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NPR's John Burnett reports on the case of Cesar Fierro, a Mexican national who is on death row for killing an El Paso taxi driver. Fierro confessed to the crime - but now, even the prosecutor in the case admits that the confession was coerced. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that the error was harmless, and Fierro's chances at a new trial are remote.

When he was sixteen, Commentator Bill Harley worked at a seafood restaurant. He says learned about race, class and privilege when an angry cook hurled a baked potato at him.

In the sixth of a series of summer commentaries about minor league baseball called Play by Play, NPR's Neal Conan profiles one of the players... a man who has spent the last 14 years trying to make it in baseball.

Host Bob Edwards talks to scholar Richard Newman about this week's page one apology by The Hartford Courant for its role in the slave trade. In the 1700s and early 1800s, the paper ran ads for slave sales and published notices by the owners of runaway slaves. Newman does research at the WEB Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research at Harvard University. He says the Courant's apology is a sign that white Americans are becoming more aware of slavery's lingering effects.

NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports on efforts by Amtrak to increase business in face of the threat of losing their government subsidy in two years. Amtrak is introducing a new program designed to get travelers who have had a bad travelling experience to give the train service a second chance.

NPR's Larry Abramson reports on a news conference held today in Washington by groups planning to hold demonstrations at the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. The groups, under an umbrella organization called the "R2D2 Coalition," were behind the WTO and World Bank protests earlier this year.

Liane speaks with author and regular Weekend Edition essayist Tim Brookes about his book A Hell of a Place To Lose a Cow: An American Hitchhiking Odyssey (National Geographic). In 1998 Brookes retraced the steps of a hitchhiking journey he first undertook in 1973 aged 20, shortly after he arrived in the United States from England.

NPR's Peter Kenyon reports on the race for a Senate seat in Rhode Island. Following the death last year of longtime Republican Senator John Chafee, Democrats hoped to pick up a seat in this largely-Democratic state. But now Chafee's son, Lincoln Chafee, who is filling out his father's term, appears to be a strong candidate to win it himself.

Scott speaks with Weekend Edition's sports commentator Ron Rapoport about the European sports season, which include the Tour de France and Wimbledon.

Venus Williams beat defending champion Lindsay Davenport on Centre Court at Wimbledon today, to become the first black female to win there since 1958. Host Jacki Lyden talks to Robin Roberts of ABC News and ESPN about Venus' game and the significance of her win to young black athletes. Tomorrow, Williams joins younger sister Serena in Wimbledon's Doubles Championship match. Jacki also talks to 27 year-old Carla Perona of Compton, California, about her memories of watching the Williams sisters learn their game on the city's public courts.