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NPR's John Greenberg reports that the White House and the Republican-controlled Congress continued flinging rhetoric at each other today, as a Monday night deadline looms ahead for the shutdown of the federal government. At issue is legislation extending the government's borrowing and spending authority. President Clinton says he will veto the legislation because the Republicans have attached riders affecting medicare and other programs. This piece examines what the fight is about.

NPR's John Burnett reports that while most prisons across the country are trying to make life more difficult for prisoners (cutting back funding for basketball courts, initiating chain gangs, etc.), in Texas, which has the nation's largest prison population, prisoners are being given more access to one perk: the telephone. But Burnett says from the prison perspective, there's a business incentive for the move.

NPR's John Ydstie reports that financial markets have stabilized today after a sharp fall Monday and Tuesday. The fall is largely attributed to a breakdown in the budget negotiations, though some analysyts say market factors were more important. The sharp reaction in the financial markets may put pressure on the politicians to make a deal. In fact, it may be that some of the Republican policical rhetoric is calculated to affect the market and put pressure on the President.

Dr. John Caronna, a professor of clinical neurology, tells Noah that the story of Gary Dockery's waking up from a 7-year coma is not entirely accurate. Medically, Dockery has maintained consciousness, but severe brain damage from a gunshot wound limited his response to stimuli. Caronna says something energized him, increasing his ability to communicate. But it's unclear if he will continue to improve or not.

NPR's John Burnett reports on the efforts of anti-drug activist Herman Wrice to help small towns in the United States fight crack cocaine abuse through grassroots organizing and regularly confronting suspected drug dealers. Civil libertarians are concerned that this approach is tantamount to vigilanteism. If these people are known drug dealers, they argue, they should be arrested, not harrassed.

Linda speaks with Ferrel Guillory (GHILL-oh-ree), a former Southern political reporter with the Raleigh, North Carolina News and Observer, and John Jacobs, political editor of the Sacremento Bee, about the significance of the Super Tuesday primaries in the south next week. With so many primaries being moved up, these analysts say Super Tuesday and the California primary at the end of March have lost their importance.(IN

John Irving's immense 1985 novel, "The Ciderhouse Rules," has become an equally immense play. It's being presented in two parts by Seattle Repertory Theatre. Part One, premiering tonight (Wed. 3/6) in Seattle, runs almost four hours. It requires seventeen actors playing multiple roles and two directors. One of them is noted actor Tom Hulce.

NPR's John Burnett reports on the controversy over whether a convicted sex offender in Texas should be surgically castrated. Larry Don McQuay, who's about to be released from prison, says he'll molest more children unless he's castrated... and there's been controversy over whether the state should sanction this kind of operation, and whether it will stop him from offending again.

NPR's John Ydstie reports President Clinton addressed a gathering of finance ministers and central bankers today at the annual meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The President announced the US will take steps to forgive the debt of some of the world's poorest countries. He said the money should instead be spent by poor countries on basic human needs.

GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona arrived in Philadelphia a day early to address the Shadow Convention, an unofficial gathering focused on campaign finance reform and poverty reduction. McCain urged his followers to turn their support to Governor Bush, which drew heckles from some in the audience. NPR's Lynn Neary reports from the University of Pennsylvania campus.

NPR's John Burnett reports from the Mexico border, where, over the last six years, the United States has substantially increased efforts to stop illegal aliens from entering. Burnett accompanies some Border Agents on their rounds, and talks to some of the Patrol's critics. Ranchers in Arizona and Texas are among those who say the thousands of new agents and new technology have done little to stem the flow of illegals.

NPR's John Ydstie reports today is not the first time Al Gore has accused the oil industry of price-gouging. The vice-president first brought up the subject of oil industry profits when gas prices soared earlier this year. Ydstie reports there is scant evidence of oil company collusion, though, and the industry is probably just profiting from OPEC's success in driving up the price of oil.

French President Jaques Chirac is angrily denying charges that he was involved in unscrupulous fundraising for his party, and kickbacks to construction companies, while he was Mayor of Paris in the 1980's. The allegations come from a videotaped interview with a man who was an aide to Chirac during those years -- but has since died. Robert talks to John Henley, Correspondent for the Guardian newspaper in Paris about the story.

Noah talks with John Brumgardt, Director of the Charleston Museum in South Carolina, about the raising of the wreckage of the H.L Hunley, a Confederate submarine. The H.L. Hunley is said to be the first sub in the world to sink an enemy warship. Brumgardt talks about how the wreck was pulled out of the water, and the plans to restore it for display at the Charleston Museum.

Robert talks to Jack Randorff, the acoustical engineer in charge of sound at the Republican Convention. It's Randorff's job to make sure everyone at the convention -- and perhaps more importantly, the broadcast audience -- can hear the sounds of the gavel, and the voices of the speakers. (2:30)NOTE: MUSIC HEARD HERE WAS THE ESKIMO "MOUTH BOW" VERSION OF THE "ALL THINGS CONSIDERED" THEME, PLAYED BY JOHN PALMES OF JUNEAU, ALASKA

A paper in today's Science magazine reports the discovery of a new material that may be able to with stand irradiation for a thousand years. At present, nuclear waste is stashed away in containers that will start to break down after only a 100 years. Scientists are in a race against time to discover ways of building nuclear trashcans that can survive for much longer. And this new material could - at least in theory - be part of the answer. NPR's John Nielsen reports.

Bluegrass musician John Wheeler is the mountain man behind the CD Hayseed Dixie: A Hillbilly Tribute to AC/DC. He talks about the project with NPR's Steve Inskeep.

Guitarist Lonnie Donegan inspired John Lennon and Pete Townshend with his "skiffle" sound. He wrote such memorable hits as "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor (on the Bedpost Overnight)," and "Rock Island Line." Lonnie Donegan died yesterday at the age of 71. Robert Siegel has this remembrance.

Well to the east of Hollywood and the Golden Gate Bridge, there is another California -- the Central Valley, where farmers grow one-quarter of the food America eats. In the third of a four-part series on the future of the valley, NPR's John McChesney reports on how some organic farmers struggle while others thrive.

Iraqi lawmakers meet for an emergency session to consider a response to a tough U.N. resolution that calls for a resumption of weapons inspections. The U.S. warns of military action if Iraq fails to comply. Hear the BBC's Caroline Hawley and John Negroponte, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.