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Public schools perform favorably with private schools when students' income and socio-economic status are taken into account, according to a new report from the U.S. Education Department. The findings counter a popularly held notion, that private schools outperform public schools.

Creating a nest egg is considered key for people trying to beat poverty. An experimental program called IDAs -- individual development accounts -- helps low-income people save money. The program matches savings twice -- up to $2,000 -- by the federal government and a community- based non-profit. From San Francisco member station KALW, and New California Media, Holly Kernan reports.

Gen. Romeo Dallaire was commander of the U.N. peacekeeping forces in Rwanda 10 years ago during one of the worst massacres in modern history. Some 800,000 Rwandans were killed in 100 days. Most of them were Tutsi and moderate Hutu civilians. During that time Dallaire and his troops were denied authority to intervene. The experience changed him, tormented him, and filled him with guilt. He suffered from post traumatic stress syndrome, was suicidal and depressed. He's written a new account, Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda.

Commentator Kristine Holmgren says that she is concerned about the effect that the new welfare reform bill will have on the poor families at her church and around the country. She says the bill's supporters, who assume that private charities will increase services to offset welfare cuts, haven't taken into account one important factor. After 10 years of working with the poor, Holmgren says, she has learned that the poor are proud -- maybe too proud to ask for help from people in their communities, whom they have to face every day.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is probing the alleged unprovoked killings of 24 civilians last November by U.S. Marines in the insurgent hotbed of Haditha, Iraq. According to news accounts, the killings were in retaliation for the death of Marine Lance Cpl. Miguel Terrazas, Jr.

In April, New York Times reporter Dexter Filkins will receive the George Polk Award for War Reporting for "his riveting, first-hand account of an eight-day attack on Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah." We talk with him about the rebuilding country and its recent elections.

A group of anesthesiologists discusses reports that patients who are put into a deeper sleep during surgery are more likely to die within weeks, or months. Experts in the field say that while people over 65 may be at a greater risk, tens of thousands of deaths may be preventable by taking the findings into account. NPR's Richard Knox reports.

Agriculture accounts for 11 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.

He spent a year reading the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica and writing The Know-It-All, an account of what he learned. Now he's accomplished another annually retentive feat: The Year of Living Biblically chronicles A.J. Jacobs' attempt to follow every rule in the Bible.

An internal Justice Department investigation has concluded that the controversial U.S. attorney firings of 2006 were of a partisan political nature. One of the seven fired attorneys, Iglesias discusses his book, In Justice, an insider's account of the affair.