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Scott Horsley of member station KPBS reports on aggressive trial lawyers who've sued the tobacco and gun industries and are now considering class action lawsuits against health maintenance organizations, drug makers, and liquor distillers. One such attorney is Dick Scruggs from Mississippi, who led the suit that won a 246-billion-dollar settlement for the states against cigarette makers and a 400-million-dollar fee for himself. Supporters of such lawsuits say they help reduce corporate irresponsibility Some critics say they're motivated by greed; other critics say that legislatures, not courts, should make social policy

NPR's David Welna reports on the 20th anniversary of the Mariel Boatlift, the massive wave of immigration from Cuba to Florida in 1980. Over a five-month period, 125-thousand Cuban refugees left Cuba from the port of Mariel, and traveled to the United States in small boats. Processing the huge influx overwhelmed the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The INS task was even harder because the refugees included convicted criminals who had been released from prison and mental patients freed from institutions.

NPR's Eric Weiner reports from Sydney on Australia, the Olympic medal powerhouse. Per capita, Australia wins more Olympic medals than any other country and one reason is its Institute of Sport, created after the country's dismal Olympic performance in 1976. The Institute's laboratories have the latest technology. Sports physiologists closely monitor athletes' immune systems, and the Institute administers aptitude tests to almost all high school students in the country. Critics say the system resembles the old East German program. Supporters say it's the only way Australia can compete against countries like China and the U.S.

Al Qaeda's former leadership may have been dispersed and disrupted by U.S attacks in Afghanistan, but the extremist organization could well be regrouping in parts of the Middle East and Central Asia. This information comes from Gen. Tommy Franks, head of U.S. Central Command. To contend with this more scattered threat, Franks said today that the United States has some 800 land and sea based troops in Djibouti and other parts of the Horn of Africa. Eric Westervelt reports from the Pentagon.

NPR's Phillip Davis reports Florida's race for Governor is a tight one. Democrats vowed from the minute Al Gore lost the presidency that Jeb Bush would pay for it. They are hoping the residual anger from 2000, plus the overcrowding of school classes, will propel Bill McBride to victory. But Governor Bush is running a tight campaign, with far more money in the bank than his opponent.

NPR's Andy Bowers reports that a fight in Nevada County, California, over a November ballot measure could energize the growing national property rights movement. The initiative, known as Measure D, would expand on the constitutional requirement for the government to pay residents for any property it takes from them. Measure D says even if the government doesn't actually take that property, but only restricts its use, it has to pay.

Jad Abumrad reports on a recent controversy at Columbia University's Journalism School that has sparked a larger debate over the future of the news business. The university's new president Lee Bollinger has questioned the hands-on emphasis of the school's curriculum, concerned that skills training may be denying students exposure to the theory-driven side of journalism. But faculty insist that they offer students a complete education, and argue that the climate in today's professional press make practical training a must.

A Russian man seriously injured in a 1998 auto accident arrives in the United States to sue an American diplomat. Alexander Kashin was paralyzed after Douglas Kent, then U.S. consul general in Vladivostok, slammed into his car. The U.S. State Department refused to lift Kent's diplomatic immunity. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

NPR's Michele Kelemen reports on the significance of the latest audiotape message from Osama bin Laden. U.S. experts believe it was the voice of Bin Laden on the Arabic language tape which aired yesterday on the al Jazeera television network. Until now, some experts had believed the al Qaeda leader was killed by U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

NPR'S DAVID MOLPUS REPORTS ON OSEOLA (oh-see-OH-lah) McCARTY OF HATTIESBURG (HAT-eez-berg), MISSISSIPPI, WHO IS BEING HONORED TONIGHT AT A DINNER OF THE CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS IN WASHINGTON, D.C. MS. McCARTY, WHO DROPPED OUT OF SCHOOL IN THE 6TH GRADE, IS FUNDING SCHOLARSHIPS AT HER HOMETOWN UNIVERSITY WITH PREFERENCE GIVEN TO AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN FINANCIAL NEED...A GIFT OF AT LEAST 150-THOUSAND DOLLARS COMING FROM A WOMAN WHO SPENT 75 OF HER 86 YEARS CLEANING AND IRONING OTHER PEOPLES' CLOTHES.