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NPR Senior Correspondent Juan Williams reports on a new book by Harvard sociologist Katherine Newman about the lives of poor blacks and Hispanics in parts of Harlem. (A Different Shade of Gray: Midlife And Beyond in The Inner City, by Katherine Newman, is published by New Press: ISBN 156584615X)

There were toes tapping and heads nodding in Louisville, Kentucky, last night when the city played host to the Bluegrass music awards. The Del McCoury Band and Dolly Parton both took home top awards. The event isn't televised, but is broadcast live in more than 3,000 U.S. radio markets.

For a brief history of Ivory Coast, Linda talks with Jeanne Maddox Toungara, Professor of History at Howard University in Washington D.C. Toungara lived and taught in the Ivory Coast for fifteen years, and has written extensively on the country. She says Ivory Coast is a former French colony. Its capital city was once thought of as the "Paris of Africa."

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.