June 17, 1998 All Things Considered (entire program) Requires the RealAudio Player

An index of the day's stories:

GM Strike -- NPR's Don Gonyea reports from Detroit on how General Motors is weathering the two strikes at key parts plants in Michigan. The strikes have slowed GM production considerably and could soon cost the carmaker up to $500 million a week in lost profits. But analysts say GM is willing to hold out for weeks in order to gain concessions from union leaders that GM feels are needed to remain competitive in the global automobile market. (5:00)

Tobacco Bill Update -- Senate Republicans say they've made no decision on the fate of the tobacco bill. At a meeting today in Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott's office, there was some discussion on procedural ways to kill the bill. But chief sponsor John McCain says that Republicans also discussed ways of moving the bill to a vote. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports. (4:00)

Civics 101 -- NPR senior news analyst Daniel Schorr says that while senators make up their minds about whether to pass or kill tobacco reform legislation, they are changing the bill to include everything from child care to tax breaks. (2:30)

Salton Sea Birds -- NPR's Carrie Kahn reports on the deaths of thousands of birds at California's Salton Sea. Pollution and agriculture have severely deteriorated the quality of the lake's water -- which provides a crucial resting point during the migration of many North American birds. (8:00)

Can NATO Act in Kosovo? -- NPR's Tom Gjelten reports on the challenge NATO faces as the alliance plans its next steps on Kosovo. NATO governments say they are not satisfied with the declaration Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic made yesterday in Moscow, and NATO military commanders are continuing their preparations for possible military action around Kosovo. But the NATO members are sharply divided over whether the alliance can act without a United Nations mandate. The debate focuses on NATO's role and function outside its own territory, and the discussion is crucial to the future of the alliance. (4:30)

Cyclone Aftermath -- NPR's Michael Sullivan reports on the aftermath of a tragedy: the killer storm that washed over the western region of Gujarat in India late last week. The storm wiped out an entire community of very poor people who'd made their living harvesting salt from sea water. While aid workers burn piles of bodies, the government says it's investigating reports that the community was not warned of the approaching storm. The official death toll is about 1,000, but aid workers estimate the dead to be at least 5,000 -- or possibly even double that. (5:30)

Lambie -- Commentator Elissa Ely, her husband, daughter, and toy Lambie attend a conference on human values in medicine, where a lesson in compassion is learned when Lambie is lost. (3:00)

Commencement Speeches -- We sample some commencement addresses from various colleges, high schools, elementary schools, and kindergartens around the country. We'll hear from the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Bill Richardson, speaking at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque; presidential advisor Erskine Bowles, at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, at the University of California at San Diego, among others. We hear both conflicting and thematically related words of advice for 1998 graduates. (8:00)

Bolstering the Yen -- NPR's John Ydstie reports that the U.S. and Japan sold dollars and bought yen today in a bid to shore up Japan's weakened currency. The intervention seemed to help as the yen continued a rebound that began before the action began. Analysts said the intervention wouldn't work in the long-run unless Japan follows through with economic reforms it has promised. (4:15)

Heart Disease Treatment -- NPR's Patricia Neighmond has the latest on treatment for mild heart attacks. A study published in tomorrow's New England Journal of Medicine concludes that doctors are being too aggressive when treating these patients. It finds that slightly more than 50 percent of people who suffer mild heart attacks do not need surgical procedures such as heart bypass, but instead can be treated with medication. (4:30)

Baseball Deaths -- NPR's Joe Palca reports on rare but lethal baseball accidents among young children. Each year, a few children die when they are struck in the chest by baseballs. A scientist has now studied these incidents and concludes that there is a very short period of time during the normal heartbeat cycle -- measured in thousandths of a second -- when a blow to the chest can be fatal. It has to do with children's soft bones and other factors, he says. The study is published in tomorrow's New England Journal of Medicine. (3:00)

Issue Ads -- NPR's Steven Rosenfeld reports on a dispute over hog farms in North Carolina that led one group to spend its money on so-called issue ads, leading to the re-election defeat of a state legislator. Issue ads have become an increasingly popular way for interest groups to evade campaign spending restrictions, and they are almost impossible to control because of freedom of speech concerns. (6:45)

Big Bertha Update -- The United States Golf Association announced today that it will not declare any golf clubs that have already been approved for tournament use illegal. The USGA intends to establish more specific standards for golf equipment, but all approved clubs already meet those standards. A meeting will be held in the fall to explore the issue further. (:45)

Iowa Flooding -- Mark Moran of member station WOI reports from Ames, Iowa, on the continuing rain and flooding in southwestern Iowa. Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes in the town of Hamburg, where the National Guard helped residents build a sandbag barrier along a cresting river. Officials there hope the worst is over. But the forecast calls for more rain, and the ground is already saturated with water. (2:30)

Florida Wildfires -- NPR's Cheryl Devall reports that since Memorial Day, the state of Florida has been plagued by more than 70 wildfires. No one has died so far, but battling the fires has stretched the state's fire-fighting resources and led to restrictions on such activities as outdoor fires and lawn watering in the affected areas. (3:00)

Red Cross Volunteer -- She's 92, volunteered in World Wars 1 and 2, and ever since. A profile of Lillian Weiler, a busy, dedicated, charming woman who has been volunteering for the American Red Cross since 1913. NPR's Melissa Block visited her and filed this report. (7:00)

Paris Architecture Flap -- Sarah Chayes reports from Paris on a new development project -- the city's biggest in more than a century. Artists in the neighborhood near Austerlitz station are fighting construction of unbroken blocks of office buildings. They are demanding that their neighborhood be preserved as a mixed-use district in which the nineteenth-century warehouses they now occupy will be integrated into the new environment. (4:30)

World Cup Rhythms -- Charles de Ledesma reviews some of the music associated with the Brazilian national soccer team. After beating Morocco in its second World Cup outing Tuesday night, Brazil's team earned itself a place in the World Cup's second round. No matter where the Brazilian team travels, Brazilian fans are always in the stands chanting, singing and encouraging their team to victory. A collection of these Brazilian soccer songs are compiled on a new CD by Grupo Batuque. (Note: Grupo Batuque's CD is called "Samba De Futebol," and is available on Farout Records. (3:00)