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Linda talks with Paul Christian, Chief of the Boston Fire Department about three fires over the weekend in South Boston that destroyed ten apartment buildings -- known in Boston as "triple deckers." The fires were whipped by strong winds, and nearly all of the city's fire fighting forces were brought out in response.

Liane talks with NPR's Mike Shuster in Jerusalem about the internal political pressures on Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak on the eve tomorrow's summit conference in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el Shiek. Arafat and Barak will be joined at the negotiating table by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and President Clinton.

NPR's Margot Adler talks with J-K Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books. Rowling is still surprised by the success of her series. Millions of Harry Potter books have been sold in more than 25 countries and her characters have been used to name everything from city streets to winter storms. Book five is on the way.

Though the Boy Scouts' anti-gay policy was upheld by the Supreme Court, many school districts are distancing themselves from the organization. That includes two of the nation's largest systems--New York City and Broward County, Florida. But, as NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports, the scouts are fighting back ... filing a lawsuit challenging Broward County's ban.

Students are Howard University are packing up the "tent city" they slept in to protest conditions in campus dormitories.

Tonight, the finals are taking place at the nation's most prestigious dog show: The Westminster Kennel Club Competition. It's happening at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Noah Adams talks to Geraldine Fessalino, Director of Housekeeping for the New York Hotel Pennsylvania, where nine hundred rooms have been reserved for the pets and their owners.

NPR's Michael Sullivan reports on the latest developments in Afghanistan, where the ruling Taliban has been engaged in the demolition of two ancient Buddhist statues in the city of Bamiyan. Today, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is to meet with the Taliban's foreign minister to try to bring a halt to the destruction, which has prompted an international outcry.

This past week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states are not obliged to pay damages to disabled state employees under federal law. Lisa Simeone talks to Deborah Kaplan, executive director of the World Institute on Disability, based in Oakland, California, and Peter Blanck, director of the Law, Health Policy and Disability Center at the University of Iowa, in Iowa City.

An episode of the popular TV series West Wing featured a storyline about the music of Iceland. Alex Van Oss uses that fictional depiction to tell the story of the real music of Iceland. An example is Icerap 2000, a new work by the country's leading composer, which has been performed in several American cities by the Iceland Sympony Orchestra.

Liane speaks with Dee Bruemmer, director of public works in Davenport, Iowa, about flooding along the Mississippi River that is expected to crest in Davenport in the next couple of days. The city has opted for an open river view, rather than build a flood wall, and people there are anxiously monitoring the rising water.