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Mayor Ray Nagin announces that New Orleans must lay off up to 3,000 of its city employees -- or about half the work force. The cuts would amount to a savings of $8 million. He said the city will be unable to pay those workers after Oct. 14, because of the financial impact of Hurricane Katrina.

The small community of Cameron Parish, La. is under water following Hurricane Rita; trees have been stripped and the city's water tower is one of the few structures still standing. Lizzie O'Leary of Red River Radio reports.

NPR's Adrian Florido talks with Benjamin Torres Gotay, a reporter and columnist for Puerto Rico's El Nuevo Dia, about recent arrests of elected officials related to corruption.

Supreme Court nominee Harriet E. Miers' 30-year career as a corporate lawyer and some-time public servant in Texas earned her a reputation not unlike her state's motto: "Don't Mess with Harriet Miers."

The Nobel in chemistry is awarded for a technique that produces new organic compounds. The method has become one of chemistry's most important reactions, leading to the creation of a wide variety of compounds, from new drugs to fuel additives.

This weekend's Indianapolis 500 boasts only the fourth woman ever to qualify for the legendary race. Steve Inskeep talks with Janet Guthrie, the first woman to break the gender barrier at Indianapolis. Her new book is Janet Guthrie: A Life at Full Throttle.

Dreamworks' latest film Madagascar opens this weekend. The digitally animated comedy is about a bunch of pampered New York City zoo animals that wind up in the wilds of Madagascar.

A 12,400-mile journey by a great white shark puts a snag in the theory that the animals stick close to established feeding grounds. The trip is bolstering claims that the sharks need worldwide protection.

Frenchman Yves Chauvin and Americans Robert Grubbs and Richard Schrock win the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Their research shows how to custom-make molecules for cheaper, cleaner chemicals and drugs to combat major diseases.

Melissa Block and food writer Grace Young trek through New York's Chinatown in search of wok hay, the magical essence released by a good wok when it's properly cared for and heated just right.