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NPR's Richard Gonzales reports on a fungus that is devastating large portions of the California forests.

Steve Inskeep of NPR News reports on a new sexual harassment accusation involving the Tailhook naval aviators organization. The Navy says members of the group attending a convention last week in Sparks, Nevada, are accused of making inappropriate physical contact with a civilian woman. The convention marked the first time since the 1991 sex scandal that the Navy has renewed its ties with the Tailhook organization.

Host Renee Montagne talks to Tom O'Byrne, China correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, about the arrest of evangelical Christians in China. 130 church members were seized Wednesday and are detained at a jail in central China. Three American citizens have since been released.

NPR's Mike Shuster talks to Robert Siegel about President Clinton's impending visit to Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation. On his previous visit to Africa two years ago, President Clinton purposely avoided Nigeria because of its dictatorial military government. Since then Nigeria has freely elected a civilian president and Clinton is visiting the nation to show support for its budding democracy.

Asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease. For some reason, rates of asthma keep going up every year. Researchers have been looking at the causes for this increase, which has been found to be much higher in the industrialized world. Everything from exposure to dust mites and cockroaches to diet has been implicated. Now, a new study from the New England Journal of Medicine concludes that there might be another cause: too much cleanliness. The more sterile the early environment for infants six months and younger, the more problems with asthma they seem to have later in life. NPR's Allison Aubrey reports.

Commentator Kimberly Phillips-Fein remarks on recent popularity of religious figures such as Jesus Christ and Buddha as inspiration for authors of books on corporate strategy.

Susanna Capelouto of Peach State Public Radio reports on a plan by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reduce the flow of the Chattahoochee River to protect Atlanta's drinking water supply. The plan has upset those who live downstream. Because of a long regional drought, the Corps wants to hold the water in Lake Lanier, which is the main reservoir for Atlanta. Environmentalists fear that plan will prevent aquatic life below the dam from getting enough water in the river to survive the dry conditions.

Commentator Louise Rafkin goes to the beach in Provincetown, Massachusetts every summer. This year, a couple with beachfront property decided they didn't want any swimmers in front of their house - so they set out some decoy beach chairs, hoping to keep people away. It didn't work.

NPR's Brian Naylor reports on the congressional race in 36th district of California, near Los Angeles, between incumbent Steve Kuykendall and former seatholder Jane Harmon. It's one of the battleground seats in this election, and the Democrats are hoping to retake the seat and others like it as they try to retake control of the house.

Host Renee Montagne talks to Judi Bailey, President of Northern Michigan University in Marquette about the Thinkpad Initiative, a new program that provides laptops to all students at the university.

Americans -- especially young Americans -- are losing the battle against fat. The percentage of teenagers who are overweight has doubled in the past two decades. Science reporter Frank Browning reports that the reason has to do with a culture that encourages overconsumption.

NPR's Richard Knox reports the National Institutes of Health has announced new guidelines allowing federally funded researchers to perform experiments with cells taken from human embryos. Research with embryonic cells is controversial. Scientists say cells taken from human embryos may be helpful in treating many serious diseases, including Parkinson's and diabetes. But some people have moral objections to the research because it involves destroying a human embryo. The NIH guidelines attempt to strike a balance by insisting that federally funded scientists can only use cells taken from embryos that are left over from fertility treatments -- embryos that would otherwise be thrown away.