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Before Survivor and The Real World, reality television began on public TV back in 1973 with the Loud family. The star of the series, An American Family, was 19-year-old Lance, the first openly gay person on TV. Before he died last year, Lance Loud helped the documentary producers create a final chapter for the series. NPR's Susan Stone reports.

NPR' s John Ydstie reports President Bush unveiled his budget blueprint today. The $1.9 trillion budget allows overall discretionary spending to rise by 4 percent, but calls for deep cuts in some programs and the elimination of others. At a briefing this morning, budget officials reiterated the administration's position that projected surpluses leave plenty of room to both boost spending on some programs while cutting taxes by $1.6 trillion over six years.

Scott Horsley of member station KPBS in San Diego reports that California residents may face higher gas prices as a result of a U.S. Supreme Court decision yesterday. The court upheld a patent held by Unocal Corp on the reformulated gasoline that is used in California and in many other urban areas around the country. Now the major oil companies will have to begin paying royalties to Unocal.

NPR's Julie McCarthy reports that on the eve of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's visit to Washington D.C., the British people are curious and anxious about where their country sits on Mr. Bush's list of priorities. The meeting between the two leaders will likely focus on a proposed U.S. missile defense system and foreign policy toward Iraq.

NPR's Guy Raz reports from Bayreuth, Germany, where the Wagner festival is the object of a family battle of Wagnerian proportions. The Bayreuth festival board has ordered 82-year old Wolfgang Wagner, the composer's grandson, to step down as director and yield his position to his estranged daughter Eva. Wolfgang is refusing. Wolfgang's son and niece have weighed in as well. Family feuding aside, critics agree Bayreuth is no longer the premier showcase for the works of opera giant Richard Wagner.

NPR's Vicky O'Hara reports that the role of the United States in Israel's withdrawal from Gaza reflects a different approach to the Middle East from that of the Clinton administration. President Clinton tackled regional issues always in the context of the peace process. The Bush administration feels compelled to make the U.S. position known on various developments. But those reactions seem to be dictated by events themselves rather than the larger goal of reaching a peace agreement.

Jeb Sharpe reports on the development of a new academic field that looks at the meaning of 'whiteness' in a race-conscious society. Scholars and commentators have both welcomed and criticized the arrival of whiteness studies on campus. But interest is growing and within the field some differences of opinion have emerged. What whiteness scholars do agree on is that whiteness conveys privilege so pervasive that it's virtually invisible to its beneficiaries. And this, says scholars, is the "racial problem" that white people must confront.

President Bush often cites "guest worker" programs as one solution to the problem of illegal immigration. Eric Niiler reports from Maryland's Chesapeake Bay about the effectiveness of the commercial crab industry's own guest worker program, where crab processors often have a difficult time finding people to work the crab-picking lines for low wages.

Newly released Pentagon files allege children as young as 8 were detained at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. Human-rights groups requested the files under the Freedom of Information Act. The records came out the same day the Pentagon released its own report on abuse by Navy Vice Adm. Albert Church.

Advisers to the Department of Energy have recommended that the government spend what could be over $1 billion to help the power industry build new nuclear power plants. The report has not been released publicly yet. No nuclear power plant has been ordered and built in the United States since 1973.