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Writer Mary Saner returned in mid-life to an old hobby: riding motorcycles. She had to learn it all over again.

NPR's Melissa Block reports that Al Gore and Joseph Lieberman get back aboard their rented riverboat named Mark Twain today as they wrap up a post-convention swing.

From Missoula, Montana, Kathy Witkowsy reports on the widespread damage that drought and wildfires are causing in the western part of the state. Hundreds of thousands of acres of forest have burned already, and millions of acres more have been closed because of fire danger. Businesses that rely on tourism are losing money, and ranchers are facing losses too. More than 200 buildings have been destroyed by fire.

Host Jacki Lyden speaks to NPR's Melissa Block, who is traveling with the Al Gore presidential campaign. The Democratic nominee and running mate Joe Lieberman continue a Midwest swing down the Mississippi, to enthusiastic crowds in Illinois and Iowa.

Midwestern singer-songwriter Greg Brown is both a road poet and a keen observer of the natural world. He says that he likes to think about his work as stories sanded down into songs. His new CD is called Covenant; it's his 17th album. He talks to Jacki from his home in Iowa City. (Red House Records 2000)

NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports on the annual Back to School report issued by the U.S. Department of Education. This year's study examines such topics as student enrollment, class size and teacher pay. The report shows a record number of students attending public schools this fall.

Host Jacki Lyden speaks with journalist Geraldine Brooks who is reporting on the Sydney Olympics for the Wall Street Journal. It seems that Sydney residents are trying to take some pomp out of the ceremony of the games, satirizing them in tv shows, and holding mock-athletic competitions.

Norwegian divers struggled to open the hatch of the sunken Kursk submarine today, 354 feet under the Barents Sea. There have been conflicting reports from Russian, Norwegian and British rescue teams over the amount of damage to the submarine's hatch and over what may have caused the accident. From Moscow, NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

Host Jacki Lyden talks with NPR Political Editor Ken Rudin about Congressional elections this year. Democrats, six seats short of a majority.have a chance to re-take the House, In the Senate, some established members are facing tough re-election challenges.

Montana writer Mary Clearman Blew is better known for her memoirs and essays than for her fiction. But our book reviewer Alan Cheuse finds her collection of short stories, Sister Coyote, well worth the reading. (2:00) Sister Coyote, by Mary Clearman Blew is published by The Lyons Press.

Shorey's, a Seattle legend, is closing its famed bookstacks. In business since 1890, the landmark bookstore is now doing 60% of its sales on line. So owners are shutting down a local landmark and becoming a web-only service. Christine Arrasmith of member station KPLU in Seattle reports.

Jyl Hoyt of member station KBSX in Boise reports efforts to battle the Rankin fire in central Idaho. This year's western wildfires are the worst in nearly half a century.

Host Renee Montagne talks to NPR's Snigdha Prakash about the agreement reached yesterday between Verizon communications and unions representing about 50-thousand telephone workers. The agreement was reached with two-thirds of its unions. But, approximately 35-thousand Mid-Atlantic workers are still on strike.

Los Angeles film critic Kenneth Turan reviews the German movie Aimee and Jaguar. It's based on a bestseller that tells the true love story of two women during the Second World War. One woman, a Jewish poet, masquerades as an Aryan to work at a Nazi paper and passes information to the underground. Her lover is a conventional German wife, whose philandering husband is fighting on the front. Turan says the movie captures the complexity of the characters and the terror of the times.

NPR's Jack Speer reports that the United State Olympic Committee has filed a lawsuit to stop Nabisco from promoting its Fig Newtons as a foodstuff for Olympians. Nabisco is not an official Olympic sponsor, and the USOC says its ad is unfair to the companies who've paid for the Olympic logo.

Labor day is the traditional start of the fall campaign. Political watchers believe that 90% of the electorate have already made up their minds on their presidential selection. Host Steve Inskeep talks with Dan Gonyea on how both Bush and Gore are targeting the remaining 10%.

Host Steve Inskeep talks with James L.W.West III about Trimalchio: An Early Version of The Great Gatsby (Edited by James L.W. West III/Cambridge University Press/2000). West says that F.Scott Fitzgerald's Trimalchio was a good novel, but that The Great Gatsby was a masterpiece -- and that Fitzgerald and his editor, the famed Maxwell Perkins, achieved this in the re-writing. West is Distinguished Professor of English at Pennsylvania State University.

NPR's Michelle Kelemen reports from Moscow on a shake-up at the famed Bolshoi Ballet. An agency of the United Nations is helping to renovate the troupe's theatre, but the government is hoping to speed up the work. Last week, the Bolshoi's artistic and general director was sacked and the troupe was put under control of the Ministry of Culture.

NPR's David Molpus reports on the increasing number of minorities, immigrants, and women who are signing up with unions. This demographic change is causing labor to re-think its strategies, and to figure out new ways to appeal to workers in the changing economy.

Past racial and ethnic tensions are heating up the congressional campaign in New York's 17th District. Congressman Eliot Engel who is Jewish, is seeking a seventh term challenged by State Senator Larry Seabrook, an African-American. Andrea Bernstein reports from member station WNYC.

With the Sydney Olympic games less than two weeks away, NPR's Alex Chadwick takes us on a National Geographic Radio Expedition to find out how Australia's landscape sets it apart from the rest of the world.

Host Steve Inskeep talks with Professor of Labor History Nelson Lichtenstein about why companies so often have workers work overtime. The issue has been central to recent strikes at United Airlines and Viacom.

Joanne Silberner reports on the relationship between Wall Street and the health care market. As managed care companies become better investments, more and more decisions about the way people have access to their medical care are based upon economic concerns.

NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports the beatification of Pope Pius IX and Pope John XXIII happened at the Vatican among controversy and some allegations of anti-Semitism.

NPR's Peter Overby takes a look at vice-presidential candidate Joe Lieberman's Senate financial support from insurance and drug companies.