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Commentator Kevin Kling is running in "Grandma's Marathon" again this year, up in Duluth, Minnesota. He'll be running despite memories of his near-death experience the last time he made an attempt.

Robert talks with Peter Reddaway, a professor of political science at George Washington University, about his views on Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Reddaway says Yeltsin's behavior has become more czar-like, or authoritarian, over the course of his presidency. Reddaway says some of the Russian analysts he finds most credible predict that Yeltsin would not give up his office if his opponent, Gennady Zyuganov (gen-NAH-dee zyu-GAH-nov), were to win the election on Sunday.

NPR's Ted Clark reports on what led to today's trade agreement between the U.S. and China over piracy of intellectual property rights. The U.S. had threatened to impose two billion dollars in sanctions against Beijing if certain demands were not met, and the Chinese had threatened to retaliate with sanctions of their own against the United States.

NPR's Vicky Que (KWAY) visits with young teenage mothers at a special high school in North Carolina that is trying to prevent one mistake from leading to other problems -- dropping out, going on welfare, having more children. No one knows if this program will ulitmately be effective in helping decrease teen pregnancy, but since there are virtually no other social supports for these young women, administrators feel like it's worth a try.

Noah takes a look back at the life and career of Sir Fitzroy Maclean, a soldier and diplomat who is said to have been the model for novelist Ian Fleming's character James Bond.

Commentator David Crystal notes the tangle of meanings that can result when Americans and Britons converse and use the same language differently.

Robert takes a look at the mane behind the fungus...what the heck is "karnal bunt?" Are there other kinds of bunt? Can other things be Karnal?

Now that Orange County has managed to climb out of the nation's largest municipal bankruptcy in history, the disaster seems, in retrospect, one that appeared mostly on paper. But as NPR's Elaine Korry reports, the nightmare was all-too-real to the people who make Orange County run...and it won't be over for some time.

Film critic Bob Mondello looks at how things get changed as filmmakers adapt classic novels from the page to the screen. "Moll Flanders", which opens today, appears to be nothing like Daniel Defoe's novel. And Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame (NOH-truh DAHM)" has Quasimodo singing and dancing, when Victor Hugo wrote him as deaf and monosyllabic. Some films have been faithful, like "Sense and Sensibility." And still others, like "Clueless" resemble the novel on which they are based, even though they are many steps removed from the original. >

- NPR's John Nielsen reports on the latest escalation in the Whitewater investigation. A leaked report by the Republican majority of the Senate Whitewater Committee concludes that the first lady obstructed Senate investigations into White House Deputy Counsel Vincent Foster's death. It also suggests that White House aides gave inaccurate testimony during the Whitewater hearings in order to conceal her actions.

NPR's Dan Charles reports that the Federal Aviation Administration is expected to announce personnel changes today in the wake of the controversy surrounding its investigation of ValuJet. The FAA asked ValuJet to suspend operations because of problems with the low-cost airline's maintenance procedures. FAA Administrator David Hinson said the case has highlighted problems with the agency as well.

Linda talks with senior citizens who live at the On Top Of The World retirement community in Clearwater, Florida. This is a community of mostly Republican seniors that has served as a stopover for political candidates. Florida has cast its votes for the Republican presidential candidate since 1976...but these seniors seem to have a lackluster support for presumptive Republican nominee Bob Dole.

NPR's Ina Jaffe reports on an industrial-environmental deal that could only have been made in California. After a beach eroded to expose oil pipelines, Chevron replaced it with new sand. But that ruined the surfing, and Chevron had to fix it. The company employed a surf engineer who's building a unique breakwater to create new but gnarly waves. It's the first such project anyone's heard of, but probably not the last.

Rhino Records presents a 4 CD set... "Cowabunga: The Surf Box." (Rhino Records R2 72418) It's a retrospective of surf music from 1960 to 1995.

Robert talks with Geoffrey Garin (GAIR-en), president of Garin-Hart-Yang Strategic Research, and Linda DiVall, president of American Viewpoint, about what voters think about the Whitewater investigation. Garin is a pollster for Democratic candidates and DiVall works for Republican candidates. DiVall believes that Whitewater has definitely had an effect on President Clinton's popularity, and that the nation's opinions about Hillary Clinton have negatively affected voters' perceptions of her husband.

- NPR's Eric Weiner reports from Cairo on the conclusion of the Arab summit and Isreali Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's reaction to it. Arabs called on Isreal to continue the peace process and warned of consequences if they don't. Netanyahu accused the Arabs of dictating the terms for peace.

NPR's Deidre Berger reports from Berlin where Pope John Paul the Second celebrated mass yesterday in the stadium Adolf Hitler built for the Olympics of 1936. The Pope beatified two German priests for their resistance to the Third Reich. The Pope omitted some phrases of his prepared speech that claimed the "entire" Roman Catholic church had fought against the tyranny of the Nazis.

The Senate today began debate on a bill to reform the campaign finance system by limiting the amount congressional candidates can spend. But as NPR's Peter Overby reports, similar federal restrictions have had limited success in capping spending by presidential contenders.

Surgeons are increasingly finding ways to operate on fetuses while they are still in the womb. The operations can correct problems that in the past would have been fatal, or left the child with severe disabilities. But the operations raise many questions, including whether they are worth the cost and risk to the mother. Neil Tichner (TICK-nur) of member station WHYY in Philadelphia reports.

Sylvia Poggioli reports on the Italian port city of Trieste (tree-EST), where the first East-West confrontation of the Cold War took place in 1945. Between 1945 and 1954, a total of one hundred twenty thousand U-S soldiers served a peacekeeping mission in Trieste similar to the current mission of U-N peacekeepers in the former Yoguslavia. Trieste recently welcomed back the American peacekeepers who served there after World War Two and thanked them for their service.