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American Auction - From member station WNYC in New York Laura Sydell reports on a remarkable collection of African American artifacts and documents appearing in a New York auction house. Scholars have mixed feelings about the auction, although they are convinced of it's historic nature, they feel some might take advantage of the artifacts and hold on to them for higher resale at a later date.

Danny speaks with Dr. David Grimaldi, Curator and Chairman of the Entomology Department at the American Museum of Natural History. Dr. Grimaldi led an expedition to a site in New Jersey where they discovered precious ancient flowers embalmed in amber from the Cretaceous period, nearly 90 million years ago. Grimaldi says these are undoubtedly the most completely preserved flowers from the time of the dinasours.

NPR's Alex Chadwick concludes a two-part Radio Expedition series on Palmyra, a small, privately owned coral atoll a thousand miles south of Hawaii. The rainy island remains uninhabited by humans. It swarms with bird and animal life, and the lagoons are filled with schools of large tropical fish. The Nature Conservancy hopes to purchase Palmyra from the three American brothers who own it.

NPR's David Kestenbaum reports on a new set of rules from the EPA that would reduce the amount of arsenic in drinking water tenfold below current limits. Arsenic usually comes from natural sources and doesn't occur in all parts of the country. But the new rules will require upgrades in water systems in thousands of small towns and rural areas.

Mark Moran of member station KJZZ reports on efforts by the Immigration and Naturalization Service to crackdown on illegal immigrants in the southwestern United States. The smuggling of undocumented immigrants has become a multi-billion industry in the US and the INS hopes to curb the practice through a new initiative called operation denial.

Noah talks with Sam Norris a biologist with the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources and a former president of the West Virginia Mycological Association. He says it's been an unusually good year for mushrooms due almost daily warm rains in the highlands of West Virginia. They've collected large amounts and rare varieties including one mushroom which changes to the color blue when picked.

NPR's David Baron reports that new preliminary data from measurements of the Earth's temperature in 1995 supports theories that global warming is occurring. According to surface temperature measurements, last year was the warmest on record. Experts caution, however, that it remains unclear how much of the increase may be due to natural variation.

earthquake. 6000 people died in the quake; it was one of the worst natural disasters to strike Japan in this century.

Bob Dole has placed on the issue of illegal immigration, while campaigning in California. Advocates for immigrants say it's possible Dole's strategy could backfire motivating naturalized citizens to vote Democratic.

NPR's Adam Hochberg reports on a controversial National Park Service project to remove wild ponies from the outer banks of North Carolina. The Park Service says the ponies are destroying the island's natural vegetation; animal rights activists are worried about the ponies' precarious futures.