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NPR's Michele Norris talks with Boston University History professor Robert Dallek about everything President George W. Bush has to juggle at this time, and compares it to other Presidents in history. Dallek is the author of Hail to the Chief: The Making and Unmaking of American Presidents.

Telemarketing agencies often invoke free speech in defending their right to call you just as you're picking up the dinner fork -- though earlier this year, at least one company promised to change its "cold calling" tactics. Commenator Tom Mabe makes a living turning the tables on telemarketers -- at least that's how he sees it. He waits for companies to call his number, then plays pranks on them. He then records his jokes and sells them on CD. Now that cold-calling is being phased out, he's worried.

NPR's Barbara Bradley Hagerty has an update on a string of lawsuits regarding the posting of the Ten Commandments on government property.

The leaders of Britain and France meet but fail to resolve differences on Iraq. France wants to give U.N. arms inspections more time -- and has veto power on the Security Council. And in an interview on British TV, Iraq's Saddam Hussein denies any connection with al Qaeda terrorists. Hear from NPR's Nick Spicer, NPR's Robert Siegel, and New Yorker writer Jeffrey Goldberg.

In Belgrade, today marks the end of a nation. Gone is the Republic of Yugoslavia -- in its place, a new nation that will be called Serbia and Montenegro, a loose union of the two remaining Balkan republics.

NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Chinese political dissident Xu Wenli, about his imprisonment as a dissident in China and his release to the United States about a month ago. Xu was arrested in 1998 after attempting to organize an opposition political party, the China Democracy Party.

The California Supreme Court has accepted a case that schools hope will help them walk the fine post-Columbine line between students' free speech rights and the need for school safety. The court is considering a case from San Jose in which a student was expelled and prosecuted for writing what authorities called "threatening poetry." NPR's Richard Gonzales reports.

Thousands of mourners honor the space shuttle Columbia crew at a memorial service at Johnson Space Center in Houston. President Bush consoles survivors and NASA workers. NPR's John Burnett reports.

The Pentagon puts bombers on alert for possible deployment near North Korea. The apparent message is that the Bush administration is not too distracted by Iraq to respond to a threat on the Korean peninsula. But the administration says it's committed to a diplomatic solution to North Korea's renewed pursuit of nuclear weapons. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

As NASA officials study data and debris from space shuttle Columbia, the initial focus is on an accident at liftoff that may have caused a chain of problems that led to catastrophe. But experts say little could have been done to rescue the ship, even if launch problems had been considered a threat to the mission. NPR's Larry Abramson reports.

Statehouses across the nation struggle to achieve break-even budgets under the challenge of a weak economy. Many already have tapped "rainy day" funds, dismissed workers, and cut back their spending for education, health care and services to deal with shortfalls in this year's budget. NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports.

NASA's investigation into the Columbia disaster is wide open, the agency saying there's insufficient evidence that damaged heat tiles caused the crash. Meanwhile, another memorial service is held for the crew, and future manned science missions come under scrutiny as critics argue that most of the work doesn't need humans at all. Hear from NPR's Richard Harris and NPR's Joe Palca.

NASA is exploring several theories about what could have caused the break-up of the space shuttle Columbia. One likely cause also is one of the most difficult to prove -- that the space shuttle was hit by a piece of debris in orbit. NPR's Richard Harris reports.

NPR's Lynn Neary talks with New York Times reporter Ben Weiser about Attorney General John Ashcroft's decision to pursue the death penalty in 12 cases in New York and Connecticut, against the wishes of local federal prosecutors.

Storyteller Kevin Kling remembers being young and in great fear of a young girl with a baseball bat. The story turns to thoughts of war, Vietnam draft-dodging and friendship.

The White House and Congress react to North Korea's suggestion it might launch pre-emptive attacks should it feel threatened by the United States. The administration calls the threat "saber rattling." But senior Democrats in the Senate demand the situation be treated as a crisis. NPR's David Welna reports.

The United States "burned" some intelligence sources when Secretary Powell told the U.N. Security Council yesterday what those had revealed. But American intelligence agencies believe the sources were not of great importance and contend that the loss of sources was outweighed by the need to convince the world that Iraq still conceals illegal weapons programs. NPR's Mike Shuster reports.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) has sponsored a change in House ethics rules to allow members of Congress to take free trips to charity events. One such event is the spring excursion sponsored by DeLay's own foundation for the benefit of foster children. NPR's Peter Overby reports that the rule change has critics crying "foul."

We read from listener comments to the program including thoughts on our coverage of the cost of medical malpractice insurance, our series on debt and the food Lewis and Clark's expedition survived on during their expedition.

Secretary of State Colin Powell tells the Senate Foreign Relations Committee the Iraqi weapons matter will be brought to conclusion "within weeks, one way or another." Meantime, there's skeptical reaction from France and many Muslim countries to Powell's U.N. presentation on Iraq Wednesday. Hear reports from NPR's Michele Kelemen, NPR's Nick Spicer and Khaled Al-Maeena, editor-in-chief of Arab News.