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President Clinton today signs legislation that will make it easier for people to keep their health insurance. Linda talks with NPR's Joanne Silberner about what the new law is, and is not, designed to accomplish.

The Department of Education today released its annual report on the demographics of the nation's schoolchildren. The number of students is at an all-time high, prompting concerns that school construction is not keeping up with the "baby boom echo," the increase in students resulting from many baby boomers having children later in life. NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports.

NPR's Cheryl Devall reports that Illinois Senator Carol Moseley-Braun is defending her recent visit to Nigeria against criticism from Randall Robinson of the African lobbying group TransAfrica and the human rights group, Amnesty International.

In Brazil, the government of President Fernando Cardoso is addressing the issue of police violence. In recent years, Brazilian police have killed scores of innocent civilians in the course of their battle against drug dealers and other criminals. But NPR's Nina Teichholz reports the government is facing opposition from a legal establishment that learned its draconian methods of maintaining order during the country's days of military dictatorship.

NPR's Richard Harris reports that the Defense Department says it is starting to refocus its investigation of illnesses among Gulf War veterans as a result of recent revelations that some troops may have been exposed to chemical weapons during clean-up efforts after the war. The Pentagon's top doctor, Steven Joseph, says the realization is "a watershed" in trying to understand the mysterious ailments. The Pentagon now presumes some soldiers have been exposed to chemical weapons, though no illnesses have been clearly linked to the chemicals.

yesterday the two countries expelled one of each other's diplomats...

Commentator John Rosenthal recalls going to a lot of weddings in the 60's-- thats when he first got started as a photographer and always offered to take the pictures for free-- He notes the strange reasons people decided to hook up in those days and how fleeting some of the marriages were.

Commentator Jim Wallis says during election season, the poor do not exist---they don't have political clout or power---even though how we treat the poor is really the best test of how we define ourselves as a community. Wallis says both candidates ignore the poor and therefore ignore the growing economic divide between rich and poor in this nation...a divide that can only lead to other great societal ills.

The public university system in Minnesota is trying to change the tenure system. Martin Kaste [KAH-stee] of Minnesota Public Radio reports that some professors are trying to unionize to fight the changes, but others fear a union could bring as many restrictions as the proposed tenure changes.

NPR's David Molpus reports that one of the major issues facing this country, racial division, has rarely been addressed in this year's presidential election. Although the candidates touch upon the issue in oblique ways, through discussions of affirmative action, immigration and jobs, neither has talked directly about how to bring together the nation's diverse population.