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NPR writers and critics pick the best albums of 2004. Included is music by Modest Mouse, Tinariwen, The Hilliard Ensemble, Brian Wilson, Guy Davis and Wilco.

President Bush is getting a brand new cowboy hat, just in time for his second inauguration. The hat, the second to be made for Bush by Trent Johnson, is a gift from the National Cattleman's Beef Association. Brian Larson of member station KUMC in Greeley, Colo. reports.

Research published in this week's New England Journal of Medicine examines alcohol's effect on memory and mental function in older people, and suggests that moderate drinking may help prevent memory loss and mental decline.

An Atlanta golf club's conflict with two of its gay members over spousal benefits for their partners is pitting a gay-friendly city against a conservative state.

The Senate subpoenas some of the biggest names in Major League Baseball to testify before Congress about alleged steroid use. However, current and former stars including Sammy Sosa, Jason Giambi and Mark McGuire are reluctant, and the league is challenging the invitations.

Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi talks about Sunday's elections. He has spent the past week urging Iraqis to vote, while campaigning at the top of the Iraqi List slate. He discusses his legacy as interim leader and his determination to keep the polls open, regardless of security concerns.

Secretary of state nominee Condoleezza Rice addresses tough questions from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the justification for the war in Iraq and an exit strategy. She returned Wednesday to the Capitol for a second round of questioning.

Over the past three years, the U.S. has held dozens of suspected terrorists off the books, in a legal no-man's-land: Detainees have been treated in ways that mean they can't be prosecuted, begging the question of what happens to them now.

A man who killed himself during a routine traffic stop reportedly left a note claiming responsibility for the murders of the husband and mother of federal judge Joan Lefkow. The man, identified as Bart Ross, had lost a legal case before before Lefkow.

As the Iraqi national elections near, four blasts kill more than two dozen people in Baghdad. Insurgents set off a series of car bombs, outside the Australian embassy, at a police station and at a bank where Iraqi policemen were collecting their salaries. An attack was also reported near Baghdad's airport.