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Reports on the impact of intensified gang activity and crack use in high schools, particularly in New York and Los Angeles. Efforts to protect students; Gangs' symbols of identity outlawed.

Describes a decision made by the California Board of Education to adopt new science textbooks that delete the words `scientific fact' when describing evolution. Evangelical Christians pressure schools to teach creationism; California sets guidelines to govern the teaching of science.

Describes an new program in Los Angeles to help day laborers, many of them illegal aliens, find jobs. Reaction of the Immigration and Naturalization Service; A challenge to the 1986 immigration law; Tougher laws in other communities.

Reports that federal disaster relief authorities say that the Oct. 17 earthquake in Northern California was remarkably similar to a major practice drill they had two months ago. Personal element to relief efforts; How relief agencies responded.

Reports that the national war on drugs has stirred a debate about civil rights. Officials using evictions, raids, curfews, random searches; Appearance of broad public and legislative support; Civil libertarians concerned about erosion of basic rights; Legal scholars say courts have shown general tolerance for strong anti-drug measures; Supreme Court decisions affecting searches.

Reports on the record drug raid on an unguarded warehouse in the San Fernando Valley, Calif. September 29, in which drug agents seized at least 20 tons of cocaine and more than $10 million in cash that officials have linked to drug gangs operating out of Medellin and Cali, Colombia.

Discusses the fact that funds for Japanese-Americans who were detained in detention camps in World War II have yet to be appropriated, and the sums being proposed fall far short of the $ 1.25 billion needed. Civil Liberties Act of 1988 and promised restitution to 60,000; Attitude and reactions of Japanese-Americans who are still waiting.

Reports that an earthquake response drill in California was preceded by a few hours, by a real earthquake that shook San Francisco at a 5.2 on the Richter scale. Details of the quake; Details of the drill.

Reports that immigrants who obtained amnesty under the 1986 immigration law could lose their legal status and be deported because of an upcoming second deadline for application for permanent residence that many of the immigrants are unaware of. Need for outreach effort discussed; Problems with required English and American Civics classes.

Discusses the nationwide problem of assimilating legalized immigrants. Survey findings.

Reports that advocates of abortion rights are testing their strength and their tactics in a California State Assembly race that is the first of many crucial small-scale contests as the issue moves into legislatures across the nation. Crossing party lines; Candidates discussed.

Discusses the rising prostitution rates among the children of Pagsanjan, a small town about 40 miles from Manila, where the tourist attractions are a scenic waterfall and child prostitutes. In a town of 22,000, 65 percent of the population is younger than 18, and one-third of these are in the trade. Silence of Roman Catholic church; Urgent problem of birth control; Poverty common; Mail-order brides.

In a raid on a Manila safehouse in March, 1988, counter-insurgency forces of Philippine President Corazon Aquino captured 97 computer disks containing detailed information on the inner workings of Philippines' Communist rebels. The New People's Army, founded by Bernabe Buscayno, has been seriously hurt by the efforts of Aquino's troops but retains a highly organized structure that has infiltrated nearly every quarter of Philippine society.

Discusses the looting and violence in Los Angeles and the people who did it. Some of the people have long criminal records and some have none, but all of them are accused of discovering within themselves an impulse to anarchy when the city came apart. Thousands are facing arraignments.

Reports that the nation's largest Korean-American community in Los Angeles is grim, armed and determined to repel racial violence in their riot-scarred corner of the city. Vigilante Korean security force; Black and Hispanic residents' struggle with poverty and crime; Shopkeepers' outrage; National Guard; More.

States that four Los Angeles police officers were acquitted of assault in the videotaped beating of Rodney G. King, a black motorist, touching off a storm of anger in the city. The jury concluded that the policemen had not broken any laws when they clubbed and kicked King on March 3, 1991. Outrage of community leaders; Absence of blacks on the jury.

Describes the looting and vandalism in Los Angeles following the April 29 acquittal of four white police officers on trial for beating a black motorist, Rodney G. King. Social order broken down; Fires burning out of control; 11 people dead; Hundreds injured; 378 arrests; National Guard dispatched by Governor Pete Wilson; Gunfight in Koreatown.

Reports how the economic recession hits the younger members of inner city minorities worse than any other group and notes that blacks and Hispanics have over a 50 percent unemployment rate. Working class whites are pushing them off the rung of the economic ladder; Many are ill-prepared for the work place and the job hunt itself; More.

Tells how international Chinese crime syndicates are smuggling Chinese laborers to the US--not just shipping illegals but subjecting them to exploitation and to a growing wave of violence by the syndicates' enforced repayment of their debts with torture, kidnapping and sometimes murder.

Presents a special report on Russian immigrants. Says that most visitors from the former Soviet Union come to the US legally, but a growing number of them are going underground when their visas expire. The many types of people who are coming; Their penniless condition; Settling in; Expansion of exchange programs; Statistics.

Describes the damage done by sudden typhoon floodwaters which swept through towns and villages in the central Philippines on November 5. More than 2,000 people were killed and homes were flattened. Some areas never affected by floods before were hit, a result of deforestation caused by the illegal logging that is stripping bare the hillsides of much of the Philippines. Rescue work hampered.

Tells of the $150 million experiment in ecological correctness that is beginning in the Arizona desert. Biosphere 2, a giant airtight greenhouse, will be inhabited by four men, four women, and a variety of birds, animals and plants, for two years. It is an experiment in survival as well as a money-making venture that could produce environmental-related patents and tourist dollars.

Discusses the green-card lottery to be held on Columbus Day for would-be immigrants. The first 40,000 applications received on that day from people born in 34 nations will qualify for the green card that signifies legal permanent residency in the US. Similar lotteries held in 1986 and 1989 were smaller and were intended as one-time programs. The new lottery will become a permanent annual feature under the new immigration law.

Reports that a small but fast-growing number of schools around the nation are slashing the summer vacation by weeks and moving their students to a year-round calendar of shorter but more frequent breaks. Switch being made for purely educational reasons; Step toward lengthening the school year.

Explores how, for the parents, wives, siblings, and children of the 2,273 American servicemen still unaccounted for in the Vietnam War, every new report of a sighting, every new promise by the Government in Hanoi, stirs old pains and fresh disappointments. Photograph of three middle-aged men; US Government's view; Seeking the Mafia's help; Hundreds of sightings; Interest among the young; National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia.

Discusses the abandoned Vietnamese children of American servicemen. Many of them who came to the US have retreated to the California refugee community called Little Saigon and are finding there the same rejection that first drove them from Vietnam.

Discusses the gang war going on in Long Beach, Calif., between Hispanic and Cambodian residents, two immigrant cultures with almost nothing in common except their attempts to build a new life in the same neighborhood. Since tensions escalated into war 18 months ago, more than 55 drive-by shootings have claimed victims. Fears of violence have nearly paralyzed the Cambodian population.

Reports that Chief Daryl F. Gates resumed command of the Los Angeles Police Department four days after he was suspended following the police beating of a motorist. Because the judge issued an order reinstating Gates only temporarily and set a new round of a court battle over the chief's job.

Reports that after a five-year hunt through the courts and banking systems of three continents, the Philippine Government has uncovered a few hundred million dollars but not much more of the $5 billion Ferdinand E. Marcos allegedly stole from his country.

Presents a special report on police brutality in Los Angeles on March 3, in which Rodney G. King, a black man, was beaten and kicked for nearly two minutes. Details of the incident; Videotape; Police chief's views questioned; Steady increase in lawsuits over the years.

Says that the travel, hotel, cruise and recreation industries show signs that people are beginning to relax and enjoy themselves again. Although the war is still on people's minds, they are beginning to return to normal living.

Discusses the 16-month operation, carried out by the Phoenix Police Department and the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, that resulted in indictments of seven state legislators and 11 other people. Videotapes revealed the people accepting bribes, and portions of those tapes have been broadcast nightly on television.

Says that hundreds of illegal immigrants coming north from Mexico have been killed or injured in the past four years as they try to run across highways in an effort to avoid capture by immigration agents. Police officials say it is often impossible for drivers to avoid them. California highway authorities are trying to find ways to reduce the casualties.

Discusses the effect of the cold winter weather on California's $8 billion fruit and vegetable industry. Citrus crop ruined; Trees killed; Vegetables damaged; Flower crop hurt; Prices expected to rise.

Says that, nine days before the deadline, thousands of Californians are defying a ground-breaking state requirement that they register their military-style semiautomatic guns. Reasons for their civil disobedience; Penalties; New Jersey's law.

Discusses California's economy. Jump in unemployment; Fall in tax revenue. Presents comments of a cross section of the unemployed.

Says that paralyzed young men in wheelchairs are one of the new signs of the gang warfare in Los Angeles. Tells how they are supported by their gang members who visit them in the hospital and offer them a surrogate family that will support them when they return to the streets.

Presents a special report on the damage that resulted from the riots in Los Angeles. Gives examples of several businesses that were destroyed, putting people out of work and destroying dreams.

Describes the feeling of hopelessness that is shared by those in the part of Los Angeles where the violence began two weeks ago following a racial beating. There is anger for a society that writes them off as hoodlums and gangsters and responds with more arrests to what they see as their cry for help.

States that District Attorney Ira Reiner will seek a retrial for Laurence M. Powell, one of the four police officers acquitted in the video-taped beating of Rodney G. King. Reiner will press for a trial in an urban setting, instead of the mostly white suburban county where the first trial was held.

Reports that four men linked to the 8-Trey Crips street gang were arrested in the beating and stomping of Reginald Denny, a 36-year-old white truck driver, that was witnessed live on television across the nation and helped inflame the Los Angeles riots two weeks ago. The assault on Denny came immediately after the acquittal of four officers in the beating of Rodney G. King.

Discusses plans for the dedication of the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda, Calif., which will be run entirely with private funds. Misunderstanding about whether the $21 million complex would open its archives to people deemed unfriendly to Nixon--and Nixon's assurance that it would be.

Discusses the brush fires which have exploded across California and have destroyed more than 400 homes. Damage estimates; Fires in other states; Arson.

Discusses last month's decision by the nation' three largest sellers of canned tuna, under pressure from environmental groups, to stop selling fish caught in nets that also trap and kill dolphins. The effect of the decision on American tuna boats.

Reports that, 15 years after the fall of Saigon, the two most prominent former leaders of South Vietnam--Nguyen Van Thieu, 66, and Nguyen Cao Ky, 60,--are becoming active again, seeking to find a role for themselves in the future of the country they fled. Their credibility questioned by some overseas Vietnamese; Ky sees `final victory.'

Comments on the feelings which accompanied the first moments of freedom for three American hostages who have been released--Benjamin Weir, David Jacobsen, and Lawrence Martin Jenco. Feelings may be slightly different, but all agree that a man regains his freedom in the small details of life.

Tells of California's aggressive anti-smoking efforts, beginning with a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign that will be paid for by the smokers themselves through cigarette taxes. The aim is to destroy the glamorous image that the tobacco industry has created.

Reports on California Angels owner Gene Autry's visit with his team. What they hope to accomplish this season; Team's desire to win for Autry.

Describes the ways in which AIDS patients prepare themselves, their families, and friends for their death. Seconal; Giving away personal belongings; Suicide; A sense of dignity.