March 25, 1998 All Things Considered (entire program) Requires the RealAudio Player

An index of the day's stories:

Jonesboro -- NPR's Wade Goodwyn reports from Jonesboro, Arkansas on the aftermath of yesterday's shooting at the Westside Middle School. People in the town are still trying to figure out why two young boys -- ages 13 and 11 -- opened fire on their middle school classmates, killing 5 people and wounding 10 others. There is much speculation swirling around town, but authorities there are not saying anything about a motive. The boys will be arraigned in juvenile court today, but local prosecutors are looking into whether they can be tried as adults. (4:00)

School Violence -- NPR's Don Gonyea reports on serious violent incidents in schools. A recent Department of Education survey found out that as of last spring, violence in schools hasn't changed in the last few years, despite popular perception. About one in 10 schools reported a serious violent episode with weapons in the 1996-97 school year. (4:00)

Moscow Turmoil -- Politicians in Russia are getting ready for a fight concerning the appointment of a new Prime Minister in that nation. President Boris Yeltsin fired his longtime Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin on Monday, and has to receive parliamentary approval for a replacement. But the dominant Communist Party is promising to reject any candidate who supports economic reforms, which are the primary focus of Yeltsin's policies. Analysts predict that a well-known Russian businessman, Boris Berezovsky, could be the source of much of the coming debate. NPR's Andy Bowers reports. (4:00)

Middle East Peace -- NPR's Ted Clark reports that U.S. special Middle East envoy Dennis Ross is being sent back to the Middle East in yet another American effort to salvage the deadlocked peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The U.S. has a new compromise proposal that would try to persuade Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a further Israeli withdrawal from the occupied West Bank, in compliance with the Oslo Accords. (5:00)

Dreamer -- Martin Luther King, Jr. is the subject of a new work of fiction by writer Charles Johnson. Our reviewer, Alan Cheuse, says that it's a powerful examination of the spirituality and philosophy that drove King in his quest for civil rights. (Note: "Dreamer" by Charles Johnson is published by Scribner's.) (2:30)

Kaiser Nurses -- NPR's Richard Gonzales reports that nurses with the Kaiser Medical Centers in California have reached a tentative contract settlement with the giant healthcare company -- just hours before a scheduled strike. The California Nurses Association, which represents approximately 7,500 nurses in 30 Kaiser hospitals in Northern California, will endorse the contract. The agreement calls for a 12 percent pay increase over the next four years, and addresses issues concerning the staffing levels of Kaiser hospitals. (3:00)

Egg Donors -- Lisa Glazer reports on the growing number of young women who are donating their eggs to infertile women for cash. Many of the women face internal conflict over the moral and legal implications of this practice, long after what is simply billed as a business transaction -- the swapping of human eggs for money -- has occurred. (9:00)

Fife and Drums -- Melissa Gray, of Peach State Public Radio, reports on a kind of fife and drum music that's NOT your typical patriotic parade music. It's rural Southern, blues-based music that is almost African in sound quality and rhythm. Fife player Othar Turner of Senatobia, Mississippi is one of the last practitioners of this kind of music...the others are his daughter and grandsons. (Note: "Everybody Hollerin' Goat" is the name of the album by Othar Turner & the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band. It's available on Birdman Records, catalog number BMR018.) This item is unavailble due to copyright issues.

Sexual Harassment -- NPR's Nina Totenberg reports that the Supreme Court heard arguments today in two important sexual harassment cases. There is no dispute in either case as to whether sexual harassment took place. Instead, the issue is who should be liable for damages. One case involves a city -- the other a school board. Both argue that they should not have to pay damages for sexual harassment committed by their employees, because officials did not know it was happening. (6:00)

Jonesboro Victims -- We have a brief profile of the victims in the Jonesboro, Arkansas shooting yesterday. (1:30)

Counselling -- All Things Considered host Noah Adams talks with Betty Stockton, the coordinator of counselors at the Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Westside was the site of the school shooting yesterday in which two boys, ages 11 and 13, killed 5 people. Stockton discusses what kinds of programs are in place to help surviving students and other members of the community deal with this tragedy. (4:30)

Access to Guns -- NPR's Debbie Elliott looks into the issue of kids' access to guns. In many mostly rural parts of the country, guns are part of the fabric of life. Many kids begin hunting at an early age, and may be given their first gun as young as 10 or 11. Many become accomplished marksmen at a relatively young age. But despite the wide access to guns, violence of the sort that happened yesterday in Jonesboro is quite rare. (3:30)

Police Brutality -- Dissenting members of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's task force on police brutality criticized the city's final report on the issue today, calling it a "public relations ploy" rather than a serious attempt to address the issue. Members of the mayor's task force who disagree with the report say that the city needs an independent prosecutor to investigate reports of police brutality rather than internally investigating those kinds of charges. The task force was convened following a widely-publicized attack on Haitian immigrant Abner Louima. Five New York City police officers face charges in connection with that attack. Beth Fertig of member station WNYC reports. (4:00)

Contact Group -- NPR's Michael Goldfarb reports that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and members of the six-nation "Contact Group" met today in Bonn to discuss the creation of sanctions against Yugoslavia because of the ongoing conflict in the Kosovo province. The Group eventually decided to postpone making a final decision for another four weeks. (3:30)

Clinton in Rwanda -- We'll hear tape from a speech given by President Clinton while he was in Rwanda today, meeting with survivors of the 1994 genocide that left as many as a million people dead. He says that the international community has to bear some of the responsibility for that tragedy. (2:00)

Daniel Schorr Commentary -- NPR senior news analyst Daniel Schorr says that while President Clinton publicly regrets taking no action in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, U.S. intervention in foreign affairs is becoming less popular in Congress and among the American people. (2:30)

Clinton in Uganda -- Jennifer Glasse reports from Kampala, Uganda, that local residents welcome President Clinton's visit to their country, the first by an American president. But they regret there has not been a chance for them to greet him with a mass rally such as one held in Ghana on Monday which drew hundreds of thousands of people. (4:30)

Little Deuce Coupe -- The car aficionado whose car inspired the Beach Boys hit song "Little Deuce Coupe" has died. Clarence Catallo died in Detroit on Sunday. Catallo's renovated 1932 Ford Model 18 three-window coupe appeared on the cover of "Hot Rod" magazine in 1961. The Beach Boys saw the magazine and got the idea for a song. Catallo was shown on the Beach Boys' album cover, working on the car. (1:30)

Spring Training III -- Noah has the third conversation this week with Gordon Olsen, the co-author of a forthcoming book about the history of spring training. Today, they're joined by Mickey Schubert, who is Olsen's co-author, and both Schubert and Olsen are at spring training for the Detroit Tigers in Lakeland, Florida. They recently spoke to a former bat boy, who started working at the Joker Marchant Stadium in 1934. The Tigers are playing at Joker Marchant Stadium this week. (4:30)