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Commentator Joanne Kaufman just got her drivers license -- at age 41. Her ultimate road test was a trip to the drugstore. She talks about what she missed not being able to drive, the freedom it would have meant as a teenager. Driving solo as an adult is a defining moment she wants to tell everyone about, but the destinations and reasons to drive are different.

Host Bob Edwards talks to NPR's Tom Goldman about the opening ceremonies at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Today, an estimated crowd of 110-thousand cheering fans welcomed athletes from around the world as they marched into the newly minted stadium.

NPR's Joanne Silberner reports on political plans to help Medicare recipients pay for prescription drugs. The new Republican proposal would have states use federal money to help low-income seniors.

NPR's Anthony Brooks reports on Republican claims that Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore participated in illegal fundraising activities during the 1996 campaign. Gore ignored the allegations and stuck to his script at a campaign stop in New Hampshire.

Host Bob Edwards talks to reporter Richard Galpin about the latest developments in the investigation of an explosion at the Jakarta Stock Exchange. Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid ordered the arrest of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra the youngest son of ex-dictator Suharto, two days after the deadly explosion that killed 15 people and injured dozens more.

Republican Presidential candidate George W. Bush has sharply criticized the Clinton administration's national defense policy. He says the Clinton White House has undermined the U.S. military and let the defense forces decline. Bush has promised to "re-build" the military. But there are questions about how the candidate would pay for it. Though he has talked about a major upgrade, his actual proposal only involves a very small spending increase. NPR Pentagon Correspondent Steve Inskeep reports.

NPR's Tom Goldman reports on the Opening Ceremonies of the Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. The event ceremony celebrated Australia's rich and strange history, with a lawnmower ballet, displays of horsemanship and tributes to the island nation's Aboriginal history. But it was the selection of Australian sprinter Cathy Freeman, an Aborigine and gold medal favorite, as the final torch bearer, that provided the emotional highlight of the 4-hour event.

All Things Considered Host Noah Adams profiles Olympian David Hearn, eighteen times the U-S national solo whitewater canoe champion. He's in his third Olympics in Australia. He's trained on the Potomac River for twenty-five years. Now, his wife, Jennifer, is one of his coaches. He's 41-years-old, twice the age of many of his competitors. Hearn says that the slalom course imitates a real whitewater river.

Last week All Things Considered asked listeners to call in with questions they'd like answered by the presidential candidates. We took your calls and played them for both the Bush and Gore campaigns, and they gave us their answers. We'll hear from the Gore Campaign's national spokesman Doug Hattaway, and Bush campaign press secretary, Mindy Tucker.

NPR's Mike Shuster reports that US officials say a single Iraqi MIG-25 penetrated Saudi Arabian airspace on Labor Day, the first such incident since the Persian Gulf War. Officials say the incursion took place when several Iraqi warplanes flew into the "no-fly zone" in southern Iraq, a region the US has declared off limits to Iraqi overflights. According to one official, the US chose NOT to retaliate because the administration at the time did not consider the single Iraqi plane to be a threat. The US also suspected Iraq of trying to provoke a confrontation just before the UN millennium summit. Since the December 1998 bombing of Iraq, the administration has resisted engaging in military confrontations with Iraq.