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Commentator Jacob Needleman delivers his first in a series of commentaries on the American presidency and religion. He talks about George Washington's farewell speech, in which he outlined moral guidelines to ensure continued democracy in America.

Residents of Bridgeport, Conn., fear the economic fallout of the U.S. Army's decision to eliminate its multi-billion-dollar Comanche helicopter program. The cancellation comes one year after Sikorsky Aircraft opened a new plant in Bridgeport, with about 750 workers, to build the helicopter. John Dankosky of member station WNPR reports.

During his life, New York's Jack Smith was popular among artists, but never a financial success. He died broke, and his friends say the saved his work from the dump. But, as David D'Arcy reports, the art world has now caught up with Smith, and a legal battle looms over who owns his work.

Flipping a coin may not be the fairest way to settle disputes. A team of mathematicians claims to have proven that if you start with a coin on your thumb, heads up, flip it and catch it in your hand, it's more likely to land heads up than tails. NPR's David Kestenbaum reports.

Friday marks the first anniversary of the fire that gutted the Station nightclub in Rhode Island, killing 100 people. NPR's Michele Norris talks with Robert Riffe, who survived the disaster.

NPR's Michele Norris talks with Penelope Eckert, a professor of Linguistics at Stanford University. She's studying the speech patterns of Northern California school kids, looking at how language, specifically the way vowels are pronounced, relates to social status.

Songwriter and pianist Bart Howard wrote many cabaret songs, but he is best known for one that became a well-loved standard: "Fly Me to the Moon." His companion says Howard died over the weekend in Carmel, N.Y., of complications from a stroke. He was 88.

In what many see as the launch of his re-election campaign, President Bush aggressively defends his policies in a speech before the Republican Governors Association. Bush takes aim at Democratic frontrunner Sen. John Kerry, suggesting Kerry would raise taxes and offer unsteady leadership in the face of terrorist threats. Hear NPR's Don Gonyea.

The Bush administration has joined other nations and regional groupings to try to broker a political settlement in Haiti. But with no end in sight to the violence, there is growing concern that the uprising could spark an exodus of refugees. And that has some members of Congress, and some analysts, pushing the administration to intervene. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

The Senate begins debate on a new bill that would cap some damages in medical malpractice lawsuits. The bill, like one the Senate debated last summer, isn't expected to pass. But both sides hope to use it to score political points. NPR's Julie Rovner reports.