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NPR's Snigdha Prakash reports that at least 50,000 of the striking Verizon Communications workers are back on the job today as the two-week strike against the largest local phone company winds down. The unions said they were happy with terms of the deal, which gives them better pay and better benefits; more important, from their perspective, the unions have increased their ability to organize the company's wireless and Internet divisions. Analysts say the settlement is being closely watched by telecommunications industry.

Host Renee Montagne talks to Christine Brennan sports columnist for USA Today about the U.S. Olympic gymnastic trials in Boston over the weekend.

Joe Smitherman is running for his 10th consecutive term as mayor of Selma, Alabama. He has been mayor since 1965. Smitherman once referred to Martin Luther King in very unflattering terms and was an unabashed racist. He says he has reformed. NPR's Debbie Elliott has a profile of this southern leader from another era.

NPR's Melissa Block reports from Hannibal, Missouri on the Gore-Lieberman campaign. The Democratic candidates have been making stops, giving speeches, and fielding questions along the Mississippi River since their convention ended last week.

Robert talks with Masha Lipman, Deputy Editor of Itogi Magazine -- Newsweek's Russian edition -- about public dissatisfaction with President Putin 's handling of the submarine crisis. Television footage of Putin riding on a water scooter at a resort during the crisis angered many people. But Lipman says it's too soon to tell whether this could be a problem for Putin politically.

Montana writer Mary Clearman Blew is better known for her memoirs and essays than for her fiction. But our book reviewer Alan Cheuse finds her collection of short stories, Sister Coyote, well worth the reading. (2:00) Sister Coyote, by Mary Clearman Blew is published by The Lyons Press.

A small development for gays and lesbians in Florida -- the first in the nation -- may be the edge of a new trend, retirement communities for gays where they don't have to stay "in the closet."

High School student Melanie Thomasson says when she hears the kids she used to baby-sit playing baseball outside on a summer night, she realizes she's lost her summers to obligations and activities.

Host Renee Montagne talks to Irish Times Reporter Chris Anderson about the latest developments in Northern Ireland. British troops and police have stepped up patrols in Belfast after three killings this week. Authorities suspect that all three killings are the result of sectarian feuding.

NPR's Mike Shuster reports that Mexico's President-elect Vicente Fox is on a two-day visit to Washington to present his proposals on trade, immigration and drug trafficking. Fox defeated the ruling party's candidate, President Ernesto Zedillo, in a July election. He supports opening borders as a way of addressing illegal immigration and helping to develop Mexico's economy. US business and labor leaders are unenthusiastic, but President Clinton has said he wants to hear more about Fox's ideas before expressing an opinion. In addition to visiting President Clinton, Fox met with Vice President Gore and plans a similar session tomorrow with Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush.