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A video filmed in the Caribbean island of Dominica shows workers, who were clearing part of a rainforest, hoisting an enormous boa constrictor off the ground with the help of construction equipment.

NPR's Robert Siegel talks with documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman about his first feature film, Le Derniere Lettre, ("The Last Letter.") It's in French with English subtitles and has one actor, Catherine Samie. The film is a black and white adaptation of a short story by Soviet writer Vassily Grossman, about a letter written in 1941 by an elderly Jewish woman to her grown son, while living in a small Ukrainian village under Nazi occupation.

NPR's Richard Gonzales reports that several of the jurors who convicted a California man on marijuana charges last week took the unusual step this week of issuing a public apology. Grower Ed Rosenthal was convicted under federal law, which does not allow marijuana to be cultivated for any reason. During the trial, jurors were not told that Rosenthal was growing marijuana for medicinal purposes, which is allowed in California and eight other states. When they found out afterward, they called for a new trial.

John Dillon reports one in seven Vermont dairy farms are expected to go out of business within the year, victims of the lowest milk prices in 25 years. The situation in all the northeastern states is just at grim. Economists say the smaller New England farms just can't compete with bigger operations in the west.

This week, New Jersey physicians are staying off the job to protest rising malpractice prices. In doing so, they join the ranks of doctors in several states who've taken similar action. President Bush and Congress are seriously considering putting caps on jury awards to try to bring expenses down. That is a very controversial idea. In this report Patricia Neighmond talks to experts about why expenses are rising.

The new CD by minimalist composer Terry Riley is a spiritual and personal journey for the composer. In Atlantis Nath, Riley uses common sounds such as street sounds, his keyboard playing and his voice to take the listener on a journey. Michelle Mercer has a review.

Commentator Stephen Kuusisto recalls a night in his childhood when he and some friends broke into an abandoned farmhouse in western New York state. The evening is tinged with anxiety about going to fight in the Vietnam War, since the boys all are teenagers.

A federal judge has restored high school basketball standout LeBron James' eligiblity to play for his school. The young man who is expected to turn pro right out of high school was declared ineligible by the Ohio Athletic Association because he'd accepted valuable jerseys from a Cleveland sporting goods store, a violation of the code of conduct for high school athletes. NPR's Michele Norris speaks with Vincent Duffy of member station WKSU in Kent, Oh.

Mitch Daniels, the White House budget director, undergoes bipartisan grilling by the Senate Budget Committee over the $2.23 trillion budget President Bush sent to Congress. Committee members pressed Daniels to answer how the budget could assume a new round of tax cuts amid forecasts of record red-ink spending. NPR's David Welna reports.

Today at the U.N. Security Council, Secretary of State Colin Powell presented newly declassified satellite photos, voice intercepts and intelligence from human sources, trying to make the case that Iraq is deliberately deceiving weapons inspectors rather than complying with them. For example, one set of photos purported to show four active chemical munitions bunkers with a decontamination vehicle nearby in case of accidents. Photos taken later, as U.N. weapons inspectors were arriving at the site, show that the bunkers had been sanitized and the telltale decontamination vehicle removed. Powell's remarks had little immediate effect on other council members. France and Russia, both of which have veto power, continued to argue that the inspectors should be given more time before a decision is made on whether to go to war against Iraq. NPR's Vicky O'Hara reports.