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High School student Melanie Thomasson says when she hears the kids she used to baby-sit playing baseball outside on a summer night, she realizes she's lost her summers to obligations and activities.

NPR's Mike Shuster reports that Mexico's President-elect Vicente Fox is on a two-day visit to Washington to present his proposals on trade, immigration and drug trafficking. Fox defeated the ruling party's candidate, President Ernesto Zedillo, in a July election. He supports opening borders as a way of addressing illegal immigration and helping to develop Mexico's economy. US business and labor leaders are unenthusiastic, but President Clinton has said he wants to hear more about Fox's ideas before expressing an opinion. In addition to visiting President Clinton, Fox met with Vice President Gore and plans a similar session tomorrow with Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush.

Robert and Noah read letters from All Things Considered's listeners. (3:30) To send a letter write to "Letters," All Things Considered, National Public Radio, 635 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC, 20001 or send e-mail to ATC@npr.org.

Host Renee Montagne talks to Judi Bailey, President of Northern Michigan University in Marquette about the Thinkpad Initiative, a new program that provides laptops to all students at the university.

Amy Tardif of member station WGCU in Fort Myers reports on changes in Florida's fire inspection laws. Schools are now required to be inspected by fire marshals, but there's not been enough time to get all schools up to code.

An important amendment to yesterday's story on the CBS Survivor show.

Host Renee Montagne talks to Irish Times Reporter Chris Anderson about the latest developments in Northern Ireland. British troops and police have stepped up patrols in Belfast after three killings this week. Authorities suspect that all three killings are the result of sectarian feuding.

Host Renee Montagne talks to reporter Richard Galpin about the resurgence of violence in East Timor. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees suspended operations in West Timor after three of its workers were severely injured in an attack by pro-Indonesian militias.

Claudio Sanchez reports on the latest results of a 30-year survey of nine, thirteen, and 17-year old American students. The report, which looks at reading, math and science scores, shows today's students are doing better in math than students did 30 years ago. Performance is mixed in reading and science. The survey finds the academic gap between boys and girls has virtually disappeared. It says the gap between white and minority students closed for a while, but has started to open up again. The report also says a much greater percentage of today's students are taking tough courses, such as calculus, than students did 30 years ago.

NPR's Mary Ann Akers reports on reactions of the victims' families as the investigation of the TWA 800 crash comes to a close.