March 26, 1998 All Things Considered (entire program) Requires the RealAudio Player

An index of the day's stories:

Jonesboro School Reopens -- NPR's Adam Hochberg reports from Jonesboro, Arkansas on the first day back at school for children at Westside Middle School following Tuesday's shootings there. A teacher and four students were killed when two young boys opened fire on their classmates who had filed out of the building after a false fire alarm. (4:00)

Suspects' Backgrounds -- All Things Considered host Noah Adams talks with Allen Breed, the Southeast regional writer for the Associated Press. They talk about the backgrounds of Mitchell Johnson, age 13, and Andrew Golden, age 11, who are now in custody and are charged with killing four girls and a teacher at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas on Tuesday. (4:30)

Tawana Brawley Case -- The man whom the Reverend Al Sharpton accused of attacking Tawana Brawley testified today that the only time he's seen the young woman was on television. Laura Sydell of member station WNYC reports on the testimony of Steven Pagones, who is suing Sharpton and two other advisers of Brawley for defamation in Dutchess County, New York. (3:30)

IRS Reform -- The chairman of the Senate Finance committee has outlined his plan for overhauling the IRS. Senator William Roth's bill is different from the package the House passed last year, so the two will have to be reconciled. Each tries to ensure that taxpayers are treated fairly. NPR's Larry Abramson reports.

Petabytes and Human Consciousness -- Privacy advocates often express concern that the government has amassed too much information about American citizens. But commentator David Weinberger says the most important parts of our lives can't be reduced to data because computers can't pay attention.

Iraq Inspections -- Noah talks with Fergus Nicoll, a foreign affairs correspondent for the BBC. They discuss the first inspection of one of the Iraqi palace compound sites. Nicoll says that the diplomats who had accompanied the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) inspectors seemed pleased by the cooperation offered by the Iraqis. (4:30)

IMF Vote -- NPR's Peter Kenyon reports that the Senate this afternoon overwhelmingly approved President Clinton's request for $18 billion in additional funding for the International Monetary Fund to help it deal with the Asian financial crisis. However, the House objects to linking the measures and it is unclear what will happen with the administration's IMF funding request when it comes up in that chamber. (4:00)

Yeltsin, Kohl and Chirac -- Boris Yeltsin hosted a meeting today with French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl at a country residence outside Moscow. The summit gave Mr. Yeltsin a forum to show growing ties with Western Europe and to highlight his views of a multi-polar world, that is one not dominated by the United States. NPR's Andy Bowers reports. (4:00)

Mayor of London -- Residents of London today received a glossy brochure in the mail inviting them to vote in a May 7th referendum on whether the city should have an elected mayor and city council. As NPR's Michael Goldfarb reports, some high-profile personalities -- from Jeffrey Archer to Glenda Jackson -- are already in the running for the mayor's post. (5:00)

Seekonk Means Skunk -- Commentator Bill Harley received some disturbing news about his hometown of Seekonk, Massachusetts from a friend doing research in philology -- it turns out that "Seekonk" may not mean what all the town reference-people think. (3:00)

Clinton in South Africa -- NPR's Charlayne Hunter-Gault reports from Cape Town on President Clinton's address to the South African Parliament. (4:00)

Rwanda Today -- Commentator Iain Guest says that while it's good that President Clinton apologized to Rwandans for the lack of effort made by the international community during the genocide of 1994, the current Rwandan government is itself involved in questionable human rights practices. (2:30)

Trade With Africa -- NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports that President Clinton's trip to Africa has focused attention on the potential of what some analysts call the global economy's next emerging market. But U.S. trade with Africa is a tiny fraction of overall trade. And while growth is expected, the barriers Africa faces are very real. (5:30)

Kosovo Today -- NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports from Belgrade that Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic has snubbed U.S. envoy Robert Gelbard. Gelbard says that contrary to the demands of the international community, the Serbs are beefing up their presence in mainly Albanian Kosovo province. Gelbard says the United States will insist that the Serbs move forward and negotiate a political settlement with ethnic Albanians in Kosovo province. (3:00)

Michigan Term Limits -- NPR's Don Gonyea reports that several states are about to feel the full force of term-limits legislation passed in recent years. Eighteen states have term-limits laws on the books. But the first to be affected will be Michigan, where two out of three state representatives must step down in January. Many of the lawmakers on the way out say the turnover will diminish the clout their constituents have at the state capitol. (4:30)

New Transplant Rules -- NPR's Joe Palca reports on new federal rules proposed today governing the allocation of organs for transplant. Health and Human Services secretary Donna Shalala issued the proposals today, which require that donated organs go to the sickest patients. Under the current system, organs are first offered to the patients closest to the donor. (4:00)

Transplant Ethics -- Noah talks with Dr. Peter Ubel, a biomedical ethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, about the proposed federal guidelines for the distribution of transplant organs. (4:30)

Radioactive Waste -- NPR's David Baron reports on new findings that suggest the area around Yucca Mountain, Nevada, where the government plans to put highly radioactive waste, is not as solid as previously believed. Measurements by satellites show the ground there is moving more than in the past. The Energy Department says the findings hasn't changed its plan to start dumping waste there by 2010. (3:00)

ATC Mailbag -- Noah reads from listeners' comments. To contact All Things Considered, write to All Things Considered Letters, 635 Massachusetts Avenue Northwest, Washington, D.C. 20001. To contact us via the Internet, the address is atc@npr.org. (4:00)

Spring Training -- Noah talks with Gordon Olsen, the co-author of a forthcoming book on the history of Major League Baseball's spring training. In their fourth conversation this week, Olsen explains how Florida became the place for spring training in the 1920s. (4:00)