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After a gruesome start to the year, stocks have made a solid recovery this summer. As Jim Zarroli reports, while lots of dot-coms have hit rock bottom, many other sectors such as consumer goods, pharmaceuticals and financial stocks are faring well. The economy has cooled without coming to a halt, interest rates are falling, and many investors think the market looks reasonably healthy.

Host Jacki Lyden talks with Catholic author and broadcaster Peter Stanford on the eve of the Pope John Paul II's beatification of two of his predecessors: Popes John the XXIII and Pius IX. Stanford says perhaps too many people are being beatified and canonized too quickly and maybe the process is faulty.

It's the first Saturday of the month and host Jacki Lyden is joined by novelist Paul Auster to bring you the National Story Project. Interested in submitting a story? Send your stories to: PMB 206 123 7th Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11215. You can also email your submission to NationalStoryProject@npr.org. For more information on the National Story Project and to read this month's stories, please visit the National Story Project area on NPR's web site at http://www.npr.org/programs/watc/991002.storyproject.html.

For critic Bob Mondello, going to a movie is work. So what does he do for entertainment? Recently he went to an amusement park in Virginia to try out the rollercoasters. He found out that many of them have a lot in common with summer blockbusters.

A crew of Icelanders sail across the ocean from their home to America 1,000 years after their Viking ancestors made the same voyage. Their vessel, the Icelander, is a replica Viking warship built to an ancient design by the ship's captain.

Colin Fogarty of Oregon Public Broadcasting reports on the bad reputation that the Immigration and Naturalization Service has in Portland. Tensions boiled over last month when the agency jailed and strip-searched an innocent Chinese woman.

Jacki talks to law professor Jonathan Turley about the decision yesterday that prevented Wen Ho Lee from being released on bail. Lee has been charged with mishandling information and has spent the last several months in solitary confinement without bail. Turley says that despite yesterday's decision, the government's case is looking increasingly shaky.

His Grandmother took to Facebook hoping to find it. The BBC reports that strangers started mailing the boy postcards on Peter Rabbit's behalf. A card from Japan said Peter enjoyed the Olympics.

NPR's Rebecca Perl marks the 10th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act by examining the impact the law has had on Pat Broderick, a resident of Washington D.C. Broderick lost the use of her legs in a car accident. She is now a judge in the District of Columbia and says the ADA has helped her do things many Americans take for granted. The ADA prohibits discrimination against people with physical or mental disabilities.

NPR's Ted Clark reports on the collapse of the Middle East peace summit at Camp David. The talks ended yesterday after both sides refuse to compromise the issue of Jerusalem. President Clinton urged both leaders to continue efforts to reach a permanent peace agreement by the self imposed September deadline.

NPR's Cheryl Corley reports from Chicago on the questions being raised about the way the 2000 Census was conducted. Republican Congressman Dan Miller of Florida chairs the House Subcommittee on the Census. He says that irregular procedures and fraud may have increased the head count in several cities, where there was initial resistance to the Census. The cities include Chicago, West Atlanta, Las Vegas, Florence, Alabama, and Hialeah, Florida.

Lawmakers have been critical of how the FBI mishandled the investigation of Larry Nassar. Several prominent gymnasts abused by Nassar are testifying about the case to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The speeches at the Democratic National Convention may last until nearly midnight for many of the nation's TV viewers, but in L.A. the nightly sessions are ending before 9 p.m. That gives the party plenty of time to party, and you get the feeling that's where most of the popular will is being expressed. NPR's Don Gonyea reports from inside the Conga, a popular local club that was rented out for a fundraiser for Democratic candidates.

NPR's Gerry Hadden reports that another election defeat for the party that for years ruled Mexico has re-ignited hopes that the government can reach a peace agreement with guerrillas in the south. The Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI yesterday lost the gubernatorial election in the state of Chiapas. Only six weeks ago, the PRI lost the presidential election to opposition candidate Vicente Fox . Both Fox and the opposition winner in the governor's race yesterday have pledged to resolve the bloody conflict in Chiapas between government forces and the indigenous Zapatista rebels.

NPR's Julie McCarthy reports from Camp Zeist in the Netherlands that the prosecution appears to have suffered a setback today in the trial of two Libyans accused of blowing up Pan Am Flight 103. The defense and the prosecution wrangled over CIA documents. The defense objected to being given expurgated versions of intelligence documents, while the prosecution was allowed to see a fuller version of the texts. The court ruled in favor of the defense.

NPR's Richard Knox reports that snakebite antidote supplies are running very low this summer. In many areas, doctors have run out of the crucial medicine before patients have completed treatment. So far, no deaths are blamed on the shortage, but antivenom experts say it's only a matter of time. The shortfall arose when the manufacturer of the main antidote cut back production.

In the second part of her Mafia series, NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports on a civic campaign to rebuild the old city of Palermo, capital of the Italian island of Sicily. Palermo is a living museum, with architectural styles ranging from the ancient to art nouveau. But under the influence of corrupt politicians and their friends in the Mafia, it fell into ruin. Citizens have now begun to take back their city from the mob, restoring its architectural treasures. (8:00) Music after story was "Costumi Siciliani" from the CD "Italian String Virtuosi", copyright 1995, Rounder Records.

Russia produced some of the world's great theoretical physicists, and some have made their home in Minnesota. 'Moscow on the Mississippi', they call it. NPR's David Kestenbaum looks at why physics bloomed in the Soviet Union -- and how things have changed for the scientists who came west.

Commentator Patt Morrison says it's time to dismantle a few of the myths about Los Angeles.

In his summer series, Play-by-Play, NPR's Neal Conan profiles Perry Barber, one of the few women who work as umpires in professional baseball. Barber works in the Atlantic League.

NPR's Rob Gifford reports on how China prepares young athletes for Olympic competition. Every major city and province has a government-run sports academy, which grooms children as young as four years old to be champion gymnasts, swimmers, or pingpong players.

NPR's Peter Kenyon reports on today's opening of the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. Several tense confrontations erupted between police and smaller groups of protesters but they were negotiated with no arrests.

Host Howard Berkes talks to NPR's Anthony Brooks about Democratic candidate Vice President Al Gore decision on his running mate. Sources say it will be Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman. Gore hopes to try to break free from President Clinton's shadow in order to narrow the gap between Gore and Republican nominee George W. Bush.

NPR's Eric Westervelt reports on the continuing protests in Philadelphia this week during the Republican National Convention. On the first day of the convention, thousands of protesters wound their way along city streets to the convention site. Few arrests were made and city police say they would accommodate the protesters as long as they remained non-violent. (5:05

Megan Williams of Youth Radio reports that while more and more young people are volunteering and taking part in public service -- many do not see voting as the best way to express their beliefs or influence others. The same kids out on the street making the voices heard, will not necessarily show up in the voting booth.