Search results for

As senators campaign hard for positions in the new Senate leadership line-up, members of both parties are pessimistic about their ability to achieve any substantive legislation in the rest of this Congress. There's no indication that the squabbling over the minimum wage and the gas tax will be resolved, while legislation on welfare, Medicaid, immigration, campaign finance reform, and insurance reform remains unfinished. NPR's Peter Kenyon reports.

accelerated the race to name his successor as majority leader. The leading candidates are Majority Whip Trent Lott, his fellow Mississippian Thad Cochran, Oklahoma Senator Don Nickles, and Pete Domenici of New Mexico. Dole's decision to step down has given new life to his presidential bid, but it could prove costly to the Republican Senators in this election year.

to the Clinton administration's threat to impose punitive tariffs on products imported from China, while others worry about Chinese retaliation.

NPR's Daniel Schorr discusses Bob Dole's big adventure with San Francisco Chronicle political editor Susan Yoachum and American Enterprise Insitute scholar Norman Ornstein.

Scott talks over the details of the Plessy vs. Ferguson case with New Orleans writer Keith Medley.

Liane speaks with Conor O'Clery, Washington correspondent for the rish Times newspaper about the state of the peace process in Ireland. Elections ollowed by negotiations are scheduled to begin in a few weeks. British prime inister John Major made some moves this past week to encourage the Irish epublican Army to reinstate the cease-fire they abandoned earlier this year

NPR's Mike Shuster reports that after many false starts, Iraq has finally agreed to the terms of a UN plan that allows Iraq to sell 2 billion dollars in oil over six months. Iraq could use the hard currency to buy food and medicine. The deal does not mean an end to the sanctions, however.

Commentator Paul Durrenberger muses about conspiracy theories in our country, theories that involve topics from who controls the weather to who controls powerful businesses.

Scott remembers Walter Hyatt, the country singer who died in the Valuejet airline crash last Saturday.

The Supreme Court today voted to limit punitive damages. The case involved an Alabama doctor who had been awarded two million dollars because the paint on his new BMW had been touched up. The decision is a victory for manufacturers, but the justices did not provide clear guidance on limits for future awards. NPR's Chitra Ragavan reports.