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It was 204 years ago this week that America's first president announced to the nation he would not seek a third term in office. George Washington had entered office a war hero but had become discouraged by newspaper attacks on his character. Host Jacki Lyden speaks with Washington biographer Willard Sterne Randall about how Washington's departure paved the way for a two-party system and for a tradition of attacks on character.

NPR'S Melanine Peeples reports on dire conditions following three years of severe drought in the southeastern United States.

Another lawsuit against the gun industry has been dismissed in Illinois, NPR's Eric Westervelt reports.

The mock rock documentary This Is Spinal Tap is being re-released in theatres and new special editions are being released on DVD and VHS. We feature interviews with co-writer and co-star Christopher Guest. (INTERVIEWS ARE REBROADCAST FROM 9/14/89 AND 2

NPR's Brian Naylor reports on the move by Republicans in the House to authorize the building of a monument to former president Ronald Reagan on the National Mall in Washington. It has already passed the House Resources Committee and is on the way to a full floor vote before Congress adjourns next month. Democrats say the move is less about honoring Reagan than it is about injecting him into the current presidential campaign. The move, if it passes, would circumvent a law that says no one can be honored with a memorial in the nation's capital until 25 years after the person's death.

Sportswriter Stefan Fatsis tells Linda Wertheimer why NBC, holder of U.S. broadcast rights to the Sydney Olympics, intends to provide only tape delayed coverage. The 15-hour time difference between Sydney and the eastern U.S. and the fact that the network's exclusivity agreement ends after the first broadcast of an event are the main factors. The result is that records set overnight will not be seen in the U.S. till prime time the next day.

Scott speaks with Paul Moore, who was the FBI's chief China analyst for 20 years, and with Jonathan Turley, who teaches law at George Washington University, about the Justice Department's handling of the case against Wen Ho Lee.

David Brower of member station KRWG in Las Cruces, NM reports on efforts made to find markets for small trees. Many agree that these trees must be cleared from forests to prevent destructive wildfires, but without a market for the small timber, logging companies can't afford to cut them.

Ralph Nader talks about "Republicrats" who see the world through the same corporate prism. And for generations, Third Party candidates from both the left and the right have said the two major parties are two halves of the same power structure -- different mostly in name and tradition. This year, as the major parties try to appeal to the political center, they often sound alike. Yet it can be argued that the two parties stand for specific philosophies that are farther apart than they have been in half a century. A new poll by NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard has found that voting for one or the other means choosing between distinct outlooks on the issues. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

Aaron Alpern of Wyoming Public Radio reports from Laramie on the damage that wildfires have done to the tourist industry in Wyoming over the summer. National news coverage scared visitors away, even from areas that was not in immediate danger.

Commentator Baxter Black is awestruck by the power of wildfires.

Doug MacPherson of New Hampshire Public Radio reports on the first impeachment trial in that state. Yesterday New Hampshire's Senate opened the trial to hear charges against Chief Justice David Brock. He is accused of lying to investigators, making an improper call to a lower-court judge and soliciting comments from another justice about a divorce case.