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The soccer mom personified the swing voter in the last presidential election. This time everyone's talking about the "working waitress." Governor George W. Bush uses the example of the waitress to describe his tax cut. Vice President Al Gore attacks Bush's tax plan and recalls his own mother's working days as a waitress. Scott Horsley reports on how the candidates' competing tax plans would affect a real working waitress.

Michele Kelemen reports from Moscow that a fire raged for more than a day in the city's television tower, leaving at least two people dead. The blaze caused considerable damage to the structure -- the world's second tallest tower -- and nearly all television service to the capital has been cut. The fire -- coming just after a bomb blast in Moscow and the sinking of the submarine Kursk -- has prompted more talk about Russia's crumbling infrastructure.

NPR's Pam Fessler reports on decision-making by state election officials across the country about which of the two Reform Party candidates to recognize on their presidential election ballots. Both Patrick Buchanan and John Hagelin claim to be the real Reform Party candidate. This dispute -- which has some 12-point-6 Million dollars in Federal funds ((ed: *NOT* "Federal matching funds")) riding alongside it -- will wind up in courts across the country before election day.

NPR's Martin Kaste reports from Cartagena, Colombia, on President Clinton's visit today. The President wants to show support for Plan Colombia, which aims to end Colombia's 40-year cycle of political and criminal violence. The U.S. will provide nearly a billion dollars toward the plan, much of it in military aid. Human rights groups are worried that the plan will contribute to even more violence against civilian populations.

NPR's John Nielsen reports on the controversy over a type of genetically altered corn that's fed to livestock. The corn has not been approved for human use, but may have found its way into the food supply. It's one of eight varieties of genetically modified corn seed currently on the market and contains a substance called krinine c (KRIGH-nine.see), which can trigger allergic reactions in humans.

Marcie Sillman from member station KUOW reports that the fate of a 93-hundred year old skeleton known as Kennewick Man is still in limbo. The Clinton Administration says the bones should be returned to the five tribes who claim them...but eight Oregon scientists have taken the case to federal court.

From South Dakota, Charles Michael Ray reports on the seizure of 4-thousand industrial grade hemp plants from land on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Federal agents took the plants last month even though hemp was legalized by the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council as a cash crop. The council claims it's their sovereign right to grow hemp on tribal lands. Federal officials disagree.

In a report from Podgorica, NPR's Sylvia Poggioli says Serbian State TV tonight broadcast word that opposition candidate Vojislav Kostunica finished first in Sunday's presidential election. But, the Yugoslav State Election Commission said Kostunica did not win an outright majority and will have to face President Slobodan Milosevic in a run-off. The opposition insists Kostunica won well over 50-percent of the vote and denounced the government's call for a run-off.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports from Jerusalem that two months after the Camp David summit broke down without an agreement, Israel Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat have met again to talk about peace. The meeting comes as the public debate is both camps has centered on formulas about how authority in East Beirut could be divided, something that was a taboo subject only weeks ago.

C.J. Hunter, the world champion in the shot put and the husband of sprinter Marion Jones, has tested positive for steroids. As NPR's Tom Goldman reports, US track officials were aware of Hunter's test result in mid-August but kept it confidential. Now that it has been disclosed in the middle of the Olympics, the news could become a major distraction to Jones in her pursuit of five gold medals.