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President Clinton has authorized the release of thirty-million barrels of oil from the nation's emergency reserves. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson made the announcement this afternoon. He denied that the move was political -- but instead said it was aimed at ensuring enough supply heading into the winter heating season. Linda talks to NPR's Pam Fessler about the news.

NPR's Joanne Silberner watched the struggles of Tyler Handerson and his family as they waited for the restart of an experimental medical study. Tyler has a cancer that affects nerve cells and the brain. The study aims to use a new kind of "gene therapy" to cure the cancer. But the trial was one of many put on hold last year after the death of a Pennsylvania teenager.

The first American to win a gold medal in weightlifting in 40 years hardly fits the sport's image. She's a 105-pound former gymnast named Tara Nott. As NPR's reports, Nott was awarded the gold when it was stripped from a Bulgarian lifter who tested positive for a banned diuretic. In other Olympic action, Americans won twin gold medals today when they tied in swimming's mad dash, the 50 meters, breaking a run of victories by Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband.

NPR's Jim Zarroli reports on another rough day for U.S. stocks. The NASDAQ composite plunged more than five-percent this morning on news that Intel will fall short of revenue targets for the third-quarter. The bad news on Intel's earnings managed to drag down all three major indexes, even though the NASDAQ did recover about half its initial loss by mid-day. Market watchers say investors are also concerned about the sliding Euro.

A British court ruled today that a pair of conjoined twins must be separated. Separating them will kill one of the twins. They only have one heart. The parents of the twins are devout Roman Catholics and oppose separating them, they may appeal to the House of Lords or the European Court of Human Rights. We hear a report from the BBC's John Duce.

At each Olympics, the winner of the 100 meters becomes known as the fastest man in the world. The race lasts a tad over 9 seconds, but it requires tremendous physical and mental preparation. It's not unusual for an elite sprinter to engage a scientist to analyze the biomechanics of his gait. But as NPR's Tom Goldman reports, at race time simplicity is best. Top runners say they are able to clear their minds of extraneous thoughts during their races.

NPR's Steve Inskeep reports from the train caravan carrying the Republican nominee for president. Gov. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney campaigned through Michigan today on a three-day swing through the Midwest.

Writer Paul Auster continues with stories sent in by our listeners.

Host Jacki Lyden speaks with Bill Kristol, editor and publisher of the Weekly Standard, and pollster Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the Press and the People, about the Republican National Convention.

Writer Paul Auster reads stories sent in by Weekend All Things Considered listeners. For this installment of the story project, Paul Auster and host Jacki Lyden visit the famed Gotham Book Mart on 47th Street in Manhattan.

In the summer of 1944, a young black woman boarded a bus in Gloucester, Virginia headed for Baltimore. Sitting in the "Negroes Only" section, she was asked to give up her seat when a white couple boarded. Irene Morgan refused, went to jail, and lost at trial. But a young Thurgood Marshall took the case all the way to the Supreme Court, some eleven years before Rosa Parks, and won a ruling that found segregation in interstate travel unconstitutional. This weekend, the town of Gloucester honors the 83-year-old for her courage.

The last time Philadelphia hosted a political convention, it was 1948, and the city got three for one: Republicans, Democrats and the Progressive Party all gathered there. Although the Progressive Party would place last in the election, it sponsored one of the livelier conventions, with singalongs led by Pete Seeger and Paul Robeson. Many of the reforms it advocated were later adopted. Host Jacki Lyden talks with John Hyde, co-author of a biography of Henry Wallace, the Progressive Party Nominee. (American Dreamer: The Life and Times of Henry A. Wallace, by John C. Culver and John Hyde, W.W. Norton & Company; ISBN: 03930

Jacki speaks with NPR's Washington Editor Ron Elving about what presidential candidate Al Gore will need to do to overcome his opponent's double-digit lead in the polls. On Tuesday Gore is scheduled to announce his choice for running mate.

Studies show few U-S students are proficient at basic geography and it doesn't get much better when they grow up: nearly half of Americans don't know the population of the U.S.; three in ten can't use a map to calculate distance or directions. A group of educators want to change how geography is taught ... making instruction both more relevant and more rigorous. Jodi Becker of Chicago Public Radio reports.

NPR's Cheryl Corley reports on an unusual lawsuit by an Oklahoma Indian tribe, over millions of acres of land in Illinois. The Miami tribe claims a 200 -year old treaty gives them rights to lands their ancestors once roamed - lands that now house farms, businesses and two state universities.

Host Jacki Lyden speaks with fire fighter Tim Duck about the fires in the West. Duck has been fighting the fires in the Salmon Challis National Forest in Idaho where U.S. Marines have recently joined the battle.

Ten years ago this month Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait, leading ultimately to the Persian Gulf War. Jacki speaks to Middle East scholar Shibley Telhami about the legacy of the invasion, and the impact sanctions and a strengthened Saddam Hussein have on the people of Iraq.

Jacki talks with George Hudler, professor of Plant Pathology at Cornell University, about a giant fungus. The fungus, which looks like a giant mushroom, is spreading across a forest in Eastern Oregon. It is thought to be the largest living organism in the world.

Next week's Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles has the Los Angeles Police Department worried about Seattle-style protests. NPR's Aaron Schachter reports that LA police are warning downtown businesses of possible violence; demonstrators are trying to assure merchants they don't intend to be unruly.

Sixty-six large fires are burning in the western United States today. This is being called the worst fire season in fifty years. NPR's Aaron Schachter reports on the financial cost of this year's firefighting.