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With the Summer Olympics in full swing, a festive atmosphere has taken hold in Sydney's Olympic Park. As NPR's Eric Weiner reports, fans are giving high marks to the compact layout of the park and the genial hospitality of the Australian hosts. The early transportation snafus that delayed many athletes and journalists seem to have been solved -- at least for now.

David Schaper of Chicago Public Radio reports on how Polish immigrants have been subjected to "shake downs" from local police. Several veteran officers may be facing charges for stopping immigrants and pressing them for money.

NPR's Alex Chadwick examines Australia's national character in the latest National Geographic Radio Expedition. Australia is roughly the same size as America, but there are only 19 million Australians, still in search of their national identity.

Host Bob Edwards talks with NPR's Cokie Roberts about this week's political events including the new strategy in the presidential campaign of Texas Governor George W. Bush.

Noah talks to Luke McCabe and Chris Barrett, seniors at Haddonfield Memorial High School in Haddonfield, New Jersey about their offer to be walking billboards. The pair are looking for a company to sponsor them. In exchange for college tuition, they are willing to wear clothes and sunglasses all with the sponsors' logo on them.

Host Bob Edwards talks to Steve York and Peter Ackerman, director and editor of the PBS documentary A Force More Powerful: A Century of non-Violent Conflict which airs tonight. The documentary highlights successful non-violent movements from around the world.

NPR's Cheryl Corley reports from Chicago that civil rights activists vow to keep using fake job applicants to ferret out discrimination in hiring. They're promising to persist despite losing a federal court case concerning the undercover tactic.

NPR's Renee Montagne reports on some of the issues being discussed at the National Conference on children's mental health. Montagne talks with one parent and a physician about coping with Attention Deficit Disorder.

Republicans in the US Senate currently hold an eight vote advantage over the Democrats. But a third of the Senate seats are being contested in elections this year. Robert talks to Bob Benenson, Managing Editor for Politics at Congressional Quarterly, about the party balance in the Senate, and what might change this fall.

Commentator Darrell West, who teaches political science at Brown University, says this could be one of the most exciting and important elections in four decades. But voters are not paying attention to what could be a very exciting race.

Noah interviews Dr. Spotswood Spruance, Professor of Medicine at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, about of two major tests he and others conducted on a vaccine to protect against genital herpes. To the surprise of researchers, the vaccine appears to work only on women who have never had cold sores.

David Brower of member station KRWG in Las Cruces, NM reports on efforts made to find markets for small trees. Many agree that these trees must be cleared from forests to prevent destructive wildfires, but without a market for the small timber, logging companies can't afford to cut them.

Satirist Harry Shearer offers his version of a rote television Olympics feature profiling the "courageous young athletes" that compete.

NPR's Ted Clark reports that India's prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today noted progress in US - India relations since the strains of the Cold War. He asked the US to understand India's decision to test nuclear weapons two years ago. In a speech to both Houses of Congress, Vajpayee said that India, like the US, has declared a voluntary moratorium on nuclear weapons testing and favors elimination of such weapons. The Indian Prime Minister defended 1998 weapons testing as necessary to India's security. In response to the nuclear tests, by India as well as its hostile neighbor Pakistan, the United States imposed sanctions on both countries. Tomorrow, Vajpayee meets with President Clinton, who visited India and Pakistan last March.

Robert talks to Dan Carpenter, an Indianapolis Star op-ed columnist, about the demonstrations in support of fired Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight.

NPR's Steve Inskeep and Anthony Brooks speak with host Jacki Lyden about the Gore and Bush campaigns this week. They answer questions from our listeners about candidates' positions on issues not mentioned during campaign appearances.

NPR'S Melanine Peeples reports on dire conditions following three years of severe drought in the southeastern United States.

Host Jacki Lyden tours the exhibit Sylvia Snowden: Malik, Farewell 'Til We Meet Again with artist Sylvia Snowden. The artist discusses coping with her son's murder in 1993, and the emotionally-charged art it inspired.

Host Jacki Lyden speaks with James Perkins, the first African-American mayor of Selma, Alabama. The defeated mayor, Joe Smitherman, was the man who called out the National Guard on civil rights protesters in 1965.

It was 204 years ago this week that America's first president announced to the nation he would not seek a third term in office. George Washington had entered office a war hero but had become discouraged by newspaper attacks on his character. Host Jacki Lyden speaks with Washington biographer Willard Sterne Randall about how Washington's departure paved the way for a two-party system and for a tradition of attacks on character.

Jody Becker of Chicago Public Radio reports on a thorny environmental case being heard next month by the U.S. Supreme Court. It involves the right of some Chicago suburbs to build a landfill on land that's being used by migratory birds. Some environmental activists warn that the court could use the case to gut the landmark Clean Water Act.

NPR's Brian Naylor reports on the move by Republicans in the House to authorize the building of a monument to former president Ronald Reagan on the National Mall in Washington. It has already passed the House Resources Committee and is on the way to a full floor vote before Congress adjourns next month. Democrats say the move is less about honoring Reagan than it is about injecting him into the current presidential campaign. The move, if it passes, would circumvent a law that says no one can be honored with a memorial in the nation's capital until 25 years after the person's death.

Sportswriter Stefan Fatsis tells Linda Wertheimer why NBC, holder of U.S. broadcast rights to the Sydney Olympics, intends to provide only tape delayed coverage. The 15-hour time difference between Sydney and the eastern U.S. and the fact that the network's exclusivity agreement ends after the first broadcast of an event are the main factors. The result is that records set overnight will not be seen in the U.S. till prime time the next day.

Robert talks to Mirko Lauer a columnist for La Republica, the main opposition newspaper in Peru, about Peru's deposed intelligence chief, who was detained today by the military there. Vladimiro Montesinos has been at the center of a bribery scandal. He was suspended from his position over the weekend when President Fujimori "deactivated" the country's spy agency.

NPR's Rob Gifford in Beijing reports one of the leaders of China's Roman Catholic Church has been arrested. The detention of 81-year-old Bishop Zeng Jingmu, who has already spent more than three decades in prison, happened as a senior Vatican official is on a visit to the Chinese capital.