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Danny talks with writer Helena Maria Viramontes (Vee-rah-MOHN-tez) about her new novel, called "Under the Feet of Jesus" (Dutton). It focuses on a Mexican-American family that travels with the harvest in California .. picking oranges and peaches and grapes ... Viramontes says she wanted to recapture some of her own memories ... of the times when she and her parents worked in the fields.

NPR's Ann Garrels reports on some labor camps located in Siberia which house North Korean prisoners and are run by North Korean guards. During the Soviet era, the Kremlin didn't mind the arrangement. Now, it does.

Daniel talks with Bob Ward, author of "The Cactus Garden" (Pocket Books), a novel about U.S. Drug Enforcement Agents. Ward - who was a writer and producer for TV's "Hill Street Blues" and "Miami Vice" - researched his book by hanging out with undercover agents.

NPR's Howard Berkes reports efforts to save the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah which have been shrinking for the past several years. Nearly every land speed record has been set there, and racing enthusiasts and a nearby factory have developed a scheme to replenish the salt on the flats.

Lynn Terry (f) reports on efforts in France to save the 'Baguette'. In recent years, the French have turned their tastes towards other kinds of breads and the traditional baguette along with local bakeries are slowly but surely diminishing.

The 'surbahar' is a bass cousin of the Indian musical instrument the sitar. Jacki talks with Shuba Shankarin who is one of, if not the only woman in the world who performs this instrument on stage... She brought the surbahar into our studio at NPR for a demonstration.

Daniel talks with Karen Schwab of Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital about how it's started offering hotel service to family members of patients who are critically ill. The rooms cost $150 dollars a night and offer amenities such as the New York Times each morning, cable TV service, and high tea in the afternoon.

NPR's John Greenberg reports that the White House and the Republican-controlled Congress continued flinging rhetoric at each other today, as a Monday night deadline looms ahead for the shutdown of the federal government. At issue is legislation extending the government's borrowing and spending authority. President Clinton says he will veto the legislation because the Republicans have attached riders affecting medicare and other programs. This piece examines what the fight is about.

Jacki talks to Howard Mansfield about the history of traffic laws. Mansfield recently wrote an article on the subject in the Old Farmer's Almanac. He says most of the traffic rules that are in place today can be traced back to one man...William Eno...a wealthy New Yorker who was obsessed with devising ways to bring order to streets and highways in the U.S. and abroad in the early 1900s. He devised rules of the road ranging from speed limits, one way streets, and driving on the right to pavement markings, licensing drivers and traffic tickets.

Mary Stucky has a report about a St. Paul, Minnesota foster care program that mentors entire families: parents and kids included.

Halloween's a few days away, and that gives us an excuse to find out what exactly happens to your body when you're scared out of your wits. Danny talks with Dr. Antonio Damasio of the University of Iowa medical school.

Jacki speaks with Fortune Magazine's Joe Nocera about the stock market's reaching the 5000 mark this week. Nocera explains that middle class money put into mutual funds is propelling the market upward.

Daniel talks with NPR's Tom Gjelten who is at the site of the Bosnia peace talks near Dayton, Ohio. Bosnia's warring factions may be close to an agreement. The talks are scheduled to end tomorrow morning.

Daniel talks to Vittorio Zucconi of the Italian newspaper La Stampa about the trial of Giulio Andreotti, a political leader in Italy for 50 years. Andreotti is accused of dealing with the mafia... especially buying votes and being involved with the murder of a journalist.

Jacki speaks with NPR's Andy Bowers in London about how voters in Ireland have approved, by the narrowist of margins, a constitutional amendment legalizing divorce. Debate over the vote has divided the predominantly Catholic country. The vote was so close that a recount has been ordered .

Daniel talks to James Rupert, a reporter for the Washington Post who has been travelling to the Chechen capital of Grozny. Rupert says that most of the people left living in the city are old. The young people have the money to flee to the countryside, but the stste pensions of the old people have been cut off and they have no way to get out of the city.

800-Autopsy - NPR's Mandalit Del Barco rides along with a man in Los Angeles who has his own freelance Autopsy business.

mas Bonuses - Daniel talks with Michael Lewis an editor at the New Republic Magazine. Mr. Lewis is a former Wall Street stockbroker and they'll talk about the drastically reduced Christmas bonuses handed out by Wall Street this year. They'll also talk about the climate that pervades the annual bonus season.

Daniel talks to Fred Plotkin, the author of "Opera 101" about father-daughter relationships in the operas of Verdi. Plotkin says that recent scholarship has revealed that Verdi had an illigetimate daughter, and that is probably the reason that he explored father/daughter conflicts so much in his work.

Daniel talks with Stepehen Cohen, professor of Russian Studies at Princeton. They'll discuss the political implications of the invasion of Chechnya for Russian President Boris Yeltsin and the United States.

From Kansas City, NPR's Laura Ziegler reports on a prison program that encourages regular people to contact and visit inmates at a federal penitentiary. The idea is to provide inmates with human contact and a positive example of how to live outside of prison.

David Baron of member station W-B-U-R in Boston reports on a woman who has spent her life in and around doctors. Now she's become a patient and is battling cancer. She is hoping to pass on her first hand experiences to other doctors.

Day - Danny asks listeners to call the Weekend All Things Considered Valentine's Day Hotline in order to pass on the pet names they call their loved ones. The number is (202) 408-5183. Callers should leave at least their first names and where they're calling from...unless of course they're too embarrassed in which case just a location will do.

Jacki Lyden visits several arts organizations in Baltimore and discusses the relationship between private and public funding. As politicans speak of defunding the National Endowment for the Arts, agencies which receive that money say they are responsibile to public tastes and make that money go further than ever before. But, without it, art in America will be damaged, they claim...even if the amounts they receive are really quite small.

NPR's Mary Kay Magistead visits Kobe in Japan after a day's rain has further hampered efforts to rescue people trapped by Tuesday's devastating earthquake. Magistead reports that the only foreign assistance the Japanese government has accepted are Swiss army dogs which are trained to resuce people trapped by avalanches and earthquakes, but these dogs are not finding their task easy.