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Scott and Weekend Edition sports commentator Ron Rapoport discuss major league baseball's aggressive recruitment of foreign players and what that suggests about the future of sport.

- Andrea De Leon (Ahn-DRAY-uh DAY-LAY-OWN) reports on the Senate Primary campaign in Maine, which was held this week. Republicans in the state cast ballots for Susan Collins, John Hathaway, and Bob Monks - who were fighting for the seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Senator William Cohen. Many people in Maine considered the campaign to be one of the nastiest in the state's history. A week before the primary, two newspapers reported that candidate Hathaway had been investigated for allegedly having sex with an underage girl. Hathaway accused candidate Bob Monk of leaking the story to the press. Candidate Susan Collins - who stayed out of the dispute - won the primary with more than 50-percent of the vote.

Derrick Ward reports on yesterday's "Stand For Children" ally in Washington. Organized by Marian Wright Edelman and the Children's efense Fund, the event drew some 200,000 people to the mall.

Susan talks to Harry Goode, a cattle farmer in England who is using his cows to sell ad space to a variety of companies. Goode came up with this gimmick after the ban on British beef was implemented due to fears that some of the cattle may have mad cow disease. Eight of Goode's cows have had billboard like ads placed on their backs which passersby can see from the interstate that runs close to Goode's pastures. He charges advertisers 100 pounds per day and even America's Ben and Jerry's ice cream has bought an ad.

NPR's Anne Garrels reports from the presidential campaign trail in Russia. Polls indicate Russian President Yeltsin is ahead, but no one trusts those polls, least of all the Yeltsin campaign.

Linda talks with the author, A. S. Byatt, about her latest book, "Babel Tower" (BAY-bl). This is the third novel in an ongoing series, and Byatt says she had intended to write a novel about family life and group behavior, but the novel also became a portrait of swinging London in the 1960s. There are myriad literary and popular culture references, and there are other narratives and fictional works embedded in the novel -- including another novel called Babble Tower, trial transcripts, poems and fairy tales.

Linda and Noah read from listeners' letters. To send letters please write to LETTERS-ATC, 635 Masschusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20001, or by E-Mail to ATC@NPR.ORG.

Linda talks with Tom Boatner (BOHT-nur), a firejumper from the Bureau of Land Management based in Fairbanks, Alaska. Right now he's in Houston (HYOO-stun), Alaska. As many as 100 homes and an estimated 7,000 acres have burned in this fire which is believed to have started on Sunday. More than 300 firefighters, supported by firefighting aircraft, are now working to contain the blaze which is being fueled by forty mile-per-hour winds.

The House voted today to increase the minimum wage by ninety cents. The vote was a victory for Democrats who gained the support of moderate Republicans for the proposal. The same coalition voted down a Republican amendment that would have exempted businesses earning more than half a million dollars a year -- and would have included most of the fast food restaurants and retail stores that pay the minimum wage. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports.

Who decides what's conservative and what's not? Commentator Mickey Edwards says this year it's the real conservatives who will make the decisions for the party .... instead of those intolerant self-proclaimed conservatives who've been speaking for the rest of the party.