October 12, 1998 All Things Considered (entire program) Requires the RealAudio Player

An index of the day's stories:

BUDGET EXTENSION -- Robert talks with NPR's Mara Liasson about continuing negotiations between the White House and congressional Republicans over spending bills needed to keep the government running. Funding runs out at midnight tonight, but Congress is planning another two-day stopgap measure to allow negotiators to work out differences over education funding, the International Monetary Fund, the census and other issues that have divided the two parties all year long. (4:30)

POLLING -- NPR senior news analyst Daniel Schorr has some thoughts about polling. He says politicians on both sides of the aisle have a history of misreading the public mind, often with serious consequences. (3:15)

CLEANING UP THE KEYS -- More than 2 weeks after Hurricane Georges blew through the Florida Keys, the electricity is back on and the tourists are coming back. But for hundreds of residents of Big Pine and Cudjoe Keys, life is nowhere near back to normal. Many lost their homes and everything they owned when Georges hit. They have no place to live and are still eating in soup kitchens set up by the Red Cross and local churches. NPR's Cheryl Devall reports. (4:00)

NOBELS IN MEDICINE -- Three Americans won the Nobel Prize in medicine today for their discovery that the body uses nitric oxide gas to make blood vessels relax and widen. This finding has helped in the development of the impotency drug Viagra and could also have implications for treating heart disease. Drs. Robert Furchgott, Ferid Murad, and Louis Ignarro will split the nearly one million dollar award. (3:30)

DEATH IN RESTRAINTS -- Robert talks with Eric Weiss, a reporter with the Hartford Courant, about a series of reports in his paper about deaths among mentally ill and mentally retarded patients held in restraints. While there are no national statistics on this matter, the Courant found 142 cases in which a patient died in restraints or as a result of restraints. Weiss says there may be many other undocumented cases. (4:30)

COLORADO HOUSE RACE -- NPR's Mark Roberts reports that Republicans think they have a good chance of winning back a congressional seat in Colorado's 2nd district, after 24 years. Their candidate is a moderate Republican and former mayor of Boulder. But the Democrats also think they have a good chance of holding onto the seat of retiring Rep. David Skaggs with their candidate, state representative Mark Udall. (6:00)

COLORADO PRAIRIE DOGS -- Conservationists want to classify the prairie dog an endangered species in the Southwest. Ranchers cannot understand why.They say here are millions of the critters poking holes in the prairie that injure livestock and generally making a nuisance of themselves. From Colorado Public Radio, Kelly Griffin reports. (6:30)

WYOMING STUDENT DIES -- Bob Beck of Wyoming Public Radio reports prosecutors may file first-degree murder charges against two men arrested for the beating and robbery of a gay University of Wyoming student. Matthew Shepard died this morning - five days after he was beaten and tied to a fence in near-freezing temperatures outside Laramie, Wyoming. The crime has drawn national attention and galvanized efforts in Wyoming to pass a hate crimes law. (2:30)

MYTH OF COLUMBUS -- Robert talks to American History Professor Michael Kammen of Cornell University about the status of Christopher Columbus throughout this nation's life. Kammen is author of "The Mystic Chords of Memory." Kammen says during colonial times, Columbus was hardly ever referred to. After independence, Columbus and Columbia were used to replace the symbol of the British king. But Columbus was later scorned, when Irish catholic immigrants -- who were seen as a menace -- started arriving in the 1840s. He says the symbolic figure "Columbia" was seized upon as a reference to Columbian voyages and adventures, without acknowledging the man himself. (5:00)

KOSOVO TALKS -- Robert talks with NPR's Sylvia Poggioli about the three days of marathon talks between US special envoy Richard Holbrooke and Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic to avert threatened NATO air strikes. Holbrooke has now flown to Brussels to report to NATO leaders. Serb media indicated that the two sides were close to reaching an agreement, but that important issues still needed to be clarified. (4:30)

NEGOTIATIONS -- NPR's Martha Raddatz talks with Robert about how Richard Holbrooke and Slobodan Milosevic are indulging in a negotiating pas-de-deux that each has gone through before in Bosnia. The two men are tough negotiating adversaries who know and respect each other. (4:00)

BORIS OUT OF COMMISSION -- NPR's Michele Kelemen reports that Russian President Boris Yeltsin was forced to cut short a state visit to Central Asia because of his health. Presidential aides say he was merely suffering from a respiratory infection and a slight fever. But there is speculation that the Russian president, who had a multiple heart bypass operation two years ago, could be seriously ill. (3:30)

INDONESIA POLICY -- NPR's Ted Clark reports that with Indonesia's economy in a nose dive, US policy makers are seeking ways to bolster confidence in Indonesia and its new leadership. (5:45)

THE RAND MATTER -- Commentator Elissa Ely describes a scene in a courtroom in which an old man obtains legal guardianship of his wife who is no longer able to care for herself. (2:00)

LANCE ARMSTRONG -- NPR's Tom Goldman reports on the surprising comeback of Lance Armstrong. Armstrong, the best-known American bicycle racer other than Greg LeMond, finished fourth yesterday in the road race competition at the World Championships in the Netherlands. Armstrong also finished fourth in the world championship time trial several days before, and fourth at the Tour of Spain in September. It's been a remarkable six-weeks for Armstrong, who two years ago was diagnosed with testicular cancer and given a 50 per cent chance of surviving. (3:30)

HOUSE OF DAVID TEAM -- Benton Harbor, Michigan recently celebrated "George Anderson Day." Anderson is 88 years old, and the sole surviving member of the House of David baseball teams, which is part of an obscure religious sect. The teams barnstormed from the 1920's into the 50's, often playing Negro League teams. George Anderson hit against Satchel Paige for over 25 years. Anderson also toured Europe 1950's played exhibition basketball against the Harlem Globetrotters. (5:15)

THE MIGHTY -- Critic Bob Mondello reviews The Mighty, a film based on a young adult novel about two adolescent outcasts. (3:45)

EVENING -- Commentator Alan Cheuse reviews the latest work by writer Susan Minot. The novel is called "Evening" and is the story of a woman's journey through memory and time. (2:00) (Published by Knopf)

TAINO INDIANS -- Half a century after they first greeted Christopher Columbus, the Taino, the indigenous people of the Caribbean, were virtually extinct as a people. Now a rare archaeological find -- a Taino village preserved in the shallow waters off a small Cuban fishing village -- is yielding an abundance of knowledge about who they were and how they lived. Reporter Sally Watt has a profile of who the Taino were. (5:30)