July 15, 1998 All Things Considered (entire program) Requires the RealAudio Player

An index of the day's stories:

Russian Duma Meets -- NPR's Mike Shuster reports from Moscow that the Russian parliament has begun debate on the government's new economic austerity measures. The package of legislation is aimed at reforming tax and spending policies, so that the government can reduce its enormous deficit. The reforms are crucial to success of the financial rescue package negotiated this week with the International Monetary Fund. The reforms will be painful, and many lawmakers are secretly hoping that President Yeltsin will ram them through by decree, relieving the deputies of the need to cast politically unpopular votes. (4:30)

Market Records -- All Things Considered host Robert Siegel talks with Jeremy Siegel, a professor of finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. They discuss the stock market's surge into record-high territory this week, despite warnings of an inevitable correction in the market. He talks about who's investing, and other factors involved in the rise of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. (4:00)

Minority Broadcasting -- NPR's Barbara Bradley reports from Washington that the coming of digital television is the latest in a series of legal and regulatory setbacks for minorities in television and radio. Since digital television broadcasts take up a significantly larger amount of the broadcast spectrum, low-powered stations could ultimately be forced off the air due to lack of space in the airwave bands. Many of these low-powered stations are minority-owned and may feature foreign-language programming. There's concern that already-underserved segments of the population such as immigrants and minority members could find themselves with no place to turn for programming geared toward their special interests and needs, as larger companies buy up the rights to the remainder of the spectrum and consolidate their stations. (7:30)

Flood Management -- After spending billions of dollars building dams, levees and dikes to control the flow of rivers, floods are costing the country a record $8-billion a year in damage. Even the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is deciding a new approach to flood management may be in order--although changing the methods employed by the Corps won't happen overnight. Kathy Witkowsky reports. (7:15)

Urban Growth -- Nancy Solomon of member station KLCC in Eugene reports that twenty years ago, Oregon became the first state to try to control suburban sprawl by creating urban growth boundaries around its cities. The move has helped revive some of the decaying parts of the cities, but not everyone has been happy. (5:15)

Pistol Packin' Preacher -- Noah talks with Willie Ramsey, a preacher at the Church of Christ in Somerset, Kentucky. They discuss a new state law which allows clergy to carry concealed weapons in church. The law went into effect today. (4:15)

McDonalds Co-Founder Dies -- Noah talks with Ronald McDonald, the nephew of Richard McDonald, one of the founders of the McDonald's fast-food restaurant chain. McDonald died on Tuesday at the age of 89 in New Bedford, New Hampshire. McDonald opened the first McDonald's hamburger stand with his brother, Maurice, in the late 1940s in San Bernadino. Richard McDonald came up with the company's trademark "Golden Arches" and the "Millions Served" slogan. The brothers later sold the chain to entrepreneur Ray Kroc, who built the company into a multi-billion dollar restaurant empire. (3:30)

Patients' Rights -- GOP leaders today unveiled their plan to give managed-care patients the right to appeal the decision when a request for treatment is denied. It would also make health insurance fully deductible for the self-employed. But it would not involve the government in the enforcement of its patient provisions. President Clinton says without that enforcement, patients' rights would be meaningless. NPR's Mara Liasson reports. (4:00)

Social Security -- NPR's Steve Inskeep reports from Washington on the release today of a General Accounting Office report cautioning that raising the retirement age to bolster the financial viability of Social Security would impose serious hardships on blue-collar workers. Although successive generations of workers are healthier, the GAO report says that extending the working lives of manual laborers could exacerbate injuries and increase burdens on disability compensation programs. (3:15)

Reno In the Senate -- NPR's Chitra Ragavan reports from Washington on Attorney General Janet Reno's appearance today before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Committee members asked Reno about the Justice Department appeal of last week's federal Circuit Court decision that Secret Service agents must appear before the Grand Jury investigating President Clinton. Senators also asked about Reno's decision to not name a special counsel to investigate allegations of campaign finance infractions. (4:30)

Star Formation -- NPR's Joe Palca reports on two papers in the current issue of Nature that suggest stars and galaxies may have formed much sooner after the Big Bang than previously thought. The reason astronomers didn't see these stars was because they are obscured by dust. But a new instrument on a telescope in Hawaii can "see" the energy coming from the dust, and astronomers infer that the dust is glowing because of stars forming behind it. (3:45)

Light-Emitting Diodes -- NPR's Ivan Amato reports on the new enthusiasm for light-emitting diodes in everything from buses to floor lighting in theaters. Created in a crystal, light from an LED is sharper and comes on faster, making it popular for tail-lights; the Washington D.C. Metro subway system is installing them now. Engineers say LED will probably replace the incandescent lights indoors and out, and save energy as well. (4:30)

International Criminal Court -- Robert talks with David Scheffer, the chief U.S. delegate to the United Nations conference in Rome that has been convened to try to establish a permanent world court. Scheffer talks about U-S opposition to the compromise proposal for an international criminal court that would try the people responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. In short, American lawmakers would be opposed to a court that could have authority to prosecute American citizens or military members. (6:00)

Schorr Commentary -- NPR senior news analyst Daniel Schorr says that the struggle to draft a treaty creating an international war crimes tribunal has gone off-track. Concerns over jurisdiction and the possibility of creating a court that could sit in judgment of American military actions are likely to derail the plans. He says that Americans are about to engender a huge amount of ill-will toward what the rest of the world will all-too-readily perceive as American arrogance. (3:00)

Camel Trophy -- Commentator Melanie Goldman describes her preparation for the "extreme sports" competition known as "The Camel Trophy": a three week competition involving skiing, snowshoeing, kayaking, and mountain biking. It starts next month and Goldman will be covering the events for an online magazine. (3:30)

Texas Heat -- Noah talks with various people from around Texas, where most of the state has been suffering with a steady string of days where temperatures have topped 100 degrees. He talks to Steve Saldana of Christian Senior Services in San Antonio. He says his organization has delivered thousands of fans to needy seniors during this heat spell. Noah also talks to Odie Breyer, who owns B & B Construction in Houston about the challenges of roofing and road work in extreme heat, and to a bicycle messenger D. Braham who's been coping with the heat and ozone while on the streets of Dallas. (7:30)