Search results for

Linda talks with Erik Larson, a staff writer for Time Magazine, about the illegal firearms market and how Chinese (and other) illegal weapons find a market in the United States. The traders bringing these weapons into the country are selling a large number of them to dealers for the gun shows that tour the nation. Yesterday's seizure of two thousand automatic weapons from China has brought the problem of illegal firearms trading into the national spotlight. (Larson is the author of "Lethal Passage," published in paperback last year by Vintage Books.)

2: An excerpt from the new public radio program "This American Life" by Ira Glass. Miles Davis' biographer shares his memories, and funny stories about Davis. "This American Life" premiers nationally in June. (THIS CONTINUES AFTER THE 1:00

Scott speaks with NPR's Eric Weiner about the upcoming Israeli elections.

reports that some of the assumptions about corporate downsizing are being re-examined by business analysts. While numerous companies have laid off large numbers of employees, some economists argue that significant numbers of new jobs are being created to offset those layoffs and the new jobs are not necessarily low-skill or low-paying.

New Congressional Budget Office (CBO) numbers suggests the Medicare may be deeper in the red. They've long said it will go broke sooner -- in the year 2001 instead of 2002. Now, others are saying the same thing. An unexpected increase in hospitalizations is only one possible factor. In an election year, this sort of information gets played by Democrats and Republicans, who offer different solutions to the problem. NPR's Joanne Silberner has this report.

Noah Adams talks with our poetry critic Cathy Bowman about Quincy Troupe and his latest book of poetry called Avanlanche. The book is published by Coffee House Press.

Commentator Alan Cheuse reviews The Book of Secrets by M.G. Vassanji (vah-san-gee). It's the story of a British colonial officer's years spent in East Africa before the beginning of World War I. (Published by Picador)

Heavy rains have caused flooding in three Midwestern states. Hundreds of residents who live along the Mississippi have been evacuated from their homes. Robert Siegel talks with East St. Louis mayor Gordon Bush about floods which have inundated his city.

In the second part of Robert's interviews with religious Jews about their political leanings for the upcoming elections, he visits the West Bank settlement of Betar (beh-TAR). The residents of Betar are mostly ultra-Orthodox Jews who look to their religious leaders for guidance in choosing candidates. He talks to the Greenwalts, a couple with four children, who say that they will probably vote for one of the religious political parties.

2: THOMAS BLANTON, of the National Security Archive, a group that declassifies government documents, using the freedom of information act. Recently his group accessed documents indicating that the Reagan administration was aware of human rights abuses in El Salvador in the 1980s. During that time, the administration was required to report to Congress about conditions in El Salvador, with the understanding that if the Salvadorian military did not improve it's human rights record, the U.S. would no longer send aid there. Last week, the U.N.'s Commission on the Truth issued it's report (based on these declassified documents) on abuses by the Salvadorian military, implicating them in the murders of Archbishop Romero, four American churchworkers, and six Jesuit priests. Congress is soon to begin hearings on U.S. policy in El Salvador during the civil war.

2: Guitarist RY COODER. In the 60s he collaborated with Taj Mahal, Captain Beefheart, and the Rolling Stones, and became known for his fingerpicking and slide playing. In the 70s he went solo -- putting together ten albums that explored American roots music including blues, vintage jazz, and gospel. In the 80s he wrote the soundtracks for the films "The Long Riders,"The Border," Alamo Bay," "Southern Comfort," "Paris, Texas," and "Johnny Handsome." He also joined up with fellow musicians Jim Keltner, Ry Cooder, and Nick Lowe to form the supergroup-of-sorts, Little Village. (REBROADCAST FROM 5

Elementary school principal MADELINE CARTWRIGHT took over the run-down Blaine Elementary School in a run-down, drug-infested neighborhood in North Philadelphia and turned it into a school that works. One of her first acts when she took over the school was to get down on her hands and knees and scrub the foul-smelling children's bathroom. CARTWRIGHT got parents involved in the school, made it a safe place for the children to learn, brought up test scores and attendance, and became the subject of a a 1990 New York Times Magazine cover story: "Hope in Hell's Classroom." Now she's written her own story of Blaine Elementary School: "For the Children: Lessons from a Visionary Principal." (Doub