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Doug MacPherson of New Hampshire Public Radio reports on the continuing problem of acid rain. Despite improvements in emissions standards over the past decade, environmental experts say that even more stringent standards are needed to speed-up the recovery of damaged ecosystems.

Six weeks after fighting began in Macedonia, more than 22,000 refugees have fled their homes. NPR's Guy Raz reports on the internally displaced ethnic Albanians and Macedonian Slavs.

Commentator Marion Winik says today's low unemployment rate (relatively speaking) can mean bad service. Knowing you can always find another job means never having to say "Can I help you?"

For the first time in 10 years several states are facing budget cuts. From member station WOI, Joyce Russell reports Iowa is one of the states realizing it will collect hundreds of millions less in taxes than it planned. That's left the state choosing among promises made in rosier times.

"My hope is that this piece will bring joy and inspiration to many people, just as Mister Rogers' Neighborhood did for generations," sculptor Paul Day says.

California residents may finally have to pay more for electricity. The president of California's Public Utilities Commission is offering up a plan for a rate increase of about 40 percent. Scott Horsley of member station KPBS in San Diego has the story.

Bill Pound, executive director of the National Conference of State Legislatures, tells Noah Adams that many states are experiencing shortfalls in revenue.

Richard Finan is Chairman of the Ohio Senate Finance Committee. He says crafting a state budget involves a lot of give and take, and it's impossible to make everyone happy.

NPR's Peter Kenyon reports on the sharp increase in Americans reporting some Indian ancestry. In most of the states released by the Census Bureau so far, the number of people reporting they have a mix of Indian and some other ancestry is far out of proportion with those reporting they are Indian alone.

A glance at the political news from New Jersey might lead onlookers to think there's a resurgence of corruption in the state. Investigators are looking into allegations against New Jersey's acting governor, Donald Di Francesco. And a list of lower officials -- the Bergen County sheriff, the mayor of Camden, a city engineer in Paterson -- have all made recent headlines with their own scandals. Robert Siegel talks to Daniel Barry, a reporter on the metropolitan desk of the New York Times.

More than 1,300 Comair pilots went on strike today. President Bush is urging a quick resolution to the labor dispute. Joshua Levs reports.

Much has been said recently about California's energy shortage and whether the rest of the country is in for the same. But what's the long view? How many more generations will be able to use coal or oil or uranium for energy? NPR's David Kestenbaum talks with experts who calculate just how much energy is left.

NPR's Eric Weiner in Jerusalem reports there is no sign of a let-up to the violence in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

NPR's Vicky O'Hara reports from Washington that the State Department is weighing the question of whether Yugoslavia has been cooperating with the war crimes tribunal in the Hague. Congress has demanded that the new authorities in Belgrade show cooperation by tomorrow, March 31, or forfeit further U.S. aid. Although the most wanted suspect, Slobodan Milosevic, was reportly arrested tonight in Belgrade, the administration is making no immediate announcement on certification.

South Korea is seeking a degree of normalcy by gradually easing restrictions. "We have to find a way to safely coexist with COVID-19 even if that means taking some risks," an official said.

NPR's Jack Speer reports stocks moved higher today, but the small rally did nothing to change the overall picture. On the last day of trading in the first quarter, the NASDAQ composite is down about 25 percent on the year. The Dow is down about 9 percent on the year. That's the Dow's worst first quarter performance in more than 40 years.

Robert Siegel talks to sportstwriter Stefan Fatsis of the Wall Street Journal about baseball's opening day on Sunday. The Texas Rangers -- the team President Bush used to own -- play the Toronto Blue Jays in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Noah Adams talks to Dan Charles, author of the forthcoming book Lords of the Harvest: Biotech, Big Money, and the Future of Food. Yesterday, a Canadian judge ordered a farmer to pay damages to Monsanto because the farmer was growing geneticaly modified crops without Monsanto's permission.

Robert Siegel talks to Congressman Roy Blunt of Missouri, the chief deputy to the majority Whip, about the campaign finance reform legislations in the House. The House leadership intends to send the campaign finance reform bill to a conference.

Andrew Kohut of the Pew Center for the People and the Press talks about reasons why the public isn't interested in campaign finance reform.

Bob Garfield, co-host of the NPR's On the Media, reports on the world of movie blurbs, those words and phrases extracted from reviews in order to market movies -- even when the review trashes the movie. Brief bursts of apparent gusto from a known critic can be assumed to have been printed out of context. But many reviewers like to see themselves quoted -- even incorrectly.

Phillip Davis reports that NASCAR fans are celebrating the Florida legislature's enactment of a law that makes autopsy photos exempt from public records laws unless a judge releases them. Similar efforts are under way in Georgia, North Carolina and other southern states, following a Florida newspaper's effort to obtain autopsy photos of NASCAR champion racer Dale Earnhardt, who died in a crash Feb. 18 at the Daytona 500. The newspaper, the Orlando Sentinel, said it would challenge the new law as unconstitutional.

Robert Siegel talks with Stanley Kunitz, U.S. poet laureate. This weekend Mr. Kunitz is reading his poems at the People's Poetry Gathering in New York City. The gathering kicks off National Poetry Month which begins Sunday.

Noah Adams watches a game in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament with some of the members of the Bishop McNamara High School girl's basketball team -- at the home of their coach. For the team members, the game is instructive as well as entertaining. They see their future hopes and challenges in the game on TV.

Commentator Nancy Hall is a wife, mother and member of the PTA. Recently she decided to try something new. She's taken up kickboxing and karate, inspired by her grandmother. Saturday nights, her ladylike church-going granny went to the fights.