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Harvey Pitt resigns as chairman of the Securities Exchange Commission. Pitt had a stormy 15-month tenure as SEC chief and was recently under fire for his handling of the appointment of William Webster to head an accounting oversight board. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.

The small Washington State-based publisher has two collections of poetry nominated for tonight's National Book Awards. That's not bad, considering Copper Canyon only publishes about 15 books a year. What's perhaps even more remarkable is that Copper Canyon has survived for 30 years publishing only poetry. Marcie Sillman, of member station KUOW, reports.

House members work into Friday's early morning hours to wrap up the year's unfinished business. But the Senate expects its part of the lame-duck legislative session to continue into next week. NPR's David Welna reports.

Research links a rare genetic disorder to children who are conceived through assisted reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization. Beckwith Weidemann Syndrome affects about one in 14,000 births each year in the United States. NPR's Joe Palca reports.

NPR's Don Gonyea reports that the Bush administration will weigh in on a critical affirmative action cases before the Supreme Court. The case involves a suit brought against the University of Michigan and its law school by white students who oppose the university's policy that gives minority students an advantage in applying for admission. The Bush administration is prepard to argue on behalf of the white plaintiffs.

Raquel Maria Dillon reports Boston area critics of the Roman Catholic Church have turned their sites north, to the Bishop of Manchester, New Hampshire. John McCormack was a top aid to Cardinal Bernard Law, who stepped down last month as a result of the priest sex abuse scandal. The protesters say McCormack is also to blame for the abuse, and they want him to step down.

Today's transgenic (genetically modified) crops contain have been tinkered with in a relatively simple way. And there is no evidence that they pose any health risk. But scientists are now working on the much more complex modifications needed to enhance the nutritional value of food crop -- by increasing their vitamin content, for example. This could have unpredictable consequences. NPR's Eric Niiler reports.

NPR's Mara Liasson reports on the considerations being made by the Bush administration as it prepares to weigh in on the Supreme Court affirmative action case. The White House worked hard to limit fallout over the Trent Lott incident, and the decision to bring back the Judge Pickering nomination and join the white plaintiffs in the court case indicate that the administration feels the Lott controversy is behind them.

For the second year in a row in Brainerd, Minn., a mysterious hole has appeared in a frozen lake. Locals and experts can't determine why a certain area of North Long Lake won't freeze over -- even though the ice around the area is 15 inches thick. Steve speaks with Marlene Hudalla, co-owner of Iven's On the Bay, a restaurant and bar located on the lake.

A chain of Hong Kong health clubs emphasizes modesty -- or perhaps vanity -- in an age of instant information. Also, they name hurricanes, don't they? Well, Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson has a plan to personalize a much different -- and more local -- form of natural disaster.

General Electric workers continue the second day of a strike to protest an increase in health-care costs. Rates for GE employees rose almost 50 percent in the last two years -- an additional $200 per year, on average. NPR's Bob Edwards talks to Uwe Reinhardt of Princeton University.

Richard Blomberg, who spent 15 years on NASA's Aerospace Safety Board, raised concerns nearly a year ago about the safety of future shuttle flights. The forecast now appears prescient, but Blomberg says he did not expect disaster to strike so soon. He speaks to NPR's Scott Simon.

The computer and recording industries join up to try and stop digital copying of CDs and unauthorized file sharing on the Internet. Both agree they don't want government intervention, specifically legislation mandating a technological solution to piracy. NPR's Neda Ulaby reports.

The Supreme Court upholds a 20-year copyright extension passed by Congress in 1998. An Internet publisher challenged the extension, which lengthens copyrights to 70 years after the creator's death, arguing it threatened the public domain. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards and Rick Karr.

NPR's Jason Beaubien reports from Boston where the 105th Boston Marathon is off to a hi-tech start today. The marathon's 15,000 entrants will all have small computer chips tied to their shoelaces, sending instant updates of each runner's progress to the Internet for fans. Check out the Boston Marathon Web site.

Host Bob Edwards talks to NPR's Tom Gjelten in Washington, D.C. and Michelle Kelemen in Moscow about the expulsion of some 50 Russian diplomats from the United States, in response to the Robert Hanssen spy case. Several of the diplomats are suspected of having ties to the former FBI agent, who is accused of spying for Moscow over a 15-year period.

About 15 million Americans practice yoga, up nearly 30 percent in the last year, a new survey from Yoga Journal finds. Business booms for yoga-related studios and retail stores, including those selling sportswear, videotapes and accessories. Hear Rebecca Roberts.

Actress Uta Hagen died Wednesday at her home in Manhattan at age 84. Hagen gained her biggest Broadway success in the early 1960s with her portrayal of Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. She also taught dozens of actors how to ply their trade. NPR's Neda Ulaby reports.

Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan reviews the re-release of Major Dundee. The 40-year-old Western has been re-edited to more closely reflect director Sam Peckinpah's vision.

NPR's Michele Norris talks with Haitian-American writer Edwidge Danticat about her latest collection of stories, The Dew Breaker. The interlinking tales reveal the character of a former Haitian torturer who now lives in Queens, New York, and struggles to come to terms with his past.

Linda talks with Tina Neal, a geologist at the Alaska Volcano Oberservatory in Anchorage, about the Pavlof Volcano that has erupted into a "code red" alert and is hurling ash at least 15,000 feet into the air. Pavlof Volcano is at the tip of the Alaska Peninsula and is one of the most active volcanoes in the Aleutian volcanic arc. The closest town, King Cove, is 30 miles south of the volcano and no one is endangered by the eruption.

NPR's Debbie Elliot reports that, despite the attention that's been focused on black churches, arson is a major problem for houses of worship, regardless of the race of the congregation. Attorney General Janet Reno said today that preventing church fires and arresting the culprits remains at the top of the Justice Department priority list and federal officials recently met with church leaders in Mobile, Alabama to talk about arson prevention.

A source close to the case says President Clinton's former Whitewater real estate partner, James McDougal, has been cooperating with the independent counsel, apparently in an attempt to get a lenient sentence. McDougal was convicted of fraud and conspiracy for improperly using federally-backed funds. President Clinton was not charged in the case but testified in support of McDougal and his codefendants. NPR's Jon Greenberg has a report.

While the main focus of this week's Republican convention is the nominations of Bob Dole and Jack Kemp to head the GOP presidential ticket, several others in San Diego have at least one eye on the year 2000 and their prospects for topping the GOP ticket then. One of the best ways potential candidates can increase their stock in the party is to be a big booster for this year's candidate. NPR's Mara Liasson reports.

NPR's Ted Clark reports that though the US has again singled out Iran as the terrorist training base of choice, neighboring Afghanistan is far more culpable. For while terrorism in Iran is state sponsored, it is the absence of government in Afghanistan that has nurtured a whole new Foreign Legion of Middle East terrorists, a generation known in intelligence circles as the Afghan Arabs.