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to yesterday's Israeli elections.

Three top Air Force officials have been relieved of command in connection with the plane crash that killed Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and 34 other people in Croatia. The Air Force says the brigadier general and two colonels responsible for the 86th Airlift Wing have lost the confidence of their commander, because of facts revealed in the probe of the plane crash. The statement does not assign any blame for the crash. The investigation continues. NPR's Martha Raddatz reports on today's developments.

NPR's Neal Conan reports that Congress is considering legislation that would streamline and reorganize this country's intelligence services. This hasn't been done in three decades. Some of the proposals are controversial...especially those that would give the CIA director more authority over agencies that have been under the control of the Secretary of Defense up until now.

Israel will elect its next prime minister on Wednesday. Robert talks with an Arab family from Acre (AY-kr), a coastal city in northern Israel. The Mansour family, and their inlaws, have prospered in the peace that Prime Minister Shimon Peres has celebrated throughout his campaign. While most Arab Israelis vote for obscure leftist Arab parties, Israel's Arab elite generally hopes to maintain the relative peace which is now prevailing in Israel. The Mansour family will likely support Peres in Wednesday's election.

NPR's Steve Inskeep (INZ-keep) reports on the ruins of a Scottish castle that stand on a tiny island in the middle of the Hudson River in upstate New York ... ruins which appear on the misty water like a chunk of debris from some medieval flood. The castle was built as a home and warehouse by Francis Bannerman, a turn-of-the-century weapons dealer. Today, his castle is seen by thousands of commuters in passing trains...and an effort is underway to stabilize the ruins before they collapse into the harbor.

Linda discusses the news that delegates to the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting have approved a boycott of Walt Disney Company products, including their movies and theme parks. The Baptists disapprove of certain Disney policies on homosexual employees and Disney's release of certain films. She talks with Wiley Drake, a pastor of the First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, California, who brought the vote on the boycott to the floor.

The National Academy of Sciences today released a report calling for increased efforts to develop new types of birth control methods. The report says there's been a virtual standstill in developing new contraceptives, even though they are urgently needed. For example, a birth control method that also reduces the risk for sexually transmitted diseases could help stem the spread of AIDS. NPR's Joe Neel explores the status of efforts to develop so-called microbicides. [my-KROH-bih-sides]

NPR's John Ydstie reports that the critical Cockpit Voice Recorder being analyzed at National Transportation Safety Board headquarters in Washington indicates that there was a fire in the passenger compartment of the aircraft before the plane went down.

One year ago, President Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich held an unprecendented joint town meeting in Claremont, New Hampshire. It was described as "cordial", "low-key", and a "love-in", where both leaders talked about the future of the country with little arguing and without raising their voices. They shook hands and pledged to do something about campaign finance reform. One year later, the Claremont resident who asked them to "clean up Washington" wonders why nothing's been done. (2:30)

one of the organizers of a coalition of American Catholics who are attempting to change some of the Church's most established traditions. Though the Pope has proven staunchly resistant to the sorts of changes the group wants to foster -- the ordination of women and the permission of marriage in the priesthood, for example -- the coalition is hoping to influence Church policy in the future by demonstrating grass-roots support now.