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NPR's Debbie Elliott reports on the ruling against a former T-W-A flight attendant who says the tobacco companies were to blame for the smoke in the airplane cabin which aggravated her lung disease. This is the third second-hand smoke case to go to trial, and the third time a jury rejected the claim.

The military rescues a U.S. Army prisoner of war in Iraq. The Pentagon confirms that 19-year-old Army Private First Class Jessica Lynch of Palestine, W.Va., has been returned to an allied-controlled area. Lynch was a supply clerk with a convoy that was ambushed on March 23 near the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah. NPR's Nick Spicer reports.

Polish exile and philosopher Leszek Kolakowski is the first recipient of the John W. Kluge Prize. The $1 million prize is the first international award in the humanities and social sciences -- areas not recognized by the Nobel Prize committees. Hear Librarian of Congress James Billington, who chose Kolakowski from a worldwide list of nominations.

A new play tackles racism by confronting racist slurs and behavior head-on. Actors Miles Gregley, Rafael Agustin and Allan Axibal talk about the controversial play, N*W*C: The Race Show, and its confrontation of racial stereotypes.

E. Digby Baltzell died Saturday night at age eighty. In the 1960s, E. Digby Baltzell - a sociologist - was writing about the decline of the Protestant Establishment, the class from which he himself had sprung, and he coined the term "white anglo saxon protestant" or W.A.S.P. to descibe its members.

- F.W. de Klerk, the former white leader of South Africa, appeared before the country's Truth Commission this week. The Commission is looking into the abuses of the apartheid era. De Klerk apologized for the human rights violations his party committed, although he said the "unconventional" tactics of the African National Congress required an unconventional response. For the record, we play excerpts from De Klerk's statement.

Gasoline prices in the United States are higher than they've been since before the Gulf War. As Joe Smith from member station W-C-P-N in Cleveland reports, one of the reasons for the higher prices is that oil companies have been keeping inventories low, in part because they've expected crude oil prices to drop.

The Canadian Auto Workers went on strike against General Motors early this morning. The C.A.W. says a strike is necessary because G.M. farms out a lot of its work to outside, non-union suppliers. NPR's Don Gonyea reports that the strike should have little effect on General Motors in the United States unless it continues for more than a week.

Linda reads letters from listeners across the country. This week people weigh in on our stories about the Peruvian hostage ordeal, recognizing black American English in Oakland, California, the V-Chip, and alternative Christmas traditions and music. (3:30) Listeners can send letters to: 635 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20001. Or by E-mail to: atc@npr.org.

NPR's Peter Overby reports President elect George W. Bush chose Don Evans as commerce secretary yesterday. Evans, an oilman from Texas, Evans was also chairman of Bush's campaign fundraising. The Bush campaign broke records with the amounts of money it raised and Bush has high hopes that Evans sill continue that trend in his new position.