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What do Sting, Dan Fogelberg and Rush drummer Neil Peart all have in common? They've just made Blender magazine's list of rock's worst lyricists. Blender's senior critic John Dolan talks about some of his favorite bad lyricists.

Gretchen Berland uses experience from her previous career of making documentaries to compose video projects on health-care topics. She has won a $500,000 "genius award" from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

One of the most acclaimed films of the 1970s was Michelangelo Antonioni's The Passenger, starring Jack Nicholson. On a new DVD release, home viewers can now see it in the original wide screen and with six additional minutes not shown in the American theatrical release. It's a personal favorite of critic John Powers, who says that it's not an easy film, but a good one.

Anti-smoking activists want to put an "R" rating on films that show actors smoking. Sen. John Ensign of Nevada is among those who want the Motion Picture Association of America to change its ratings system and recognize what he calls "gratuitous smoking." NPR's Neda Ulaby reports.

Elvin Jones, a renowned drummer and member of the John Coltrane Quartet, died Tuesday in a New Jersey hospital of heart failure. He was 76. Jones' powerful, complex playing helped changed the role of the drummer in jazz groups and influenced a generation of rockers, including The Doors, the Grateful Dead and Santana. NPR's Renee Montagne has a remembrance.

President George Bush and Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry take their campaigns to Davenport, Iowa, Wednesday. In speeches to voters, Kerry discussed jobs and the economy and the president spoke of the war on terror. Hear NPR's Melissa Block, NPR's Don Gonyea and NPR's Scott Horsley.

Weekend Edition Sunday music director Ned Wharton reviews the work of two artists with famous musician dads who're blazing their own unique paths: Emilie Berstein, daughter of film score composer Elmer Bernstein, and pianist Peter John Stoltzman, son of Grammy-winning clarinetist Richard Stoltzman.

Campaigning in the upper Midwest, President Bush and Sen. John Kerry trade hard shots over Iraq. The president once again says Iraq is part of a greater fight against terrorism. Kerry argues the president's rush to war distracted from the pursuit of terrorists behind the Sept. 11 attacks. Hear NPR's Don Gonyea.

Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama debate Thursday for the first time since their bitter contest in South Carolina — and for the first time without John Edwards. Edwards withdrew from the presidential race Wednesday, but he has yet to endorse another candidate.

The bacon of the month club brings a different gourmet smoked pork to your door each month. The artisinal bacons were all tried and tested by John T. Edge of the Southern Foodways Alliance.

With just a day to go before the New Hampshire primary, Michele Norris checks in with former North Carolina senator and Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on his campaign bus. Given the recent polls and his rival's financing, Edwards admits he has a tough hill to climb.

David Sterritt and John Anderson recognize the films that didn't make it into the "A list canon" in their new book, B List: The National Society of Film Critics on the Low-Budget Beauties, Genre-Bending Mavericks, and Cult Classics We Love. Tell us: What's on your B-list?

While Harry Potter has grown to become a huge a marketing event, the book series is still, at its heart, a literary event. Critic-at-large John Powers considers kids today lucky to have that experience. He compares it to his experiences purchasing and reading the Hardy Boys mysteries as a child.

In their new book Rousseau's Dog, authors David Edmonds and John Eidinow describe a bitter, public dispute between philosopher giants Jean-Jacques Rousseau and David Hume.

Data from John's Hopkins shows a 105% increase in cases over the past two weeks in Michigan.

Robert speaks with legal scholar John Shepherd Wiley, Jr. about the implications of the California Supreme Court decision to allow judges to dispense lighter sentences to third-time felons. Wiley, a professor of law at the UCLA Law School, considers this another loophole in the law, once previously reserved for prosecutors. he says it's a big step towards making the so-called "Three-strikes-and-you're-out" provision more optional.

2: Professor of Sociology CHARLES MOSKOS. He teaches at Northwestern University. He's written many articles on race relations in the military for the New York times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tiribune, and The New Republic. He's co-authored a new book about the U.S. Army's success at integration: "All That We Can Be: Black Leadership and Racial Integration the Army Way" (Basic Books, with John Sibley).

Robert talks with Hugo Young, a political columnist for the Guardian newspaper, about John Major and the speech Major made today in Brussels. He denounced the European Union's social chapter on workplace standards. The speech is widely being viewed as a part of Major's re-election campaign, which is currently in trouble. Major is hoping to rally conservative voters in Britain, who may have doubts about the European Union and the changes that would come to the United Kingdom if various social standards for employment are changed.

President Clinton met with Republican leaders at the White House today, in an effort to push his proposals to strengthen national anti-terrorism laws. Yesterday, the President asked Congress to reconsider a controversial proposal to expand the FBI's wiretapping powers. NPR's John Nielson reports. (5:00) 2. ATLANTA NEWS - IN Atlanta, three days after a pipe bomb exploded--killing one person and injurying more than a hundred--gates to the 21 acre downtown park will reopen. TAPE/COPY

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped past another milestone today, surpassing 7,000 for the first time. The other major indexes were also up sharply today as optimism about corporate earnings spread though the broader market. It was just four months ago that the Dow passed 6000, making this the fastest 1000 point jump in the Dow's 100-year history. NPR's John Ydstie (IDD-stee) reports.