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Veteran broadcaster Robert Trout recalls The Senator Was Indiscreet, a little remembered motion picture that cast a cynical look at the political process. The film talked about the balancing act between the press, public relations and politics. Actor William Powell played an inept senator with presidential ambitions. He had a secret diary that threatened to derail him. The story by George S. Kaufman never caught on with audiences. But Trout says there's a lot of cold-hearted wisdom in this movie comedy that we can still learn from today. It deals with patronage and pride in ways that were meant to be an exaggeration at the time. But after Spiro Agnew, Wayne Hayes, Watergate and the like, the film seems like a celluloid crystal ball.

NPR Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg previews arguments in a Supreme Court environmental case with major implications for local governments and federal regulators. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wants to say 'no' to a proposed land fill in the Chicago metropolitan area because of its potential damage to migratory birds. Municipal governments say the Corps doesn't have jurisdiction because the wetlands are entirely within Illinois borders. The Corps says it's enforcing the Clean Water Act. Arguments will be heard today.

NPR's Julie McCarthy reports from London on the worst storm to hit Britain in a decade. Heavy rain and high winds swept across southern England and northern France causing numerous flight delays and major disruptions at airports and ground transportation. So far at least three people have been killed.

Host Renee Montagne talks to reporter Mathew Moore of the Sydney Morning Herald, about the 11th Summer Paralympic Games. Approximately four thousand disabled athletes participated in the events that ended yesterday bringing to an end to two months of sporting extravaganza in Australia.

Robert and Linda observe the recent travel by the presidential candidates -- indicating which states are still hot contests.

Those ticker tape parades are getting to be routine for the New York Yankees. Kerry Nolan of member station WNYC reports that thousands of New Yorkers lined Broadway's Canyon of Heroes to cheer on the Yankees, who have won four of the past five World Series. Yankee fans considered this year's triumph especially sweet, because it came over the cross-town rival Mets, and because the team had been playing poorly at the end of the season.

Texas Governor George W. Bush began the final full week of the presidential campaign in the West today, trying to pry loose the biggest prize of all -- California and its trove of 54 electoral votes. Polls show the race tightening on the West Coast, where Bush has been outspending Vice President Al Gore in recent weeks. Gore now plans a return visit of his own to the state this week. NPR's Andy Bowers is based in Southern California and has been following the presidential campaign.

Voters in 44 states will elect new legislatures next Tuesday. Although most of the campaigns revolve around local issues like traffic and sprawl, the outcomes are of great importance to both national parties. The state legislatures will draw the boundaries for new Congressional districts next year, giving them the power to erase or augment the gains made by either party in next Tuesday's election. NPR's Pam Fessler went to Blue Bell, Pennsylvania to see how the national attention on the race was affecting one close contest for the state Senate.

The first resident crew of the International Space Station is scheduled to lift off at 2:53 a.m. E.S.T. Tuesday in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The first crew to live aboard the International Space Station includes U.S. Astronaut Bill Shepherd, who will serve as station commander, Soyuz Commander Yuri Gidzenko and Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalev. NPR's Joe Palca says the crew will spend four months on the station, checking out equipment, and helping to install new station parts that were delivered by the space shuttle.

Linda talks with Paul Christian, Chief of the Boston Fire Department about three fires over the weekend in South Boston that destroyed ten apartment buildings -- known in Boston as "triple deckers." The fires were whipped by strong winds, and nearly all of the city's fire fighting forces were brought out in response.