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Pensacola, Fla., native Jim White has put out his second CD. It's an odd mix of what White calls hick-hop. You'll hear spooky southern imagery mixed with electronic beats. Meredith Ochs reviews this CD, that is filled with great stories and instrumentation. The CD is called No Such Place, by Jim White on the Luaka Bop label.

Commentator Merrill Matthews wonders why so many people think George Bush's agenda is "conservative." According to his dictionary, a conservative is one who resists change, but Bush and the Republicans are the ones calling for change and reform these days, not the Democrats and not the "liberals." From tax policy to education to the military, Bush and the Republicans are behaving like liberals and the Democrats with their resistance to change are acting more conservative.

Debbie Elliott reports that former smoker Grady Carter of Jacksonville has become the first person to actually collect money from the tobacco industry after beating a tobacco company in court over a smoking-related illness. Carter was awarded $750,000 by a jury in 1995. He received more than $1 million from Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. on Thursday as payment and interest.

Subway is very serious about its low-fat, healthy fast food ad campaign. So serious that the fast food chain and one of its franchises are suing a Michigan landlord for allowing a vegetarian health food bar to open next to a Subway sandwich shop. Subway says the nearby presence of a shop that sells things like carrot juice amounts to illegal competition. The health food bar says its customers and Subway's are very different. Quinn Klinefelter of WDET reports.

NPR's Steve Inskeep reports on the man who championed President Bush's tax cut in yesterday's House debate. Republican Bill Thomas, who authored the tax bill, provided its supporters with a lot of laughs and its critics with a lot of angst.

Grocery shopper and commentator Kelly Cresap has noticed that his favorite loaf of bread has gotten smaller. He says the food industry's practice of shrinking product sizes -- and maintaining prices -- keeps him guessing.

NPR's Cheryl Corley reports that demand is rising for nutritious and professionally prepared meals -- in thehome -- and some people are hiring personal chefs to do the job.

NPR's Wade Goodwyn reports on an investigation in Austin, Texas, into large bonuses paid to law clerks of the state Supreme Court by wealthy private firms. The county attorney in Austin says these pay-outs might violate Texas bribery laws.

LA Times movie critic Kenneth Turan reviews the movie 15-Minutes, which opens nationally this weekend.

NPR's David Welna reports that the core of President Bush's tax cut plan has been approved by the House of Representatives. Ten Democrats broke ranks to join 220 Republicans in voting FOR the bill last night. But some supporters of the bill weren't altogether pleased -- they say it fails to address possible surplus shortfalls, and lacks a plan to pay off the national debt.

NPR's Pam Fessler reports on the impact of the first figures released from the 2000 census. An explosion of Hispanic and Asian populations in New Jersey, Wisconsin, Mississippi, and Virginia -- the first states to be reported -- is expected to transform politics and public policy at every level and in nearly every community. Figures from remaining states are to be released in the coming weeks.

From Minnesota Public Radio, Erin Galbally reports on a move by the Bush Administration that has angered hog farmers across the country. The farmers voted to end mandatory contributions to pork ad campaigns. But the Bush Administration disregarded their vote and restored the program.

Host Lisa Simeone talks with NPR's national political correspondent Mara Liasson about the continuing controversy over the pardons and commutations announced by then-President Clinton.

President Bush has made it an agenda item to provide federal grants to faith-based service organizations. NPR's Wade Goodwyn travels to Lufkin, Texas, and looks at how one faith-based partnership works.

This past week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states are not obliged to pay damages to disabled state employees under federal law. Lisa Simeone talks to Deborah Kaplan, executive director of the World Institute on Disability, based in Oakland, California, and Peter Blanck, director of the Law, Health Policy and Disability Center at the University of Iowa, in Iowa City.

Reese Erlich reports on the Panorama Music Festival in Trinidad, which features the best steel or pan drummers in the country.

Last week we asked listeners to suggest items they use every day which are poorly designed or could use some improvement. We'll listen to some of the responses.

Paul Brown reports on the legacy of the Highlander Folk School. It was founded in 1932 to help unionize workers during the Great Depression, mostly in Appalachia. But as times and issues changed the school devoted itself to the growing civil rights movement in the 1950's. Many historians say the Highlander Folk School was instrumental in organizing the fight for civil rights in America.

NPR's Bob Mondello takes a look at Faithless, the latest in the 35 year collaboration between filmmaker Ingmar Bergman and actress/director Liv Ullman.

Host Bob Edwards talks with Khidhir Hamza, former head of Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons program. After defecting from Iraq, he wrote a memoir -- in collaboration with Jeff Stein -- called Saddam's Bombmaker, in which he tells how close Iraq came to building a working bomb.

Secretary of State Colin Powell sought support for revised sanctions against Iraq while in the Middle East this week. New sanctions would include easing restrictions on Iraqi imports of civilian goods while tightening controls over military technology transfers -- that would mean reinstating U.N. weapons inspectors. Iraq called the revised sanctions "rubish", saying they would never allow weapons inspectors back in the country. Robert Siegel talks with Meghan L. O'Sullivan about the effects of sanctions on Iraq and what the revised sanctions mean. O'Sullivan is a fellow at the Brooking Institution, specializing in economic sanctions, and co-author of the book Honey and Vinegar: Incentives, Sanctions and Foreign Policy.

Host Bob Edwards highlights the life of award-winning poet, A.R. Ammons. He died Sunday at the age of 75.

NPR's Alex Chadwick traipses through an Australian forest custom-grown for koala bears. He learns that koalas have the finicky appetites of toddlers -- they eat eucalyptus leaves, or nothing at all.

Host Bob Edwards talks with Robert Schmuhl, author of Statecraft and Stagecraft: American Political Life in the Age of Personality. They discuss tonight's speech by President Bush, his first address to Congress. (4:04) (Please note: The introduction to this interview misstates the size of President Bush's tax cut. The correct figure is $1.6 trillion.)

NPR's Rob Gifford reports that the Chinese government today struck back at the United States, calling it hypocritical on human rights. China went on the offensive after the U.S. released a State Department report yesterday, saying that China's human rights record has greatly deteriorated over the past year. Chinese officials discussed the issue during a news conference as U.N. human rights chief Mary Robinson was in Beijing. The Chinese government didn't like her remarks either, saying she was ignorant of China's situation. She is pressing China to abolish its "re-education through labor" policy, under which minor offenders can be locked up for several years, without any judicial process.