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Alan Cheuse reviews Gabriel's Story by David Anthony Durham. It's the story of runaway black youths in the great American West of the 1870s. The book is published by Doubleday.

NPR's Peter Overby reports on some of the amendments the Senate is considering as it debates the McCain-Feingold bill. The Senate is debating various ways of reforming the rules that govern money in political campaigns. (3:09) Check out more NPR News coverage of Power, Money & Influence.

Commentator Frank Deford says in a world with an increasingly destabilized economy, the choice between athletics as entertainment and more basic needs will mean tough times for major league sports.

NPR's Margot Adler reports on what some are decrying as the "suburbanization" of New York City. She talks to one design critic who laments that national franchises are replacing the city's local greasy spoons, coffeehouses and boutiques, and taking over street-life. (6:40

For the first time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has taken blood samples from a cross-section of Americans to look for a number of toxic substances. These substances show up in pollutants from industry and in products like cigarettes. NPR's John Nielsen reports some good news; chemicals from second-hand smoke seems to be appearing in blood less frequently. There's worrisome news too; there are lots of other chemicals in our blood about which we know very little.

The Bush administration's decision to throw out new rules limiting arsenic in drinking water has angered environmentalists. Industries that emit arsenic and small water suppliers who would have had to rebuild purifying plants are relieved. As NPR's Larry Abramson reports, the new rules were proposed by the Clinton administration. Now the EPA says the present limit is good enough and that better health research is needed before a new standard can be written.

"Ping-pong diplomacy" between the United States and China began 30 years ago. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is in Beijing to commemorate the event while Vice Premier Qian Qichen is in the United States. China warned the United States Tuesday not to sell arms to Taiwan and threaten 30 years of "ping-pong dimplomacy" that paved the way for formal bilateral ties between the United States and China.

NPR's Guy Raz reports from Macedonia that ethnic Albanian guerrillas today announced an unlimited, unilateral cease-fire to allow for negotiations with the government. The guerrillas made the offer just hours before a government ultimatum was to run out. The government ordered the rebels to surrender or withdraw from the areas they hold around the city of Tetovo or face an all-out assault.

NPR's Richard Harris reports on a new fossil skull, perhaps the most complete ever from a crucial period 3.5 million years ago. It was a period when the pre-human line was branching in several evolutionary directions. A member of the Leakey family found the skull. The Leakeys have been discovering fossils for three generations.

NPR's Michele Kelemen reports on Russia-Ukraine relations after the death of an opposition journalist. Ukraine is trying to lure investors from the West, but the country's reputation for corruption is not helping.