October 27, 1998 All Things Considered (entire program) Requires the RealAudio Player

An index of the day's stories:

Urban Sprawl -- NPR's John Nielsen reports on one of the emerging campaign issues this year -- sprawl. For many environmentalists, sprawl has become the bête noire of the movement; Sierra Club members regularly give a "tour de sprawl" to highlight the voracious way development eats up farmland and wildlife habitat. But the economics of building new homes and highways is as complex and obdurate as any problem environmentalists have faced. (6:00)

Idaho Initiative -- NPR's Howard Berkes reports that next month's vote for the head of a local highway commission in Idaho has turned into a referendum on growth in the city of Boise. The normally rather obscure commission is stopping major development until developers build roads to accommodate the growth they generate. (6:00)

Assisted Suicide -- Oregon Public Radio's Colin Fogarty marks the first anniversary of Oregon's physician-assisted suicide law. Despite state attempts to monitor use of the law, critics say there is too much secrecy surrounding assisted suicides. One indirect impact, however, is an increased focus on pain relief for terminally ill patients. (4:00)

Hurricane Mitch -- All Things Considered host Linda Wertheimer talks with Major Douglas Lipscombe, a flight meteorologist with the Hurricane Hunters from Kessler Air Force base in Biloxi, Mississippi. He flew into the eye of the category-4 Hurricane Mitch on Sunday. The extremely powerful storm is now headed for Central America. Lipscombe tells about what he saw on his flight -- a solid wall of clouds almost 50,000 feet high in a very well-developed eye pattern. He says that this indicates the storm is now fully mature, and he looks for it to weaken soon. (4:00)

Arizona Campaign Finance -- NPR's Steven Rosenfeld reports from Phoenix on an initiative appearing on Arizona ballots next week calling for public funding of state political campaigns. The proposal would require candidates to give up private funding in exchange for stringent spending limits. Proponents say public funding of campaigns would relieve politicians of obligations of major donors, but opponents say the measure would unfairly limit opportunities to support candidates. (4:45)

Illinois House Race -- With a week to go, some Democratic strategists are claiming that the momentum is on their side in the march towards Election Day. But one place where the party is clearly worried is the 17th congressional district in Illinois, where veteran liberal Congressman Lane Evans is fighting for his political life against a Republican opponent he struggled to defeat two years ago. NPR's David Welna reports. (7:45)

Pink Shoes -- Commentator Bob Morris tells a story about taking his three-year-old nephew out to buy shoes one day -- and talks about his reaction to the child's expressed preference for pink shoes. (3:00)

Stereo Headphones -- November will mark the 40th anniversary of the development of stereo headphones. Linda talks with John Koss, the man who invented the headphones. He was a young jazz musician looking for a better way to listen to music when he got the idea for stereo headphones -- and his invention changed the way that people listen to and use music. (4:30)

Kosovo Deadline Passes -- NPR's Edward Lifson reports from Belgrade that Yugoslav authorities have withdrawn substantial numbers of army troops and special police units from Serbia's Kosovo province. Ethnic Albanian civilians have responded by returning to their homes. By ordering the pull-out of forces, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic met conditions set by NATO to avoid air strikes. The alliance had threatened military action to pressure Milosevic into halting attacks on Kosovo's ethnic Albanian population. (3:30)

U.S. Policy in Kosovo -- NPR's Tom Gjelten reports that U.S. officials are deeply relieved that NATO did not have to follow through on its threat to carry out air strikes in Serbia. The way is now clear for the deployment of up to 2000 international observers in Kosovo. But the United States and its allies still face immense challenges in Kosovo, and some critics say the strategy for dealing with the conflict is seriously flawed. (5:00)

Yeltsin's Health -- NPR's Michele Kelemen reports the health of Russian President Boris Yeltsin is again the focus of attention in Moscow. The president cancelled a trip to Austria and checked himself into a sanatorium outside the capital. Aides say he's suffering from general exhaustion after a recent bout of bronchitis, but critics say he's more seriously ill and should call it quits. (3:30)

Senior Space Camp -- NPR's Joe Palca visits a space camp for senior citizens in Kansas. Their inspiration? John Glenn's scheduled return space this week -- at the age of seventy-seven. These elder astronaut wannabes may never end up in space -- but they can dream. (7:00)

U.S. v. Microsoft -- NPR'S John McChesney reports Justice Department attorneys today introduced more internal e-mail from Microsoft executives in order to bolster their claim that Microsoft tried to divide the market for Internet browsers with a rival. The Justice Department and 20 states have charged Microsoft with using its monopoly position in computer operating systems to intimidate rivals and drive out competition in the market for internet browsers. It remains unclear whether the videotaped testimony of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates will be introduced as evidence and shown in court today. (4:00)

Abortion Violence -- NPR's Anthony Brooks reports on the aftermath of the murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian by an anti-abortionist sniper. Physicians around the country have volunteered to come to western New York to help provide abortions. But some in the field say the murder could accelerate a trend in the decline of doctors who provide abortions. (4:30)

Brain Cells Regenerating? -- Linda talks with Frederick Gage of the Salk Institute about the possibility that the brain can regenerate its cells, contrary to long-held medical opinions. He says this discovery can possibly change the way scientists battle diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's; the causes may prove to be failure of the brain to produce new cells, rather than the degeneration of old ones. (4:00)

Insurance Settlement -- NPR's Adam Hochberg reports a Richmond, Virginia jury has ordered Nationwide Insurance to pay $100 million to a local housing group for refusing to sell homeowners policies to black residents. The verdict could influence insurance sales in urban neighborhoods around the country. (3:15)

Leg-Hold Traps on Californian Ballot -- All Things Considered host Noah Adams talks with John McCaul, the California legislative director for the Audubon Society, and Wayne Pacelle, the senior vice-president of the Humane Society of the United States, about an initiative on the California state ballot that would ban the use of steel-jawed leg-hold traps. Pacelle says that the ban is a good idea; McCaul says that the traps are necessary to protect other kinds of wildlife from the predators that are being trapped now. McCaul says that other kinds of traps, while more humane, are simply not effective. (4:00)