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Noah talks with Mike Jendrzejczyk (jenn-DREEZ-sick), the Washington Director of Human Rights Watch-Asia. Chinese police have detained dissident Wang Donghai (WAHNG dong-HY) after he and six other activists petitioned the National People's Congress on May 27th, demanding the release of political prisoners. Mr. Jendrzejczyk believes that paranoia in the Chinese government toward the democracy movement has increased in recent months as economic reforms have triggered more unrest. This recent round of arrests comes one week before the anniversary of the military crackdown that ended pro- democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 4th, 1989.

Noah talks with Officer Richard Hardin of the Hillview Police Department in Hillview, Kentucky, where severe weather injured eight people and destroyed hundreds of homes outside Louisville. Officer Hardin was chased by a tornado yesterday, and tells about his experiences...and the damage left in the wake of the storms.

The House voted today to increase the minimum wage by ninety cents. The vote was a victory for Democrats who gained the support of moderate Republicans for the proposal. The same coalition voted down a Republican amendment that would have exempted businesses earning more than half a million dollars a year -- and would have included most of the fast food restaurants and retail stores that pay the minimum wage. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports.

Linda and Noah read from listeners' letters. To send letters please write to LETTERS-ATC, 635 Masschusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20001, or by E-Mail to ATC@NPR.ORG.

of how it acquiesced to the Croatian government's plans to smuggle Iranian arms to Bosnia two years ago. Appearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott said the Administration took the best available option in its response to Croatia, and that it in no way constituted a covert action.

- Andrea De Leon (Ahn-DRAY-uh DAY-LAY-OWN) reports on the Senate Primary campaign in Maine, which was held this week. Republicans in the state cast ballots for Susan Collins, John Hathaway, and Bob Monks - who were fighting for the seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Senator William Cohen. Many people in Maine considered the campaign to be one of the nastiest in the state's history. A week before the primary, two newspapers reported that candidate Hathaway had been investigated for allegedly having sex with an underage girl. Hathaway accused candidate Bob Monk of leaking the story to the press. Candidate Susan Collins - who stayed out of the dispute - won the primary with more than 50-percent of the vote.

NPR's Anne Garrels reports from the presidential campaign trail in Russia. Polls indicate Russian President Yeltsin is ahead, but no one trusts those polls, least of all the Yeltsin campaign.

Linda talks with the author, A. S. Byatt, about her latest book, "Babel Tower" (BAY-bl). This is the third novel in an ongoing series, and Byatt says she had intended to write a novel about family life and group behavior, but the novel also became a portrait of swinging London in the 1960s. There are myriad literary and popular culture references, and there are other narratives and fictional works embedded in the novel -- including another novel called Babble Tower, trial transcripts, poems and fairy tales.

Scott and Weekend Edition sports commentator Ron Rapoport discuss major league baseball's aggressive recruitment of foreign players and what that suggests about the future of sport.

Tatiana Schreiber (tah-CHAH-na SHRY-bur) reports on the only accredited college in the U.S. exclusively serving students with learning disabilities. She attends a recent graduation ceremony to talk with students and teachers.

Linda talks with Tom Boatner (BOHT-nur), a firejumper from the Bureau of Land Management based in Fairbanks, Alaska. Right now he's in Houston (HYOO-stun), Alaska. As many as 100 homes and an estimated 7,000 acres have burned in this fire which is believed to have started on Sunday. More than 300 firefighters, supported by firefighting aircraft, are now working to contain the blaze which is being fueled by forty mile-per-hour winds.

2: Poet HAL SIROWITZ. His new collection of poems is "Mother Said," (Crown Publishers) and is written in the vernacular of a mother. One reviewer wrote of the poems, "the logical step forward in the comic treatment of Oedipal angst." SIROWITZ has appeared on MTV's "Spoken Word Unplugged" and on PBS's "The United States of Poetry."