February 18, 1997

    All Things Considered
    (entire program)


    • While the President and his cabinet continue to push for the education initiatives announced in the State of the Union message, there are already signs of disagreements among members of the education community in the fine print. As Claudio Sanchez reports, some educators are uncomfortable with the degree of federal involvement suggested by the plan. For example, the federal government could require certification of those students who have a B average so that they may qualify for federal tax benefits. (7:30)

    • Nina Totenberg reports that the Supreme Court ruled today that the three-year deadline for getting tax refunds from the Internal Revenue Service cannot be waived because the person who made the tax overpayment was mentally incompetent. The case involved taxpayers from Arizona and Hawaii, including one woman who found after her father's death that he had overpaid $7,000 while he was suffering from senility. (3:30)

    • Robert talks to LaDonna Pavetti, a Senior Research Associate at the Urban Institute. She is one of the authors of two recent studies on welfare-to-work programs. She says that no more than 20% of welfare recipients can enter the work force without extra training or special accommodations. (8:00)

    • Michael Skoler reports from Kinshasa on growing calls in the Zairean capital for the government to open peace talks with Tutsi-led rebels. Since the uprising began last fall, the insurgents have captured a huge portion of eastern Zaire, and many supporters of President Mobutu Sese Seko have no faith in the government's poorly-disciplined army. So far the government is spurning calls for dialogue, saying it is pursuing a purely military solution. Officials claimed Zaire's air force carried out more bombing runs against rebel-held towns today. (4:30)

    • A former Clinton administration official who is being investigated for possible illegal fundraising activities now faces new allegations. John Huang appears to have raised more than 150,000 dollars for the Democratic National Committee while he was on leave of absence from his job at the Commerce Department. That would violate the Hatch Act, which forbids political fundraising by federal employees. Peter Overby reports. (3:00)

    • Daniel Schorr says that Kenneth Starr's announcement that he's leaving his post this summer has created a flurry of speculation as to the implications for President and Mrs. Clinton. (2:45)

    • Eric Westervelt reports on closing arguments in the murder trial of multimillionaire John du Pont. du Pont is charged with killing Olympic wrestler David Schultz at his estate where he had been training for competition in Atlanta. Defense attorneys urged jurors to find du Pont innocent by reason of insanity. (2:00)

    • Author Patrick Chamoiseau's home island of Martinique was irrevocably changed by the abolition of slavery over a century and a half ago...and the migration of former plantation slaves to the city is the focus of his novel. Originally written in a mixture of French and Creole, it won France's most prestigious literary award -- the Prix-Goncourt --in 1992, and has just been translated into English. Alan Cheuse has a review. (2:00)

    • Edward Lifson reports from Brussels on a new proposal to soften Russia's hard-line stand against NATO expansion. United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright today proposed that NATO and Russia develop a joint military brigade. She also suggested that Russia join NATO in a meeting with potential new alliance members before the formal invitation is extended to those new countries in July. (3:30)

    • Robert talks with Lionel Barber, European Union correspondent for the Financial Times, who writes about foreign affairs and issues regarding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. They discuss the recent proposals for the expansion of NATO, and why those nations that oppose the growth of NATO do so. (4:15)

    • Michael Goldfarb reports from London on a murder case that has stirred up a debate about the role of newspapers in British society. The Daily Mail last week printed the pictures and names of five white youths it said killed a young black man four years ago. The newspaper dared the five to sue the newspaper on charges of libel if the charge is untrue. (4:15)

    • A growing number of corporations have taken steps in recent years to adopt so-called "family-friendly" policies. But organized labor has been sitting on the sidelines and hasn't pushed for policies that relieve stress on the homefront. David Molpus reports that's starting to change, but ever so slowly. (7:30)

    • Linda talks with Mark Roberts about this week's hearings in the Oklahoma City bombing case. Jurors won't show up for another six weeks, but the pretrial hearings, which will determine in part what the jurors will and will not hear, began today. Timothy McVeigh is charged with murder, conspiracy and weapons charges in the April 1995 bombing that killed 168 and wounded hundreds. (4:00)

    • Vicky Que reports on a experimental plan by the federal government to pay New York medical schools not to train new doctors. The government says the nation already faces a growing doctor surplus and that medical schools must stop training so many doctors now -- and it's willing to pay them hundreds of millions of dollars to do so. (4:00)

    • Wendy Schmelzer reports on a study showing that taking estrogen supplements late in life may be just as effective in preventing osteoporosis as it is right after menopause. But doctors still aren't sure exactly how long estrogen therapy can be delayed. (4:30)

    • Christopher Clark, director of the bioacoustics research program at Cornell University, about a global network of undersea microphones built by the U.S. Navy to spy on enemy ships and submarines during the cold war. The hidden network of microphones called SOSUS, for Sound Surveillance System, has been utilized since the early 1990s for oceanographic research. Clark is a whale expert who says the microphones have opened a new world to him. (7:45)