February 3, 1998 All Things Considered (entire program) Requires the RealAudio Player

An index of the day's stories:

ISRAELI JITTERS -- From Jerusalem, Jane Logan reports that despite government assurances that the danger is slight, Israelis are lining up at distribution centers around the country to receive gas masks in case Iraq decides to use its few remaining Scud missiles to attack Israel. (4:30)

TEXAS EXECUTES WOMAN -- All Things Considered host Noah Adams talks with NPR's John Burnett about tonight's execution of Karla Faye Tucker.

QUALITY VS. QUANTITY -- NPR's Wendy Schmelzer reports that the elderly -- even those who are ailing -- want to live as long as possible. But nobody seems to bother to ask them. Spouses, family members and surrogate decision makers seem to think that elderly patients would trade less time living for a healthier, shorter life. (3:30)

FUNERAL BUSSINESS -- NPR's Jim Zarroli reports on the increasing consolidation of the funeral industry. Large funeral-home conglomerates have been purchasing smaller, local funeral homes and retaining the family names on those homes. The funeral homes that remain independent are worried about that consolidation. (9:00)

THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER -- Luc Sante reads his essay "Lines to be Engraved on the Pedestal of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier." This essay and many more writings concerning the end of life are available at the Web site for our series "The End of Life: Exploring Death in America." (8:00)

BUDGET & TOBACCO DEAL -- President Clinton's proposed budget would use money from the tobacco agreement recently worked out between state attorneys general and tobacco industry to pay for some of his programs. But Congress has yet to write that agreement into legislation. NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports. (4:30)

CLINTON IN NEW MEXICO -- President Clinton traveled to New Mexico today. He visited the Los Alamos National Laboratory to highlight his budget's commitment to scientific reserach and technology. He also renewed his call for Congress to ratify the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. NPR's Mara Liasson reports. (3:30)

WEATHER WOES -- NPR's Cheryl Devall reports from Miami, Florida, on heavy rains and high winds which left nearly 400,000 people without power, killed one person and forced Miami International Airport to close down. And on the West Coast, high seas and heavy wind are pounding beaches and threatening to swell rivers past flood levels. (3:30)

OLYMPICS -- Linda and Noah talk briefly about the upcoming Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. (1:30)

SNOWBOARDING -- Snowboarders have often been thought of as the "black sheep" of the ski slopes. They surf down the mountains on fiberglass boards wearing baggy clothes and reveling in their non-conformist attitude. This month, the sport joins the mainstream as snowboarding makes its debut in the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. NPR's Tom Goldman reports that some purists are worried that their sport may have sold out. (6:00)

HIV CASE ONE -- Today at a meeting in Chicago, scientists reported on the oldest known case of infection with the AIDS virus. The work is based on a blood sample drawn in 1959 from a Bantu male living what is now Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. As NPR's Joe Palca reports, this discovery strengthens the most scientists' belief that AIDS originated in Africa in the middle of this century. (4:30)

AIDS NUMBERS -- Noah talks with Jim Graham, Executive Director of the Whitman-Walker Clinic in Washington, D.C., about the changes both in public policy and in social services that are needed as a result of lower mortality rates from AIDS. For the second year in a row, AIDS deaths have plummeted -- down 21 percent in 1996, and down 44 percent in 1997. As a result, there is a growing pool of people living with HIV disease. (4:30)

ROGER STEVENS OBITUARY -- Roger L. Stevens, the Founding Director of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, died last night in Washington, D.C. He was 87 years old. Before helping to get the Center built, Stevens was an esteemed theater producer in New York and London. He produced or co-produced more than 200 plays, including "West Side Story," "Bus Stop," and "A Man for All Seasons." NPR's Susan Stamberg reports. (3:30)

INDONESIA -- NPR's Mary Kay Magistad reports that the government of Indonesia is starting to lift subsidies on basic commodities such as rice and gasoline. That and other financial reforms are mandated by the International Monetary Fund in exchange for funds to shore up Indonesia's economy. The cutoff of subsidies will mean higher prices for the average citizen -- and smaller profits for some of the businesses controlled by Indonesia's ruling Suharto family. (4:30)

ANKLE BITING MONKEYS -- Professor Kuno Watanabe, assistant professor at Kyoto University's Primate Research Institute, has been unable to come up to a solution to a plague of ankle and and calf biting by wild monkeys in the popular seaside village of Ito. At least 32 people have reported to have been attacked by the three-foot tall creatures. Now the town is fighting back - using blanks to scare the monkeys away. It's not working and Dr. Watanabe says he has no answers. (3:30)