July 31, 1998 All Things Considered (entire program) Requires the RealAudio Player

An index of the day's stories:

ECONOMY OF STRIKE -- Linda talks with Terri Nichols, the business reporter for the Flint Journal. They discuss how striking United Auto Workers union members spent their time during the recent strike against General Motors. Some got temporary jobs; some lived off their savings; and others took out home equity loans and spent the time off with their children. They also talk about how the downtime affected the economy of Flint. (4:00)

BOSTON BENEFITS -- Acting Massachusetts governor Paul Cellucci says he won't sign a bill to extend health insurance benefits to unmarried partners of city of Boston workers, because he says it undermines family values. He claims that his opposition is not based on the fact that the bill would extend benefits to gays and lesbians, but because he says it discourages marriage among heterosexual couples. NPR's Anthony Brooks reports. (4:00)

CA HEALTH PLAN -- California is one of the first states in the country to start trying to provide health insurance for children of working-poor families. It's part of the federal government's 24 billion dollar plan to cover some of the 11 million children without insurance. In California, the program is meeting only limited success - state officials are finding that people either don't know or are afraid to sign up. Marit Haahr (MAR-it HAR) reports. (4:45)

IMMUNIZING MOM -- Commentator Amy Dickinson on how she admires Monica Lewinsky's close relationship with her mom. Dickinson is also close to her mom - but she fears now that Monica's mom has "transactional immunity," own her mother will want it, too. (3:00)

FORMER HOSTAGE -- NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports from Paris on a meeting between Barry Rosen, one of the hostages seized in 1979 at the American embassy in Tehran, and Abbas Abdi, one of his captors. The meeting came amid moves toward U-S/Iranian reconciliation. When Rosen and Abdi appeared at a press conference, however, it was apparent the two sides still harbor ill will. (4:00)

KS GOP -- Laura Ziegler reports that Tuesday's gubernatorial primary in Kansas pits the incumbent Republican governor against the chairman of the state GOP. The race is a reflection of deep divisions within the state's Republican party, between moderates and the Christian right. In recent years, the politically active right has succeeded in sweeping congressional and state legislative races, but a strong economy has made incumbent governor Bill Graves extremely popular. (6:30)

CAPITOL POLICE FUNERAL -- We'll hear excerpts from the eulogy delivered today at the funeral of U-S Capitol Police officer Jacob Chestnut, who was killed a week ago in a shootout at the Capitol building. Chestnut was buried today at Arlington National Cemetery. (1:30)

FATSIS FRIDAY -- Linda talks with Stefan Fatsis, who reports for the Wall Street Journal and talks with us about sports each Friday. This week, they discuss the events at the 85th annual Tour De France bicycle race. The 24-hundred mile road race wraps up in Paris on Sunday. As Stefan explains, this premier race will end with its reputation in question due to allegations of drug use by many cyclists. (4:00)

LOLITA -- Director Adrian Lyne (LINE) has made a career making mainstream films with erotic subject matter. He's has hits with movies like Fatal Attraction, Six Weeks, and Indecent Proposal. However, his new film version of the novel Lolita was unable to find a Hollywood distributor in the United States. The film will now be shown Sunday on the Showtime cable network. Critic Ken Tucker says Lyne's Lolita lacks the sexual drive of his other films. (4:00)

TRUTH COMMISSION -- NPR's Charlayne Hunter-Gault reports from Cape Town that the man who headed the South African apartheid regime's chemical weapons program testified today to South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Wouter Basson (WOO-ter ba-SAHN), dubbed "Doctor Death," denied earlier testimony that the program sought to poison Nelson Mandela while he was in prison. He also denied allegations made by other scientists that he led research into a drug to sterilize blacks and bacteria that would kill only blacks. (4:30)

PR DRUGS -- NPR's Phillip Davis reports that Colombian cartels are turning increasingly to smuggling cocaine through Puerto Rico as a way to get the drug to the U-S mainland. The traffickers are responding in part to stepped up interdiction measures along the U-S-Mexican border. The island is becoming a favorite of the cartels because it's a U-S possession, so shipments coming from Puerto Rico to the mainland are not subject to Customs inspection. A joint interdiction effort called Frontier Lance is trying to nab the drug shipments before they reach the island. (6:00)

JAPAN PM -- The CBC's Peter Hadfield reports that Keizo Obuchi, the new Japanese Prime Minister, has pledged to shore up Japan's economy for the sake of the nation, Asia and the world. Obuchi also said that he was not going to be able to solve all of the country's problems on his own. (1:30)

VACUUM DECAY -- You've heard of a "tear in the space-time continuum" and seen Hollywood predict the end of the world by asteroid impact. But there's something much, much worse out there...vacuum decay. It's a concept theoretical physicists say is possible: a cosmic-ray collision somewhere that creates a bubble within which the laws of physics change. The bubble expands instantly, and everything disappears. NPR's Ivan Amato reports on the potential end of the universe as we know it. (6:30)

BURRITO -- Our burrito-obsessed commentator Peter Fox continues his quest to find the origins of the burrito. Today's installment finds him in Tijuana, Mexico, at a bowling alley long famous for its jerky-style meat burritos. (2:00)

THE MEANING OF WATER -- Noah travels to the southwest corner of Nebraska, to Dundy County and the town of Benkelman. A farming community of 1200, Benkelman's economy depends of agriculture -- and successful agriculture depends on rain. It's been a dry spring and summer in Benkelman, and that impact will be felt by nearly everyone in the town. (13:00)

OUT OF THE DUST -- Linda talks with Karen Hesse (HESS), the author of the children's book "Out of the Dust," which received this year's Newbery Medal, which is annually awarded by the American Library Association for distinguished contributions to the field of children's literature. It's a collection of vignettes tracing a young girl's coming of age in the Dust Bowl. Hesse reads from the book and talks about her inspiration for the stories. (STATIONS: "Out of the Dust" is published by the Scholastic Press.) (7:15)