June 2, 1998 All Things Considered (entire program) Requires the RealAudio Player

An index of the day's stories:

Russia Economic Crisis -- Robert talks with Marshall Goldman, associate director of the Davis Center for Russian Studies at Harvard University and a professor of Russian Economics at Wellesley College. They discuss Russia's current economic crisis. Though financial markets in Russia went up today, Goldman is skeptical about the optimism that's manifesting itself now. (4:30)

Retirement Savings -- Later this week, the White House and Congress will jointly convene a National Summit on Retirement Savings. Policy makers will be discussing ways of pursuading Americans to save more. According to a survey released today, working-age people are paying more attention to this issue than they used to, but even so, nearly a third of Americans aren't saving for retirement at all. NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports. (3:30)

Clinton as a Witness? -- NPR senior news analyst Daniel Schorr says that President Clinton's losing battle to invoke executive privlege could just be the beginning of his worries. The real fight will be whether Kenneth Starr can force the President himself to testify. (3:30)

Sixteen Horsepower and the Handsome Family -- Music reviewer Mark Jenkins says that alternative-country bands like Sixteen Horsepower and the Handsome Family are a welcome change from the highly-polished and produced sound of contemporary popular country music. (4:30)

Nuclear Weapons Dump -- NPR's John Biewen reports on the cleanup of the Hanford nuclear weapons complex in Washington State. The federal government is spending about a $1 billion a year to clean up contaminated soil and contain radioactive waste there. (12:30)

Cancer and Treatment Choices -- NPR's Patricia Neighmond reports on an unusual study that examined whether cancer patients had an accurate idea of their chances of survival and how that affected their choice of therapy. Researchers found that most patients overestimated their survival chances and often chose aggressive treatment that in most cases didn't work, instead of choosing therapy aimed at increasing comfort. Some medical experts suggest doctors need to a better job counseling patients on their true odds of survival. (4:00)

Smoking and Hearing Trouble -- NPR's Wendy Schmelzer reports on a new study which suggests that smokers have poorer hearing than non smokers and that cigarettes may be the culprit behind some late-life hearing loss. The researchers found that smokers are more than one and a half times more likely to suffer hearing loss than those who stayed away from cigarettes. Some scientists speculate that smoke may be toxic to the inner ear's cells or that smoking restricts blood flow to the inner ear just as smoking reduces blood flow to the heart and causes heart disease. (4:00)

Starr Surprise -- NPR's Nina Totenberg talks with Robert about Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's announcement today that he is asking the Supreme Court to hear an appeal of a lower-court decision that compels Secret Service agents to testify about the President's alleged involvement with a former White House intern. Starr also wants the Supreme Court to expedite a hearing on attorney-client privilege issues. Starr's requests come at the same time as news that Monica Lewinsky, the former White House intern in question, has hired a new team of lawyers to represent her. (3:30)

Sprint Announces Integrated Service -- NPR's Jim Zarroli reports Sprint Corp., the nation's #3 long distance company, today unveiled a high-tech phone network the company says will let people make multiple calls, receive faxes and roam the internet at high speeds, all at the same time on a single phone line. (4:00)

Census -- All Things Considered host Linda Wertheimer talks with Martha Farnsworth Riche, the former head of the United States Bureau of the Census. She talks about which groups would benefit and which would suffer if the Census Bureau were to switch to sampling rather than use the traditional methods of counting Americans. (4:30)

Childhood Abuse and the Brian -- Research being reported today at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association suggests that childhood abuse and trauma can have longterm consequences on the brain. NPR's Michelle Trudeau says two studies being presented show that early trauma is associated with physical changes in the brain. Specifically, brain size reduction in key brain areas involved with cognition and memory are found on brain imaging pictures in the victims of trauma or abuse. (4:00)

Poverty and High-Risk Behavior -- NPR's Brenda Wilson reports on new research in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association that suggests there's something about being poor that leads to higher rates of death among the poor. Stress, racism, a lack of control over one's life and other factors may contribute. (3:45)

Nuclear Test and U.S. Intelligence -- An independent investigation has found that U.S. Intelligence failed to predict the nuclear tests by India because American analysts mistakenly assumed that India would not go through with the testing. NPR's Martha Raddatz reports. (4:00)

Satellite Lobbying -- NPR's Peter Overby reports from Capitol Hill that aerospace industry lobbyists are mobilizing to block new restrictions on satellite exports. The lobbyists are playing "catch-up." Just before the Memorial Day holiday, the House passed a provision that would bar U.S. satellite manufacturers from using Chinese rockets. The vote was triggered by revelations that satellite maker Loral Space and Communications Limited admitted passing sensitive information to the Chinese following the explosion of one rocket -- and then received a waiver from the Clinton administration for another launch. (5:00)

Crash Tests -- NPR's Don Gonyea reports from Detroit on today's release of new data from government tests about how sport utility vehicles and light trucks affect the safety of car passengers in an accident. Preliminary crash tests by the National Highway Traffic Satey Administration show that a sport utility vehicle is more likely to cause injuries to people in a car than a minivan or a midsize car. But federal officials say the results so far are inconclusive. (3:30)

Edgar Meyer -- Edgar Meyer is one of the most in-demand bassists in Nashville, playing country, bluegrass, pop, and jazz. He's also a composer who's had his chamber works performed regularly at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Now he's released his first high-profile project -- a string quintet which he composed. It was recorded for Deutsche Grammophon with the Emerson String Quartet. This item is unavailable due to copyright issues.