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A brief note on some of the other news on today's program.

Four years ago, a new federal law was enacted to limit the use of pesticides in American food production. But that was just the beginning of the fight. Enforcing the new law has proven difficult, beginning with the writing of detailed regulations. And a coalition of farm organizations and pesticide manufacturers has been working to slow the process, as well. Now there's a new bill pending in Congress that would cloud the picture further. NPR's Peter Overby reports.

Robert talks with Russ Buettner, a reporter at the New York Daily News about how a Long Island-based anti-abortion group raised over 2-million-dollars to support anti-abortion candidates. But only one-percent of the money has gone to political campaigns. The rest has been taken by the direct marketing firm making the fundraising calls.

NPR's Phillip Davis reports Florida is offering motorists a new license plate featuring the slogan "choose life." Money from the sales of the new tags go to promote adoption. But abortion-rights groups say the message is inherently religious, and therefore unconstitutional. They've lost a round in court, but are still fighting against the plates.

Commentator and psychiatrist Elissa Ely says a Bible study group among patients at the hospital where she works provides some interesting theological insights.

NPR's Mary Ann Akers reports on the first day of a two-day meeting about the 1996 crash of TWA flight 800. Members of the National Transportation Safety Board are discussing what the staff has compiled on the crash. They're also preparing to approve the staff report on the probable cause. The board is expected to vote tomorrow, and release safety recommendations. The staff has concluded, as has long been accepted, that the center fuel tank exploded and destroyed the airplane, killing all 230 people on board.

Heavy fighting between Indian and Pakistani forces in the disputed border area of Kashmir broke a cease-fire today. Zaphar Abash, of the BBC, reported from Islamabad that both sides are accusing the other of starting the clash.

Noah Adams speaks with John Powers, who covers the Olympics for the Boston Globe. Powers has been following the series of arbitration cases by American athletes who say they should not have been passed over for the US Olympic team. Major cases include athletes in wrestling, cycling, and softball. Powers says a lot of the cases involve the way in which athletes are chosen for the teams.

Nearly a third of the American workforce works a temporary or part-time job, or hires on as an independent contractor. For many workers, these arrangements provide the flexibility and freedom they never had in traditional jobs. But many "free agents" struggle to obtain benefits and professional stability. As David Molpus reports, a new study finds that organizations are emerging to help workers cope with the change, but there are still lots of bumps in the system.

NPR's Michele Kelemen has a report from Podolsk on Russian sports hero Alexander Karelin. This giant of the Greco-Roman wrestling scene is going for his fourth Olympic gold in Sydney next month. But he's not just an athlete; he's also a member of the Russian Duma. President Putin's party recruited Karelin last year to boost its public image.

NPR's John Burnett reports from the Mexico border, where, over the last six years, the United States has substantially increased efforts to stop illegal aliens from entering. Burnett accompanies some Border Agents on their rounds, and talks to some of the Patrol's critics. Ranchers in Arizona and Texas are among those who say the thousands of new agents and new technology have done little to stem the flow of illegals.

All Things Considered offers a work song for temporary workers that might need an outlet for their pain at having an insecure status in the workforce.

French law had set a Sept. 15 deadline for the country's 2.7 million health care workers to get vaccinated. The ones who didn't get a jab were suspended, the country's health minister says.

In a lawsuit against the state, Alaska is being charged with providing substandard police protection to the rural - largely native Alaskan - villages. The plaintiffs conclude that this is a decades old pattern of discrimination that is racially and geographically based. For NPR News in Anchorage Anne Sutton reports.

A woodchuck spent ten ecstatic days in Commentator David Budbill's garden before Budbill shot it, to preserve his vegetables. Budbill grieves for the woodchuck and for himself.

A team of four California rock climbers were taken hostage for six days this summer by Islamic rebels in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan before managing to escape. Noah talks to Beth Rodden, a 20-year-old world-class climber from Davis, California, who was a member of the team, about the harrowing adventure.

One of several tax cuts passed by Congress this summer -- a repeal of the tax on estates -- was formally dispatched from Capitol Hill to the White House today -- but not by the usual means. The document made its way down Pennsylvania Avenue on board the tractor of Lynn Cornwell, a cattle rancher from Montana. President Clinton has said he will veto the repeal, and Congress is not expected to muster the votes to override him. But Congressional Republicans are determined to keep the issue in the public eye. NPR's Brian Naylor reports.

Jackie Northam of Chicago Public Radio reports that more than two weeks after Firestone began recalling millions of its tires, there's now a desperate scramble for replacements. Fingers of blame are pointing in many directions. Federal investigators say 62 people have died in car accidents that may have been caused by peeling tire treads.

A federal judge has ruled that Wen Ho Lee, the nuclear scientist accused of mishandling sensitive information at Los Alamos National Laboratory, can be released on bail. NPR's Barbara Bradley explains.

On the campaign trail yesterday, Presidential nominees George W. Bush and Al Gore criticized each other's tax cut proposals. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports on Bush's comments; NPR's Madeleine Brand reports on Gore's.

NPR's Tovia Smith reports on a California court ruling that an anonymous sperm donor must come forward to testify in a case involving the sperm bank and the parents of a child who now suffers from a genetic kidney disorder.

Richard Harris reports that scientists in Finland have succeeded in making a chemical compound out of one of the few elements on earth considered to be completely inert -- argon. Argon is a gas that makes up 1 percent of our atmosphere. Until now, argon atoms have been complete loners. In today's issue of Nature, chemists reveal a method to make chemical bonds between argon and other atoms.

The Elements - Satirist Tom Lehrer's recitation of all the names of the chemical elements to the tune of I am a Very Model of a Modern Major General. (1:00) The song The Elements is from the CD The Remains of Tom Lehrer, on Rhino Records, www.Rhino.com.

The California Supreme Court has ruled that anonymous sperm donors do not have an unlimited right to privacy. Robert talks to Ruth Colker, Law Professor at Ohio State University.

Noah talks with NPR's Mary Ann Akers about Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater's meeting today with airline and union leaders about flight delays and cancellations, and other problems in the industry. Some factors in the disruptions have been more people flying, bad weather and the limited capacity of airports and the air traffic control system. Some members of Congress have advocated a "bill of rights" to try to get passengers better treatment and more information in the face of delays.