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Hatoon al Fassi, a professor of women's history at King Saud University, discusses Thursday's municipal elections in Saudia Arabia. Women aren't allowed to be candidates or participate in the vote, and much of the population is cautious about the effect elections will have on one of the world's staunchest absolute monarchies.

Slate financial columnist Daniel Gross says up-and-coming Commerce Bank has figured out a secret -- or at least something other bankers seem to have forgotten: it's good business to make your customers happy.

A major figure in the American musical scene died on Dec. 7 at his home in Siesta Key, Fla. Frederick Fennell was a legendary conductor and educator known for his musicality and interpretive abilities. NPR's Fred Child remembers him through his music.

A newly released memo from former White House counter-terrorism chief Richard Clarke warned then National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice that al Qaeda was an "active, major force" that needed immediate attention. The communiqué was written five days after President Bush took office in 2001.

NPR's Madeleine Brand talks about the management of tsunami disaster relief aid with James Dobbins, director of the the International Security and Defense Center at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, Calif.

Actor Jerry Orbach died Tuesday at age 69 of prostate cancer. Orbach spent years on the New York stage as a song man in hit musicals, but he was perhaps best known for his role as acerbic New York homicide detective Lennie Briscoe in the long-running hit series Law and Order.

New York Times writer Jason DeParle's book American Dream explores the effects of the 1996 welfare reform enacted by President Clinton and Congress. DeParle and Angela Jobe, a woman featured in the book, join NPR's Scott Simon.

The doping scandal that erupted this week due to the revelations of Victor Conte of the BALCO company may have a serious effect on at least two major athletes, track star Marion Jones and baseball slugger Barry Bonds. Jones denies using any illegal substances, and Bonds says he never knowingly used banned drugs, but skepticism is growing. NPR's Tom Goldman reports.

President Bush's proposed federal budget cuts funding for many law-enforcement programs, including COPS -- community oriented policing -- a program that has placed 100,000 police on streets across America. NPR's Laura Sullivan reports.

Rep. Jerry Lewis, the new chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, has the job of putting President Bush's $2.5 trillion budget into practice.