March 24, 1998 All Things Considered (entire program) Requires the RealAudio Player

An index of the day's stories:

Kosovo Today -- The BBC's Karen Coleman reports from Pristina that four Albanians and one police officer were killed in western Kosovo. The Yugoslav state agency Tanjug says that a police patrol was ambushed. The so-called Contact Group is meeting tomorrow to continue discussion about how to contain the unrest in the region. (2:00)

Drenica -- NPR's Sylvia Poggioli recently visited the Drenica region of Serbia's Kosovo province -- scene of the recent deadly police crackdown on Albanian separatists. Those who remain in the region's devastated villages warn of further unrest if a political settlement is not reached. (6:00)

Arkansas Shootings -- Two children, aged 11 and 13, have been taken into custody after opening fire on middle school students today in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Westside Middle School students were assembled outside after a fire alarm sounded. At least four young girls were killed in the shooting spree, and at least ten other people injured, including two teachers. All Things Considered host Noah Adams talks with Keith Merritt, a reporter with NPR member station KASU in Jonesboro, who is at the scene of the shootings. (3:30)

Shortest Stories -- Noah talks with Steve Moss, the editor of the collection The World's Shortest Short Stories. They talk about the criteria for inclusion in the book: exactly 55 words must be used; no more, no less. Moss says to do it right, a writer must be extremely focused. He also says murder is a favorite topic, for some reason. (Note: The World's Shortest Short Stories, edited by Steve Moss, is published by Running Press.) (7:45)

Christian Counselling -- All Things Considered host Linda Wertheimer reports on the field of Christian counselling. It's psychotherapy from an evangelical Christian perspective, in which licensed clinicians treat clients with a mix of traditional psychotherapy, drug therapy, and Biblical teachings. The largest business in the field is the New Life Clinics. Founded ten years ago, the company has eighty outpatient clinics nationwide as well as day hospitals, residential treatment centers for eating disorders, and inpatient privileges at seventeen hospitals. (12:30)

TV and Overweight Kids -- Vicky Que reports on a new study which has found that girls and minority children tend to exercise less and watch more television than other children. The study, which appears in today's Journal of the American Medical Association, may help explain why more U.S. children are overweight these days. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, a fifth of the nation's children are obese. (4:00)

Parking Science -- Noah talks with Richard Cassady, a professor of industrial engineering at Mississippi State University, and John Kobza, a professor of industrial and systems engineering at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute. They wrote an article called "Probabilistic Approach to Evaluate Strategies for Selecting a Parking Space," featured in the February 1998 issue of a journal called Transportation Science. The professors claim to have proven that aggressive drivers tend not to find parking spaces any sooner than more passive drivers do. (3:30)

Clinton in Uganda -- Charlayne Hunter-Gault reports from Uganda where she's traveling with President Clinton. The President said America has been guilty of what he called "the sin of neglect and ignorance" in its dealings with Africa and pledged aid to help train more teachers. He said it was wrong for America to benefit from slavery. And he met a villager who showed him her two-day-old son -- a son she named Bill Clinton. (4:00)

Women and Clinton -- NPR's Melissa Block visits a group of women in Short Hills, New Jersey, to gauge their views on the controversy surrounding President Clinton and his alleged liasions with several women. She found a complex mix of feelings and reactions over the allegations -- feelings that in some ways, target for criticism everyone from Clinton, to his accusers -- to themselves. (8:00)

Harassment -- Linda talks with Jeffrey Rosen, the legal affairs editor with the New Republic magazine. They discuss the Supreme Court's current session, and the sexual harassment cases that are being brought before the court. They talk about the background of the cases, the differences in the cases, and what the law already has to say about sexual harassment claims. (4:45)

Scouts -- When commentator Nick Gillespie was an Eagle Scout, he was taught qualities of leadership, teamwork, and service to the community. He says that those values had remarkably very little to do with sexual orientation or belief in a supreme being. He's disturbed by yesterday's California Supreme Court ruling allowing the Boy Scouts of America to bar gays and atheists from membership -- but he's also disturbed that these policies are being hashed out in the courts. He thinks it's wrong to force any organization whose membership is voluntary to adopt a code of ethics -- and he thinks the Scouts should be judged in the court of public opinion. (3:00)

Minnesota Tobacco -- Elizabeth Stawicki of Minnesota Public Radio reports the State of Minnesota and Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Minnesota are expected to rest their case against the tobacco industry today. The state and Blue Cross are suing to recover nearly $1.8 billion in smoking-related health costs. Much of the plaintiffs' case has hinged on previously secret internal tobacco company documents that show the companies knew smoking caused disease and tracked the smoking habits of young children. Tobacco attorneys say their evidence will show that that information is being taken out of context. (6:00)

Senate Log Jam -- The Senate today made some progress in getting rid of the logjam that has been delaying action on several pieces of legislation, including an emergency spending bill. The delays in passing measures such as allocating money to the International Monetary Fund and the pending education bill have little to do with problems concerning the substance of the bills. Rather, it's a fight over attaching unrelated amendments to the legislation. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports. (5:00)

Back to 5 Great Lakes -- The Senate today decided to rescind the "Great Lake" designation that had been awarded to Vermont's Lake Champlain. The designation of the lake -- which had been proposed in order to channel research money into the Lake Champlain region -- had caused a furor in the states that are homes to the original five Great Lakes. (1:00)

NCAA Women -- Linda talks with Robin Roberts, host of cable network ESPN's coverage of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. They talk about the results of yesterday's games, and look ahead to the games scheduled for Friday. The University of Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team, which won the last two NCAA Women's Tournament championship titles, won a very close game with the University of North Carolina last night. They'll play the University of Arkansas -- which staged a come-from-behind win against Duke University -- in the Women's Final Four on Friday in Kansas City, Missouri. (3:45)

Spring Training II -- Noah talks with Gordon Olsen, the co-author of a forthcoming book about Major League Baseball's annual spring training. Gordon has gone to Lakeland, Florida to watch the Detroit Tigers. He says there's a pitcher in today's game who is particularly worth watching. We'll catch up with him each day this week. (3:45)