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NPR's David Welna reports on the tragic death of Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan, the Democratic nominee running in a hotly-contested Senate seat against incumbent Republican John Ashcroft, who perished in a plane crash, along with his son and a campaign adviser. Carnahan's death robs the Democrats of one of their best chances at picking up a Senate seat. But more importantly, it robs a state of a very popular public official, and it darkens the mood as the presidential candidates hold their final debate tonight in St. Louis.

NPR's Pam Fessler reports President Clinton, survivors of the U.S.S. Cole explosion, victims' families, and military officials gathered for a memorial service in Norfolk, Virginia, today. Attendees cheered the survivors, who arrived by ambulance. The president said service members like those on the Cole, prevent war by "standing guard for peace." He said the U.S. will find the terrorists who bombed the Cole, and justice will be done.

Researchers from Yale and Brown Universities report in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association that they have measured the actual brain volume of children who were born prematurely, using M.R.I. scans once the children reached eight years of age. They found that the earlier the premature birth, the more insult to the brain, resulting in a related decrease in I.Q. test scores. It's a first step towards quantifying how much delayed brain development affects intelligence. NPR's Michelle Trudeau has the story.

We'll hear how drug lords try to keep their profits in the third part of a series on the illegal drug trade by reporter Deborah Amos. Dealers accept a certain amount of trouble with the law as a part of the business. It's keeping the money that counts, and that means finding ways to hide it and transport it. There's more at http://www.npr.org/news/specials/drugwars/.

NPR's John Nielsen reports on the plan by several of the largest multi-national corporations to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. The newly formed "Partnership for Climate Action," aims to identify gas emissions and voluntarily cut back on them. The plan is based on the idea of 'emissions trading systems,' which allow manufacturers to buy and sell the right to emit certain global warming gases. The plan will be monitored by the watchdog group, Environmental Defense. Other environmental groups are skeptical about such market-based methods of reducing pollution.

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.

Missouri voters have picked the winning candidate for President more often than any other state in the union. They've only gotten it wrong once in the past hundred years. But this year, how Missourians will vote is in question: popular Democratic Governor Mel Carnahan died in a plane crash earlier this week as he was campaigning for U.S. Senate. Now it's unclear who voters will be electing if they mark their ballots for Carnahan ... and that may hurt Vice-President Gore. NPR's David Welna reports

A type of genetically modified corn called "StarLink," which has not been approved for human use, has found its way into human food supplies in Iowa. Noah talks to Steve Dinnen, a business reporter and columnist for the Des Moines Register, about the hunt for "StarLink," to make sure it doesn't get used in food for people. Star Link has been approved for animal and industrial use, but has some characteristics common among human allergens. FDA regulations do not allow it to be tested on human subjects.

NPR's Rob Gifford reports that Secretary of State Madeline Albright made a historic trip to the capital of North Korea today. She met for three hours with the country's leader, Kim Jong-Il. Tensions between Washington and Pyongyang have been decreasing steadily, especially since North and South Korean leaders met in June for their first summit. U.S. officials say if the talks today and tomorrow produce progress on issues such as North Korea's missile program, President Clinton could visit North Korea before he leaves office.

Laura Haydon reports that as Ireland has been transformed from an impoverished rural society to a booming information economy, the Irish are attending church less and sending fewer young men into the priesthood. This apparent decline in religious devotion is reflected in the falling numbers of pilgrims to Lough Derg, a remote outpost in northwest Ireland, where Saint Patrick is believed to have had a vision of heaven and hell. To draw worshippers back, the Church is now offering pilgrims the option of attending a one-day retreat, rather than the traditional arduous three days of fasting, walking barefoot and going without sleep.