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Joshua Levs of member station W-A-B-E reports on the case of James Earl Ray, who was convicted of the assination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Ray pled guilty to the charge of murder at the time, but he has long held that he is innocent and was coerced into the guilty plea by his lawyers. Now Ray is dying of liver cancer and wants to have a trial.

Silicon Graphics, one of the nation's premier computer makers, is admitting that it may have been duped into selling supercomputers to a Russian laboratory that designs nuclear weapons. Edward McCracken, the chairman of Silicon Graphics, says his company "made some serious judgemental errors" when it shipped two small supercomputer systems to Russia. The U.S. Attorney's office in San Jose, CA. has opened an investigation. NPR's John McChesney reports.

Robert Siegel talks to Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz about the tv coverage of the plane crash. Kurtz says there were few if any high points. As of this week there are now TWO all news cable channels - with the birth of MSNBC. The risk of these all news channels - Kurtz points out- is that you have experts and "self-appointed" experts talking and talking with little or no information being imparted - and lots of wild speculation.

The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether President Clinton can be sued while in office for alleged sexual harassment. The justices' action means, for all practical purposes, the case will be on hold until after the presidential election in November. The court will hear Mr. Clinton's argument that presidents have "unique responsibilities" and should not have to deal with private civil suits while in office. NPR's Nina Totenberg reports.

The California state legislature is trying to blunt the effect of a recent state supreme court ruling that gave judges more discretion in handing down mandatory tough sentences to third-time felons. NPR's Renee Montagne reports on efforts by the law's supporters to prove that it's working to reduce crime, and on contrary studies that suggest the law has little to do with what may just be a nationwide downward trend in crime.

The city of Baltimore received a $300 million grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to replace some of its most rundown and dangerous public housing developments. Many of the families who lived in one of these projects, Lexington Terrace, say that even though the buildings were a haven for drug dealers and posed serious hazards to their children, they'll still miss the place they called home. Amy Bernstein reports from Baltimore.

NPR's Joe Palca reports that scientists today are presenting details of the evidence they found that life may have once existed on Mars. A team of researchers led by NASA scientists analyzed a meteorite from Mars that was found in Antarctica. The researchers found evidence of ancient fossilized bacteria-like microbes. Although it's far from conclusive, researchers say it's the strongest evidence yet that life may have once existed on the Red Planet.

NPR's Vicki O'Hara reports on the mounting woes of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The latest blow came earlier this week with the arrest of a senior INS official in Hong Kong. The official, based in Honduras, allegedly was running an operation which was smuggling illegal aliens from Asia through Central America and on to the US. The scandal comes on the heels of charges that INS officials in California and Miami have sought to deceive Congress and the public about their operations.

NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports that Republican presidential hopeful Bob Dole has completed a three-day campaign swing through the upper Midwest, in which he promoted his plan for a $1,000-1,500 a year school voucher program. The proposal is intended to let low- and middle-income students go to private schools if they choose, but critics say it would undermine the already troubled public school system.

NPR's Brooke Gladstone reports on the historic end to a long political struggle over children's television programming. The Federal Communications Commission has approved guidelines that will require broadcasters to air three-hours each week of 'high-quality' educational programming. The new rules -- and last week's commitment by television broadcasters to accept them -- target television that kids might see between the hours of 7 and 10 in the morning.