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The U.S. Senate releases thousands of pages of transcripts from closed-door hearings held by Sen. Joseph McCarthy. The committee McCarthy chaired in the mid-1950s interrogated political and cultural figures in an anti-Communist crusade. Hear Associate Senate Historian Donald Ritchie.

Alarm and confusion have grown in the three weeks since sweeping new federal rules took effect to protect the privacy of health information. The changes give patients many new rights, but rules that are meant to reassure patients in some cases are making them more worried than ever. NPR's Julie Rovner reports.

The Bush administration sends Gen. John Abizaid and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to reassure Congress of progress in Iraq. Their appearance at Capitol Hill comes amidst increasing anxiety by lawmakers over the growing cost of the U.S. occupation in Iraq. NPR's David Welna reports.

In a speech to the nation, President Bush says Iraq is now "the central front" in the U.S. war on terrorism -- and that he "will spend what is necessary" to win the war. He says he will ask Congress for $87 billion to support the effort in the coming year. He urges U.S. allies to help with security in Iraq. Hear the speech, and coverage anchored by NPR's Steve Inskeep.

President Bush will soon send Congress a request for $87 billion to fund reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some Capitol Hill lawmakers pledge to approve Bush's request quickly, calling it essential for troops on the ground. But others say the request prompts new questions about the direction of the U.S. mission in Iraq. Hear NPR's Andrea Seabrook.

The Bush administration circulates a draft resolution that outlines a larger role for the United Nations in post-war Iraq. It's an effort to convince more countries to contribute troops and resources to the stabilization of Iraq, but the resolution maintains a lead role for the United States in the country's affairs. NPR's Vicky O'Hara reports.

Gen. John Abizaid and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz discuss the cost of rebuilding Iraq in a closed-door session with members of Congress. An emergency spending request that could run as high as $100 billion is expected in coming days. NPR's David Welna reports.

China's one-child policy often means that parents will abandon any child that is not physically perfect. An American aid worker is helping build a "children's village" that takes in unwanted babies and gives them a chance at adoption. NPR's Rob Gifford has the story, the latest in an occasional series on Americans living abroad.

Commentator Andrei Codrescu laments the hard time non-blockbusters have catching browsers' attention on bookstore shelves. He details the thought-process that a potential reader goes through in making a bold determination if he or she should actual buy a lesser-known work. It is this detail that gives us insight into the difficulties of authors. Codrescu's latest book is It was Today: New Poems, available from Coffee House Press.

The nine Democrats seeking their party's presidential nomination meet in Albuquerque, New Mexico for their second debate. Hear NPR's Mara Liasson.

Police are searching for at least one armed suspect in connection with the killing of the owner of a gun range in Georgia and his wife and grandson after a robbery Friday evening.

In Part 10 of our series on the roots of American country music, NPR's Paul Brown tells the story of Bob Wills. The fiddler grew up in a family of fiddlers in the cultural mixing bowl of the American southwest. He went on to lead a band that mixed breakdowns, big band swing, blues and square dance music — a style that came to be called Western swing.

Two years ago, a TV picture-tube plant moved from Scranton, Pa., to Mexico and left nearly 2,000 people without jobs. Many of the town's residents are still struggling to find jobs. In the second of this three-part series, NPR's John Ydstie reports on three former plant employees.

A car bomb that tore apart Iraq's holiest Shiite Muslim mosque Friday killed at least 100 people, authorities say. Among them was Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, a prominent Shiite cleric. Six suspects are being questioned, but their identities and allegiances are unclear. Hear NPR's Scott Simon and NPR's Emily Harris.

Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) confirms that he will seek the Democratic presidential nomination. Kerry has campaigned and raised money for more than a year. The official announcement comes as he trails rival New England Democrat Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor, in early polls for the critical New Hampshire primary. NPR's Anthony Brooks reports.

They came by bus, train and, in at least one case, roller-skates. The people who traveled to the historic March on Washington from around the country 40 years ago this week made the journey despite threats of violence. NPR's Juan Williams reports on the stories of march participants and organizers.

In the first of a four-part series, NPR's Howard Berkes reports on John Wesley Powell's vision for developing the western United States. He recognized how serious a restraint the lack of water was in the region, and laid out a plan for how to best use the limited resource.

Legendary jazz bandleader Artie Shaw donates two of his clarinets to the Smithsonian Institution, including the instrument he used in 1938 to record his first big hit, "Begin the Beguine." Shaw received the institution's James Smithson Medal for his lifetime achievements in music. Until he retired in 1954, Shaw's fame rivaled that of Benny Goodman. Hear NPR's Melissa Block and NPR's Robert Siegel.

When George Plimpton and his friends, writers H.L. Humes and Peter Matthiessen, founded The Paris Review in 1953, they were young men whose curiosity exceeded their means. But they were determined to keep the literary journal going, publishing early interviews with E.M. Forster, Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound and Italo Calvino. This year, The Paris Review celebrates its 50th anniversary. NPR's Jacki Lyden visits Plimpton at his Manhattan apartment talk about his career and the history of Review. Hear an extended interview.

Thousands take to the streets of Najaf, Iraq, mourning the death of more than 100 people -- including key Shiite cleric Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim -- in the bombing of one of Islam's most revered shrines -- the Imam Ali Mosque. Hear NPR's Emily Harris, NPR's Jacki Lyden and Imam Sayed Moustafa al-Qazwini of the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County, Calif.

Tens of thousands of Muslims begin a three-day march to mourn Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, a revered Iraqi Shiite cleric killed by a car-bomb attack Friday. Al-Hakim, a long-time opponent of Saddam Hussein, was one of more than 100 people killed in the bombing of the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf. Hear NPR's Ivan Watson.

NPR's Melissa Block talks with Larry Charles, who directed the new movie starring Bob Dylan, Masked and Anonymous. Charles also picked the songs for the soundtrack. They're all Dylan songs — either he's performing them or a panoply of international musicians are. We sample some of the international fare. Among them are Italian and Japanese covers of Dylan tunes, which Charles says are testament to Dylan's worldwide appeal.

This summer, Mars is making a historic appearance in the night sky, coming closer to Earth than at any time in human history. For space author and Morning Edition commentator Andrew Chaikin, the event became a quest to take a rare astronomical portrait. See Chaikin's prized photos of Mars and the moon.

Sit by the basketball court at Walter Pierce Community Park and you will find the men in the neighborhood vying for ranking. This competition peaks every summer in the annual Hoopin' in the Hood Basketball Tournament, a day the neighborhood men plan for all year long. They recruit, talk trash and then play their hearts out trying to win bragging rights for the rest of the year. In the third part of her series on the park, Katie Davis captures the call and response of the playground game.

Alan Cheuse reviews SOAR by John Weisman. SOAR stands for Special Operations Air Regiment, part of the U.S. Army's Delta Force. The book takes readers to China, inside the CIA and among Islamic guerillas.