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John Dankosky of member station WNPR reports the little city of Willimantic, Conn,, is dealing with a big heroin problem. After a newspaper dubbed Willimantic "heroin town," officials are scrambling to clean up the community's drug problem as well as its tattered image. But they're at odds over whether recovery clinics will help locals kick their addictions or draw even more addicts to town.

Robert talks to two analysts of Presidential debates, Psychology professor Joseph Tecce of Boston College and Jeff Rubinstein of the Princeton Review in New York City. Each offers a rather unique perspective on the debates. Tecce says research into past presidential contests shows that the man who blinks less in debates wins. And Rubinstein's publication computed a verbal grade level for each candidate during their broadcast encounter.

Violence also erupted elsewhere in the Middle East today. Israeli helicopter gunships launched attacks against Palestinian targets. Among the targets: the headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Gaza City. Arafat was not injured. Israel says the attacks are in retaliation for the killing of Israeli soldiers. Three soldiers had made a wrong turn into Palestinian territory, and sought refuge at Palestinian police station. But a mob of hundreds of Palestinians surrounded the building, and beat at least two of the soldiers to death. Mike Shuster of NPR News talks to host Robert Siegel about the incidents.

A former U.S. Army sergeant pleaded guilty today to conspiring with Saudi-born dissident Osama Bin Laden to bomb two American embassies in Africa. Ali Mohamed, an Egyptian native, is among seventeen people indicted for the attacks on the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed more than 220 people in 1998. Appearing in federal court in New York City, Mohamed admitted to working with the organization known as Islamic Jihad to attack Western targets. Mohamed left the U.S. Army in 1989.

Host Bob Edwards talk with Cultural Geographer Derek Alderman about how Martin Luther King, Jr. has been memorialized in more than 500 cities and towns across the United States. Professor Alderman of East Carolina University says the issue of whether to have a street named after King is rarely controversial. More divisive questions include what kind of street it should be, and where the street should be located.

NPR's Guy Raz reports from Macedonia on new fighting today between ethnic Albanian militants and the Macedonian army. The gun battles took place near the city of Tetovo, deeper inside the country than previous clashes, which have been confined to the area near the border with Kosovo. Macedonian president Boris Trajkovski expressed confidence the army can contain the unrest, although he branded the militants separatists. The rebels say they are fighting for greater rights for Macedonia's ethnic Albanians -- a third of the total population.

Mark Degon of member station WRNI in Providence reports on the controversy surrounding Mayor Vincent Cianci, who's been indicted by a grand jury for allegedly taking bribes in exchange for jobs, tax reductions, and city contracts. Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Almond says Cianci should resign, but the mayor says he's done nothing wrong and will fight the allegations in court. Cianci is still popular and is widely credited with making Providence a model for urban renewal.

In his first 100 days in office, President Bush has pursued the tax cut and education plans he campaigned for last year. He has generated controversy over the environment and come to grips with his first foreign crisis. He has also shown a strong devotion to the country beyond the confines of Congress and the national's capital city. NPR's Don Gonyea reports from the White House.

NPR's Richard Knox reports that the debate over AIDS drugs to the developing world is expanding to Latin America. The nations of Central and South America are actually better poised to take advantage of lower prices, because health infrastructures are more advanced. But pharmaceutical giants are already aiming to stop further erosion of their prices. Last week in Quebec City, new anti-generic rules were proposed that would protect patents on brand name drugs in Central and South America.

Reverend Carroll Pickett has stood alongside 95 inmates during their executions in Huntsville, Texas. Host Lisa Simeone speaks with Reverend Pickett about Attorney General John Ashcroft's decision to allow injured victims and victim family members in the Oklahoma City Bombing to watch Timothy McVeigh's execution next month. To hear more from Reverend Pickett and other observers of Huntsville's death chamber, you can listen to the radio documentary Witness to an Execution produced by Stacy Abramson and David Isay. Just go to www.soundportraits.org.