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Noah talks with Beverly Lennen, Deputy Chief of Police for Santa Fe, about the usually high number of calls about skunks in her city. The animals are having a hard time finding food because of the dry weather, and so have come to town for Santa Fe cuisine. They've been feasting on leftovers in garbage bags and compost piles.

NPR News' Michael Sullivan reports a year after the violence and destruction that followed East Timor's vote for independence, tens of thousands of refugees have not returned home. They remain in refugee camps in West Timor, where aid officials and some refugees say they are being threatened and intimidated by pro-Indonesian militias. There is some evidence that the militias are staging raids across the border into East Timor. U.N. officials say the situation is not likely to improve until the Indonesian government gets the militias out of the camps.

TV Producer Bill Moyers. His new series, On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying, explores the way people's lives end in this country. Most people die alone and uncomfortable, in a hospital, instead of at home surrounded by those they love. The four-part series premieres Sunday September 10th. Check local listings for times. For more information, look at the show's website at: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/onourownterms/about/index.html

Claudio Sanchez reports on an FBI report that reviews 18 school shootings by students and discusses characteristics of those students. The agency recommends that schools study the warning signs discovered in those cases. But it also warns against using those items as a profile or checklist by which to evaluate their students. Among other points, the FBI suggests that teachers be aware of students who are obsessed with violence, have access to guns at home, and reflect violence in their writing and artwork.

Linda talks with Richard Galpin, a reporter for the BBC in Jakarta, Indonesia, about the evacuation of U.N. workers from West Timor after thousands of rioters stormed the office, killing at least three workers. Galpin says the rioters were angry about the death of an Indonesian militia leader yesterday.

NPR's Julie McCarthy reports from London that the British government is facing mounting calls to shut down the Millennium Dome exhibition hall. The Dome's managing commissioners sparked outrage last night when they approved another emergency infusion of cash for the attraction, which cost hundreds of millions of dollars to put up. The constant need for bail-outs has alarmed the Japanese led consortium that had agreed to purchase the Dome.

The twelve men a capella group called Chanticleer was formed in San Francisco 20 years ago. Their latest CD Magnificat features compositions from the middle ages that are dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Noah speaks with Chanticleer's musical director Joseph Jennings and alto Philip Wilder about the CD.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg considers the tall tales about word origins, and how hard they are to eradicate.

NPR's Renee Montagne pays a visit to the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, where the a paleontological dig is taking place. The pits once supplied Native Americans and local settlers with sealant and fuel, and in the late 1800's they began to yield the bones of ancient beasts.

Commentator Jeff Goodell says that Silicon Valley, the area where he grew up, appears to be experiencing a kind of "prosperity fatigue." Some affluent young residents seem bored with their material possessions and are giving generously to charities. And, he says, other less prosperous workers are discovering that "the Silicon Valley dream" is not quite as democratic as it first appeared.

NPR's Don Gonyea reports committee members from both the House and Senate questioned Bridgestone-Firestone and Ford Motor Company executives on Capitol Hill yesterday about the recall of more than 6 and a half million tires. Legislators are promising more hearings in the future. The questions centered upon how both companies handled the recall, and why it took so long for officials from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to issue a recall.

Host Bob Edwards talks with Jake Moreland, of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees office about the recent violence in West Timor.