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NPR's Steve Inskeep looks at new ads released by Republicans today to counter an aggressive ad campaign launched by the AFL-CIO in the districts of several dozen Republicans running for Congress. The union ads have made several GOP incumbents nervous and angry, and they've charged that their records are being distorted. The latest AFL-CIO round of advertising has come in the form of what the union describes as ``electronic voter guides.''

That's right...Mr. "Naked Lunch," Beat Generation survivor...is a painter and collagist. He's been doing this quietly for nearly half a century. Using cutup newspapers and magazines, paint and photography, his goal is to create a new, visual language with his art in the same way he tried to create a kind of random storytelling in the pages of his books. Burroughs also works in a medium that brought him a certain notoriety in the 1950's - guns - specifically, shotgun-blasted boards (they're painted too). The first-ever retrospective of Burroughs' visual art is now at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. NPR's Ina Jaffe reports.

Daniel Schorr says that although the issue of secret campaign contributions was thought to have been resolved during Watergate, the latest scandal with soft money illustrates that it was not.

Robert talks with Jeffrey Rosen, legal affairs correspondent for the New Republic magazine. They discuss the friend-of-the-court brief submitted by the American Medical Association today to the Supreme Court which opposed physician-assisted suicide, and what this brief means for both the issue of assisted suicide, and for healthcare providers nationwide.

The Army has announced that three more noncommissioned officers are charged with sexual misconduct. NPR's Martha Raddatz tells Noah that the latest cases come out of Fort Leonard Wood, a major training facility in Missouri. The charges include consensual sex with trainees, and indecent assault. The Army says the cases did not come to light through the complaint hotline set up to find possible victims at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. At that facility, five trainers face charges ranging from rape to improperly sending love notes to trainees.

At today's luncheon at the National Press Club, Better Living advocate Martha Stewart confirmed that she enjoys vacuuming, and says she's looking for a modern sculpture she has heard about that is a marble rendering of an Electrolux vacuum cleaner. We hear the question and response and try to locate the piece she is referring to.

Employees who retired thinking that they were covered by lifetime health care benefits are saying that companies, like Pabst Brewery, are not living up to their promises. The companies say they never offered guaranteed lifetime benefits. With companies cutting back to save money, Labor Secretary Robert Reich says the government is reviewing the benefit packages to determine if the contracts should be enforced or if employees were fully informed about what they were offered. Joanne Silberner reports.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service says it deported a record 67-thousand illegal aliens in the fiscal year that ended last month. But, critics say in another area the INS has been sloppy, allowing tens of thousands of aliens to become naturalized citizens despite their criminal records. NPR's Barbara Bradley reports.

Seven men were indicted yesterday for stealing thirteen million dollars worth of military equipment from an army base in western Wisconsin. Steve Busalacchi from Wisconsin Public Radio in Madison reports that the thieves sold the equipment to museums and collectors.

Commentator Mickey Edwards talks about the fine distinction between "good" pork...a needed project that brings jobs and services to a particular district...and "bad" pork...projects whose chief benefit seems politically motivated.

Noah talks to violinist Lara St. John about her new CD, "Bach Works for Violin Solo." The cover of the CD is a photograph of St. John in a seductive pose. Even though the music has been receiving a good deal of critical acclaim, she -- and her record company -- have been criticized for using a sexually provocative photo as a way to sell classical music.

Commentator Jim Wallis says during election season, the poor do not exist---they don't have political clout or power---even though how we treat the poor is really the best test of how we define ourselves as a community. Wallis says both candidates ignore the poor and therefore ignore the growing economic divide between rich and poor in this nation...a divide that can only lead to other great societal ills.

The public university system in Minnesota is trying to change the tenure system. Martin Kaste [KAH-stee] of Minnesota Public Radio reports that some professors are trying to unionize to fight the changes, but others fear a union could bring as many restrictions as the proposed tenure changes.

NPR's Anne Garrels reports from Moscow on new speculation about Russia, Chechnya and who's in charge in the Kremlin. Russian President Boris Yeltsin is out of town. And the man he put in charge of running government policy in Chehcnya, his security chief Alexander Lebed, is fighting on two fronts. While he works at settling the war in Chechnya, he's in daily battles with the bureaucracy in the Kremlin. The most recent attack from Lebed against the Kremlin is that Yeltsin's signature on recent decrees concerning Chechnya are facsimiles and not original.

Commentator John Rosenthal recalls going to a lot of weddings in the 60's-- thats when he first got started as a photographer and always offered to take the pictures for free-- He notes the strange reasons people decided to hook up in those days and how fleeting some of the marriages were.

President Clinton today signs legislation that will make it easier for people to keep their health insurance. Linda talks with NPR's Joanne Silberner about what the new law is, and is not, designed to accomplish.

NPR's Cheryl Devall reports that Illinois Senator Carol Moseley-Braun is defending her recent visit to Nigeria against criticism from Randall Robinson of the African lobbying group TransAfrica and the human rights group, Amnesty International.

- Danny talks withg NPR's Linda Gradstein about the resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian authority. Gradstein says today's meeting was mainly procedural and that the real peace talks will begin in earnest tomorrow. Just before today's talks began, Secretary of State Warren Christopher warned both sides that the talks have to produce concrete results or else the Middle East will slide back into a cycle of violence.

In Brazil, the government of President Fernando Cardoso is addressing the issue of police violence. In recent years, Brazilian police have killed scores of innocent civilians in the course of their battle against drug dealers and other criminals. But NPR's Nina Teichholz reports the government is facing opposition from a legal establishment that learned its draconian methods of maintaining order during the country's days of military dictatorship.

NPR's David Molpus reports that one of the major issues facing this country, racial division, has rarely been addressed in this year's presidential election. Although the candidates touch upon the issue in oblique ways, through discussions of affirmative action, immigration and jobs, neither has talked directly about how to bring together the nation's diverse population.