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NPR's Changing Face of America series continues with a report on managing workplace stress. Increasingly, workers have less time for family, for their communities and for themselves. Some companies, though, are trying to change that. For example, Merck, the New Jersey-based pharmaceutical corporation, is redesigning the way work gets done and providing amenities to reduce workplace stress. NPR's David Molpus talks to people who are trying to cope with the demands of work and life. (8:15) More info at: http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/001002.cfoa.html.

Steve Young of Vermont Public Radio reports on the turmoil in that state's politics, since the state legislature voted to approve civil unions. Governor Howard Dean, a once-popular Democrat who had been a shoo-in for re-election, has come under heavy criticism from an anti-civil union movement called "Take Back Vermont." Even if Dean survives, his fellow Democrats in the legislature, who constitute a majority, may not. The anger may last beyond Election Day.

NPR's Rob Gifford reports from Pyongyang that Secretary of State Albright's trip to North Korea this week afforded a rare glimpse of the isolated country and its grinding poverty. Women in a rural area were seen sweeping up precious grains of rice from the roadway, evidence of the country's on-going food shortage. And in the capital, medical personnel in the freezing cold main hospital were forced to use beer bottles to construct intravenous systems. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il in recent months has been reaching out to western countries, possibly because of the country's need for economic assistance.

The Democrats need only seven seats to recapture control of the House. But they have an uphill fight on their hands to retain the seat of Congressman Michael Forbes of New York. Forbes, who switched to the Democratic party last year, was upset in last month's Democratic primary by a 71-year old political unknown. Republicans, who had vowed revenge against Forbes for his party switch, appear poised to pick up the seat. Beth Fertig of member station WNYC reports from Long Island.

NPR's Gerry Hadden reports Mexican authorities have begun evicting some foreign residents, including Americans, from their homes on a disputed piece of the Baja peninsula, a coastal area just south of California. The Mexican Supreme Court has ordered that the land be returned to a Mexican company, saying that the company was wrongfully stripped of the land almost 30 years ago. The high court acknowledged that the foreign residents were unaware of the title problem when they built their homes, but said they still must vacate. Authorities gathered in force to carry out the order and changed the locks as soon as the foreign residents had left. The U.S. Consul General in Tijuana says some 350 households have received eviction notices.

NPR's Robert Siegel reports from Madison, Wisconsin on efforts by Al Gore and Ralph Nader to woo the same left-wing voters. Wisconsin has been solidly Democratic in the last three presidential races. But there, as in a handful of other states, the three-to-five-percent of the vote that polls show Nader may win could be enough to give George Bush a victory. Siegel talks to people in both the Gore and Nader camps, as well as Democratic voters who turned out to hear Al Gore yesterday and Nader supporters who turned out to protest Gore's appearance.

Beijing is prosecuting some of China's high and mighty in a huge corruption scandal, based in Xiamen. Already there have been death sentences handed down in number of cases, and more are expected. NPR's Rob Gifford reports on the case of a Chinese man, arrested in Vancouver and held in a Canadian jail on immigration charges. Political leaders in Beijing say he is the most prolific smuggler in modern Chinese history. They have requested that he be extradited to China. Canada is worried about the case, because the man could be executed if returned to China. But Chinese officials are concerned because the suspect, who's name is Lai Changxing, has tales to tell about corruption at the highest levels of government.

NPR's Mike Shuster in Jerusalem reports a car bomb exploded in Jerusalem today, injuring one person, just two days after rightwing leader Ariel Sharon won a sweeping victory in Israel's election for Prime Minister. Sharon is now consulting with the Labor Party of his defeated rival, Ehud Barak, in a bid to form a national unity government. Sharon might have to moderate some of his right-wing views to ensure Labor's participation. That has some of Israel's West Bank settlers uncertain about what approach Sharon will take to their presence in the occupied territories.

Phillip Davis reports that 14 year old Lionel Tate was sentenced today to life in prison without parole. Lionel was convicted in January of first degree murder in the 1999 death of a playmate, who died as Lionel imitated the violent wrestling shows he liked to watch. Broward County judge Joel Lazarus imposed the mandatory sentence after refusing to reduce the verdict to a lesser charge. He described the murder of 6 year old Tiffany Eunick as "callous and indescribably cruel." Defense attorneys said they would ask Gov. Jeb Bush to commute the sentence.

In the third part of his series on the oil century, John Burnett reports that high technology has reinvented the oil and gas industries. Companies can now find oil in places once considered impossible, such as deep beneath the ocean. They also can use high-tech instruments to find oil in spent and all but forgotten places, such as the Spindletop oil field. The new wildcatters say oil supplies may be finite, but the reach of knowledge is infinite. (12:30) More information and previous audio segments can be found on our Spindletop feature page, which accompanies this series on the oil and gas industry.