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NPR's Don Gonyea reports committee members from both the House and Senate questioned Bridgestone-Firestone and Ford Motor Company executives on Capitol Hill yesterday about the recall of more than 6 and a half million tires. Legislators are promising more hearings in the future. The questions centered upon how both companies handled the recall, and why it took so long for officials from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to issue a recall.

6,258 coronavirus patients are in the hospital statewide, 165 less people than the previous day's report.

The Supreme Court sided with gay rights activists today by throwing out a Colorado constitutional amendment. The measure had said that laws could NOT be enacted that protected homosexuals from discrimination. The justices ruled against the amendment by a 6-to-3 vote. NPR's Nina Totenberg reports that the majority opinion said the amendment would have denied gays a political right enjoyed by other people...the right to seek protection against discrimination.

Boston drivers celebrate the opening of a major section of a 3.5-mile tunnel that connects major highways in the congested downtown, shaving time off many commutes. The "Big Dig" took a dozen years to construct at a cost of $6.5 billion. NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Rich Kirkland of Metro Network Shadow Broadcasting in Boston.

News analyst Daniel Schorr says the latest attempt at renewing middle east peace talks faces many hazards. President Clinton called Wednesday the deadline for the two sides to demonstrate enough potential to work towards another summit. Prime Minister Barak faces a deadline of February 6 when Israelis vote on whether or not to keep him in office---and Yasser Arafat faces the prospect of having to deal with Ariel Sharon, should Barak lose the election.

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.)

Linda Wertheimer talks with NPR's Don Gonyea, who is traveling with the president today, one day after Mr. Bush gave his budget address to a joint session of Congress. The president got good reviews on his oratory, but Democrats claim that the plan favors the rich. Mr. Bush, in visits around the country to sell his plan, insisted that the Democrats were playing "class warfare," and that the current state of the economy warrants his $1.6 trillion tax cut.

In the past eight months, a video of a young guitarist playing a modern version of Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D Major has become a sensation on the Internet. The video has been viewed on YouTube.com more than 7.6 million times -- but nobody knew the identity of the guitarist. Recently, that changed.

Ahmir Thompson, aka Questlove, is the drummer for the Grammy-winning hip-hop group The Roots. The sextet melds musical styles: rock 'n' roll, jazz fusion, funk, poetry, shout-outs to hip-hop pioneers, black nationalism and groove-laden neo-soul musings. (This interview originally aired Feb. 6, 2003.)

The Supreme Court rules in favor of Oregon's physician-assisted-suicide law in a 6-to-3 decision. The justices find the state has the right to allow doctors to prescribe lethal doses of drugs for terminally ill, mentally sound patients.

Chevron and two other oil companies announce that they have successfully tested a new oil well deep in the Gulf of Mexico. An exploratory oil rig, drilling to a record-setting depth and pressure, flowed at a rate of 6,000 barrels of crude oil per day, and the find has the potential to be a significant new energy source.

There was a standing ovation at baseball's Miller Park in Milwaukee this weekend, as a new athlete took the field for the first time. Standing about eight feet tall -- including his sombrero -- "El Picante" was the star of the show during the Brewers' 6th-inning entertainment: the sausage races.

President Bush says the just-released President's Daily Brief document from August 6, 2001, lacked enough information to prevent an attack on the United States. Bush also said U.S. troops in Iraq will have as many reinforcements as they need. Bush spoke with reporters Sunday morning after meeting with troops at Fort Hood, Texas. Hear NPR's Liane Hansen.

Under pressure from an independent panel investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the White House Saturday declassified the President's Daily Brief document from August 6, 2001. The briefing, titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.," has been mentioned often in testimony before the panel. Hear NPR's Liane Hansen and New York Times correspondent David Sanger.

National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice tells the commission investigating the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that the Bush administration had no specific warning of those attacks. But several commissioners probed for more detail on a confidential briefing memo from Aug. 6, 2001 -- and called for it to be made public. NPR's Pam Fessler reports.

The son of a former priest and a one-time nun, John Fugelsang says he wasn't sure if he should have been born. He's turned funny stories from his life into a one-man show, All the Wrong Reasons. It's at the New York Theater Workshop until May 6.

Microsoft has made a $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo, an aggressive move by the software giant to gain market share on the Internet and compete with Google. Microsoft and Yahoo have talked about merging for years. This time, a hostile but very rich offer could seal the deal.

- Daniel talks with Bob Fulton, author of "The Summer Olympics: A Treasury of Legends and Lore" (Diamond Communications/South Bend, Indiana) about the first United States Olympic team. The 13 competitors arrived in Athens, Greece in 1896 for the revival of the long-dormant Games. Their prospects for success were dismal - but they went on to win more gold medals than any other nation in Track and Field. (6:00) ("Our First Olympics" by Bob Fulton, American Heritage magazine, July/August 1996)

Gene Bryan Johnson of member station WNYC reports on the trial of Lemrick Nelson and Nelson Price. Nelson was acquitted of state murder charges in a previous trial. In that hearing, he was accused of stabbing Yankel Rosenbaum in the violence that occured in Crown Heights, Brooklyn after a black child was killed by a car driven by a Hasidic man 6 years ago. Nelson is now being tried on federal charges of violating Rosenbaum's civil rights. Price is charged with violating Rosenbaum's rights by whipping the crowd into a mob that searched for Jews to attack.

In an effort to address an estimated $500-million budget deficit, the state of Connecticut lays off 6 percent of its workforce. Gov. John Rowland warns more state workers could lose their jobs if unions fail to agree to concessions in the coming months. Caitlyn Kim reports.

The White House is holding Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) at a distance, pending a Jan. 6 vote that will decide Lott's fate as Senate Republican leader. Political analysts say the focus on Lott's racially insensitive remarks undermines President Bush's efforts to reach out to minorities. NPR's Mara Liasson reports.

Embattled Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) appears on Black Entertainment Television to apologize again for his remarks alluding to the glory of America's segregated past. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans will meet Jan. 6 to decide Lott's fate as majority leader. NPR's Juan Williams reports.

Though the U.S. unemployment rate has climbed abruptly to 6 percent, plenty of jobs are going unfilled. Employers can't find enough trained workers to fill medical positions and many other skilled jobs. NPR's David Molpus reports.

NPR's Peter Kenyon reports on Georgia Senator Zell Miller, a Democrat who has given the Bush Administration two huge gifts -- a promise to vote for the confirmation of Attorney General-designate John Ashcroft and his support for the President's 1.6-trillion-dollar tax cut. Miller was appointed to the seat last year following the death of Republican Sen. Paul Coverdell. He had a reputation for reaching across party lines, and insists this is not a precursor of switching to the GOP. But these two actions have created a buzz in Washington.

NPR' s John Ydstie reports President Bush unveiled his budget blueprint today. The $1.9 trillion budget allows overall discretionary spending to rise by 4 percent, but calls for deep cuts in some programs and the elimination of others. At a briefing this morning, budget officials reiterated the administration's position that projected surpluses leave plenty of room to both boost spending on some programs while cutting taxes by $1.6 trillion over six years.