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NPR's David Welna reports on the tragic death of Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan, the Democratic nominee running in a hotly-contested Senate seat against incumbent Republican John Ashcroft, who perished in a plane crash, along with his son and a campaign adviser. Carnahan's death robs the Democrats of one of their best chances at picking up a Senate seat. But more importantly, it robs a state of a very popular public official, and it darkens the mood as the presidential candidates hold their final debate tonight in St. Louis.

Frank Browning reports on the number two cancer killer in America -- colon cancer. More than 45-thousand Americans die from it every year. A study in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association confirms that screening people over 50 for colorectal cancer saves lives. Malignancies are detected earlier, at a more treatable stage. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health and several private groups have launched an aggressive colon cancer prevention campaign. But it's been difficult to get people over 50 to get tested.

NPR's Mandalit Del Barco reports that both sides have reached a tentative agreement in the month-long public transit strike in Los Angeles. If the union and transit authority ratify the accord, buses could be back on the road tomorrow.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden in Jerusalem reports it is too early to tell whether the latest Israeli-Palestinian agreement will put an end to the bloody clashes in the West Bank and Gaza. The two sides have sharply intensified their propaganda war over the past two-and-a-half weeks.

Despite an air crash that claimed the life of Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan last night, the two major presidential candidates decided to hold their debate tonight in St. Louis as planned. Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush are each taking time to remember Carnahan during the 90 minute meeting, which features a town hall format. NPR's Steve Inskeep reports.

As part of an effort to air stump speeches on Wednesdays this election season, All Things Considered plays a portion of Democrat Al Gore's speech in Cedar Rapids, Iowa last week. Gore said that even though we are living in a time of great prosperity, more needs to be done for those left behind -- to help improve education for all children, to provide good health care coverage for all people, to ensure that seniors can afford their prescription drugs. Gore said under his administration, he would use the prosperity to help everyone, not just the wealthy.

NPR's Martin Kaste reports that prosecutors in Argentina are trying to bring to trial members of the former military government who participated in kidnapping the children of "the disappeared." The disappeared were political dissidents who were taken away and later killed during the era known as the "dirty war." Grandmothers of the kidnapped children have conducted an exhaustive campaign to identify kidnap victims and re-unite them with their blood relatives. Prosecutors cannot file murder charges against former military leaders because of a general amnesty, but the amnesty does not cover wide-scale kidnapping of children.

All Things Considered Host Linda Wertheimer traveled to Missouri to talk to voters about their views on the candidates. Today she talks to a group of older white men about their thoughts on the last debate. The encounter doesn't seem to have swayed their support for George W. Bush.

In the third and final debate last night, presidential candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore presented radically different cures for the issues that ail America. For Democrat Gore, the answers lie in policy, and on issue after issue Gore said he disagreed with his opponent. Republican George W. Bush took different tack. He argued that the real difference was who could be trusted, who could get things done, and he pointed to his record in Texas. In marshalling evidence to support their divergent views, both candidates occasionally stretched the truth. NPR's Peter Kenyon sets the record straight.

NPR's Linda Gradstein in Jerusalem reports there were sporadic clashes in the West Bank and Gaza today, the day after the Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to work toward ending the violence. But in a development that could re-ignite the unrest, Israel Radio reports security forces have arrested some of the Palestinians suspected of taking part in the mob killing of two Israeli soldiers in Ramallah last week.