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Daniel talks with physicist Andrew Fracknoy (FRAK-noy)...about the discovery of a belt of comets on the edge of our solar system comprised of 200-million chunks of ice. The discovery was announced this week at an annual meeting of astronomers.

NPR's Peter Kenyon reports that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has unexpectedly freed two Americans who had been jailed in Iraq. The men, William Barloon and David Daliberti, were arrested and sentenced to 8 years in prison after they entered Iraq from Kuwait by mistake last March. The Americans were freed after US Congressman Bill Richardson (of New Mexico) met with Saddam.

Daniel talks with Gary Millhollin (mil-HAHL-in) director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control. Today is the 50th anniversary of first atomic test. Millhollin says there is a greater chance that nuclear weapons would be used today than at any time during the Cold War.

Critic Bob Mondello chronicles the influence that the atomic bomb has had on Hollywood movies. Some movies plots have shown the drama of narrowly-averting nuclear war, others have depicted the aftereffects of a bomb, and yet others have poked fun at the cold war.

Michael talks with Emory Univeristy political science professor Merle Black and his brother, Rice University professor Earl Black about this past week's Supreme Court decision barring race-based congressional districts. Both say the decision could result in fewer minority members of Congress and a continued erosion of Democratic Party support in the South.

Daniel talks with John Matisonn, former NPR correspondent in South Africa, who's now a commissioner with that country's Independent Broadcasting Authority. They discuss how the growth of private radio stations in South Africa has fostered the development of democracy there.

For the holiday weekend, some statistics for the road.

Michael visits the Library of Congress here in Washington D.C. On display thru the Fourth of July weekend are the actual drafts of the Decleration of Independance made by thomas Jefferson. It's the first time the actual pieces of paper, corrections and all, have been shown in public. He also talks with History professor Joseph Ellis of Mt. Holyoke College about what Jefferson thought of all the tinkering that happend with HIS version of the Decleration of Independance.

Thirty years ago today, the nation underwent a health care revolution when President Johnson signed the Medicare bill into law. NPR's Patricia Neighmond reports on the impact Medicare has had on the health of America's elderly.

Jacki talks to Richard Slotkin, author of the book "Gunfighter Nation, the Myth of the Frontier in 20th Century America," (HarperPerennial) about the prevalence of violence in American culture since the first settlers landed here.

Deidre Berger reports on the past week's events in the North Sea, where Shell Oil changed it's plans to dump an oil rig in the ocean, after protests from Greenpeace.

Jacki discusses the latest events in Bosnia with NPR's Andy Bowers in Sarajevo and NPR's Sylvia Poggioli in Belgrade. Today, the top UN general in the former Yugoslavia met with the Bosnian Serb military leader. They tried, but failed, to work out an arrangement for the Serbs to withdraw their heavy weapons from Sarajevo. Meanwhile, NATO officials met in Brussels to consider whether to resume military attacks against the Serbs.

Danny talks with psychotherapist Robert Akeret, author of Tales from a Traveling Couch (Norton Books). The book is Akeret's personal account of re-visiting former patients to see how their lives have developed over many years. And to ask himself whether or not therapy made any significant difference in their lives.

Reporter Jyl Hoyt from member station KBSU reports on plans by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reintroduce grizzly bears into areas of central Idaho. But the local population is divided over the issue.

This past week, Russian and American scientists announced they had definitely identified the remains of the last Russian tsar, Nicholas the Second, and his family. The final i.d. came as the result of DNA testing. Jackie talks about the Tsar...and his bones...with Robert K. Massie...author of Nicholas and Alexandra.

Following last week's Supreme Court decision on drug testing Michael talks to Joseph Gfroerer, chief of the National Household survey on drug abuse about the increase in drug use among school-age children.

Michael talks with Judge Hiller Zobel - who sits on the Massachusetts Superior Court - about the history of jury trials. Zobel says that even though juries have come under a lot of scrutiny in recent high profile trials, he believes a jury system is still the best available. And that any alternative that would grant more power to judges to decide cases would not be in the best interest of justice.

7 - Daniel talks with NPR's John Ydstie, who's in Halifax, Canada, where the Group of Seven economic summit ended today. The so-called G-7 spent most of their time on political issues...Chechnya and Bosnia. And today, Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who's been in Halifax since yesterday, met one on one with President Clinton.

For years, squatters have been living in abandoned buildings in New York's East Village and Lower East Side. In spite of the risk that one day they could be forced out, squatters have often improved the buildings dramatically, investing time and money in an effort to create a home. Recently however, the New York City police department launched a large raid on several squats, forcing the residents out. While the city argues these buildings had been illegally co-opted, the squatters argue the law protects their rights as homesteaders. Beth Fertig of member station WNYC reports that now the matter has gone to court.

NPR's Edward Lifson reports on block 37 in Chicago... an empty lot in the middle of the downtown area. The lot waws bulldozed in the 1980s real estate boom, but a planned development was never built. On Friday it was announced that Sears Roebuck is considering building on the site.