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and his book, >"Monster." Dunne and wife Joan Didion do a lot of screenplay writing. The book is one project that turned into an 8 year nightmare. It started when the duo wrote a screenplay about the life of TV newswoman Jessica Savich...when it was all ove r, the Disney studios had the remarkably dissimilar Up Close and Personal in the can.

(B-R-FIVE-FOUR-NINE) is the latest band that everyone is saying will save Nashville from overproduced mediocrity. BR5-49 got its' start playing in a boot store on a makeshift stage...tearing through the kind of honkey tonk that would make Ernest Tubb proud. The band is also credited with helping to revive a rundown neighborhood of Nashville. Now the band is up for a Grammy for Best Performance by a Country Duo or Group. Steve Lickteig

NPR's Eric Weiner reports that the Taleban militia, which now controls about two-thirds of Afghanistan, today criticized the decision by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to suspend relief operations in Kabul. U-N-H-C-R said several members of its local staff have been arrested and Afghan women employees have been told to stay at home since the Taleban captured Kabul nearly two months ago.

Robert reads from listeners' letters concerning pieces we've aired on George Washington's Farewell Address, simulated space-camp, methamphetamine use, and Susan Stamberg's remembrance of F. Scott Fitzgerald. To contact All Things Considered, write to All Things Considered Letters, 635 Massachusetts Avenue Northwest, Washington DC, 20001. To reach us via the Internet, the address is A-T-C at N-P-R dot ORG.

The White House is holding Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) at a distance, pending a Jan. 6 vote that will decide Lott's fate as Senate Republican leader. Political analysts say the focus on Lott's racially insensitive remarks undermines President Bush's efforts to reach out to minorities. NPR's Mara Liasson reports.

A sound montage of some of the voices in this past week's news, including former Vice President Al Gore; incoming Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS); President George W. Bush; William Donaldson, Bush's nominee to head the Securities and Exchange Commission; President Bush; John Snow, Bush's nominee for treasury secretary; Boston Archdiocese spokesman Christopher Coyne; Anne Barrett Doyle of the Coalition of Catholics and Survivors; and former President Jimmy Carter.

NPR's Steve Inskeep reports that U.S. Rep. Cass Ballenger (R-NC) is now expressing his own regrets over unfortunate comments about the recently defeated U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA). Ballenger, who called on Sen. Trent Lott to step down, is apologizing for remarks that touched on McKinney's race, among other things.

The clear front-runner to replace Sen. Lott (R-MS) as Republican leader is Tennessee's Bill Frist, the Senate's only physician. A political novice elected to the Senate on his first run for office in 1994, Frist has enjoyed a rapid rise during his brief legislative career. And as NPR's Julie Rovner reports, having a health expert at the helm of a Senate that's expected to take on a number of high-profile medical issues doesn't hurt, either.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS), has been hearing stern criticism for his remarks last week in support of retiring Sen. Strom Thurmond's 1948 presidential campaign and its racist legacy. NPR senior news analyst Daniel Schorr says the remarks may have done damage not only to Sen. Lott's popularity but also to the Republican Party's efforts to woo blacks away from the Democrats.

U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC) celebrates his 100th birthday. He's the longest-serving senator ever -- though he is about to retire -- and his life experiences run the gamut of recent American history. Along the way he's courted controversy. NPR's Bob Edwards has Thurmond's story.

The drumbeat to remove Trent Lott as Senate Republican leader continues as Republicans publicly criticize Lott's recent remarks regarding segregation. Secretary of State Colin Powell says he "deplored the sentiments" of Lott's statements, and Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) says "It's time for a change." Hear NPR's Juan Williams.

Jazz trumpeter Lester Bowie. Bowie was considered one of the most original trumpeters in jazz, and a master of horn effects. He died in November of 1999. Bowie started out playing with Saint Louis R&B bands. In 1969, he helped found the Art Ensemble of Chicago as an outlet for more eclectic and avant-garde jazz. Bowie also headed his own band, Lester Bowie's Jazz Fantasy. (originally broadcast 11

NPR's Robert Siegel and NPR's Lynn Neary read a selection of listener comments from the past week. Listeners objected to a satire of Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) and his efforts to aid the victims of a cara accident he came across. They also reacted to a story about a freshman congressman being sworn in this week, our obituary for Mamie Till-Mobley, and news that Pontiac is reviving the GTO.

This week many members of Congress are holding town meetings in their home districts where the primary topic is President Bush's plan to overhaul Social Security. Rep. Chris Chocola (R-IN) is holding seven town meetings in his sprawling northern Indiana district, and faced some skepticism from attendees.

Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) is crucial to the Senate Foreign Relations committee's vote, scheduled for Tuesday, on John Bolton's nomination to be ambassador to the United Nations. The liberal Republican from Rhode Island faces a tough re-election bid next year, and voting against Bolton -- and his party -- could prove politically risky.

The Senate Intelligence Committee confirms the nomination of retiring U.S. Rep. Porter Goss (R-FL) to head the CIA. Several Democrats vote against Goss, citing his past partisanship and saying he lacks independence in intelligence matters. The full Senate must still confirm Goss. Hear NPR's David Welna.

An unofficial agreement has kept Democrats and Republicans in the House from filing ethics complaints against the leadership of either party. But that truce was broken today when freshman Democrat Rep. Chris Bell (D-TX) filed a three-part complaint against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX). NPR's David Welna reports.

NPR's Melissa Block talks with U.S. senators Pat Roberts (R-KS), chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and John D. Rockefeller, IV (D-WVA), the panel's vice-chair, about their report criticizing pre-war intelligence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The report was approved unanimously by the bi-partisan committee.

R&B icon Chaka Khan has just stepped into a starring role in the Broadway hit The Color Purple and recently released Funk This, her first studio album in 10 years. The soul diva explains what she's learned from her decades in the music business.

Southern singer Lizz Wright crafts a distinct mixture of jazz, folk, gospel, and R&B, but she's been most widely celebrated as a rising star in the jazz world. Hear Wright give a performance and interview from WXPN.