticism has been that auto workers are paid unnecessarily high wages for the jobs that they do. What do you think? Is this a fair or unfair criticism?