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Richard Clarke, who served as the top White House counter-terrorism official under three presidents, says George W. Bush's administration did not consider terrorist threats to be urgent in its first seven months, despite Clarke's urgings. Speaking on Capitol Hill to a national commission investigating U.S. policies before Sept. 11, 2001, Clark said terrorism was given extraordinarily high priority in the Clinton administration. Also Wednesday, CIA Director George Tenet told the panel that terrorist intelligence was not properly integrated among different agencies. NPR's Pam Fessler reports.

A new survey of the best cities for business finds that affordability is more important than being fashionable. As a result, Inc. magazine put Riverside and San Bernardino, Calif., and the New Jersey cities of Camden and Newark high on its list. See the magazine's lists of the best and worst places for companies to thrive.

NPR's Claudio Sanchez examines the little-known school desegregation case of Mendez v. Westminster. This California case won access for Mexican Americans to white schools in 1947 and helped set the stage seven years later for Brown v. Board of Education.

In testimony before the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, top officials from both the Clinton and Bush administrations defend their policies on the terrorist threat. The commission finds efforts against al Qaeda were hampered by a lack of intelligence, failed diplomatic overtures toward the Taliban and competing demands. Hear NPR's Pam Fessler.

Britain's biggest bookie has stopped taking bets on the existence -- current or past -- of life on Mars. NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Warren Lush, spokesman for Ladbrokes betting service, about the decision, which Lush says stemmed from NASA's scientific findings announced this week.

In the 16th century, Copernicus published a book that launched the scientific revolution. In it, he declared the planets revolved around the sun, not Earth. But modern day scholars say the book was barely read in its day. Author Owen Gingerich talks with NPR's Robert Siegel about whether that claim is true.

Bombings at Shiite Muslim shrines in Baghdad and Karbala have led to increased demands for Shiite militiamen to be given authorization to help maintain security in Shiite areas. Officials of the U.S. occupation authority remain opposed to the idea. NPR's Ivan Watson reports.

Numerous organizations are trying to advance a United Nations call to get medicines to developing countries, but the challenges of following through on such health initiatives are formidable. In Africa, nearly 30 million people are living with HIV, but only 2 percent of people who need AIDS treatment receive it. NPR's Brenda Wilson reports.

As this year's presidential election approaches, polls show gay marriage could be a polarizing issue for voters. Hear NPR's John Ydstie and the Rev. Canon David Roseberry, an Episcopal priest in Plano, Texas, who opposes gay marriage.

One hundred years ago, big bandleader Glenn Miller was born in Clarinda, Iowa. A master of marketing and pop sensibility, Miller turned out one hit record after another with his orchestra between 1938 and 1944. "In the Mood," "Moonlight Serenade" and other Miller hits stirred dancers, inspired wartime America and became classics. Tom Vitale reports.