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Nearly six months into the longest talent strike in Hollywood history, negotiators for actors and the advertising industry have announced a tentative agreement on a new contract. NPR's Rick Karr reports.

Richard Galpin of the BBC reports that the former head of the Indonesian armed forces, General Wiranto has released an album of love songs. He says the money it raises will be used to help the victims of violence across Indonesia, including in East Timor. General Wiranto was named by the National Human Rights Commission as being morally responsible for the violence in East Timor last year.

South Carolinians vote November 7th on whether to have a state lottery. The idea is touted by Democratic Governor Jim Hodges as a boost for education. Thirty-seven states have lotteries. But the idea gets a mixed response in the Bible Belt: Georgia and Florida have one. Alabama defeated a proposal last year. In South Carolina, lottery proponents face opposition from church groups and black leaders. NPR's Adam Hochberg has the story.

Commentator Joe Loconte warns that supporters of religious freedom and supporters of abortion right are on a collision course over laws that require contraception be included on health insurance policies for state or federal employees. These laws pit a belief opposing contraception and abortion against a requirement to provide means to both. Loconte argues that these new laws are a violation of basic civil liberties.

NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports in the past 3 presidential elections, the Pacific Northwest has voted Democratic. This year however, the region is up for grabs. Both Al Gore and George W. Bush have made numerous stops in both Oregon and Washington, and more are planned.

Noah is joined by best-selling novelist, Barbara Kingsolver, author of Prodigal Summer. They discuss how Kingsolver researches the settings and characters of her novels. This one is set in southern Appalachia - a place that the novelist knows well. Kingsolver says she must spend a considerable amount of time getting to know the character and rhythm of a location before writing about it. Kingsolver has also written The Poisonwood Bible, The Bean Trees, Animal Dreams, and Pigs in Heaven. (7:45) Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver, is published by Harper Collins, October 2000, ISBN # 0-06-019965-2.

Texas Governor George W. Bush has expanded his presidential campaign team to include a squad of his fellow Republican governors. The governors rallied with Bush in Kansas City today before fanning out across the country to campaign for the national GOP ticket. Bush told a cheering crowd that the Clinton-Gore administration has been an obstacle to reform at the state level, because it defended a dominant policy-making role for Washington. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports.

No issue has divided the two major party presidential candidates more sharply than Social Security. Vice President Al Gore campaigns on guaranteeing current benefits for retirees and those who will soon retire. Texas Governor George W. Bush stresses the need to provide for younger workers by investing some Social Security funds in the stock market. And each candidate accuses the other of pitting one generation against another. NPR's Steve Inskeep reports.

Linda talks to Birger Haraldseid, a spokesperson for the Norwegian subsidiary of the Haliburton Corporation about his company's salvage efforts on the sunken Russian submarine, Kursk. The bodies of Russian sailors have been trapped inside the Kursk since it sank in August. The plan is for Haliburton divers to begin bringing the bodies to the surface this week, but bad weather has been complicating the operation.

NPR's Kenneth Walker in Abidjan reports an opposition candidate is claiming a surprise victory in Sunday's presidential election in Ivory Coast. Laurent Gbagbo says he has defeated Retired General Robert Guei who came to power in last year's military coup.