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A sound montage of a few voices from this past week's news, ncluding Liver Specialist Dr. Jeffrey Crippon; and Allison Smith, the perations Director for the Southwest Organ Bank on baseball-great Mickey antle's condition; President Clinton on spending cuts; House Speaker Newt ingrich (R-GA) expressing his disappointment over the Presidential veto; entagon spokesperson United States Air Force Major Tom Larock commenting on the issing F-16 pilot; General Terry Murray of the United States Marines describing he rescue of the pilot; and downed pilot Captain Scott O'Grady.

2: Children's book author and illustrator CHRIS VAN ALLSBURG. His book The Polar Express a fable about a little boy who meets Santa Claus was/is a bestseller. It was written ten years ago, and each year at Christmas it's a big favorite. His new book is Bad Day At Riverbend (Houghton Mifflin). His book Jumanji (published in 1981) has been made into a new movie starring Robin Williams.

The president is riding "The Twenty-First Century Express," a train taking him through the mid-west on his way to the Democratic National convention in Chicago. Mr. Clinton's whistle-stops along the way allow time for him to spell out some of the issues he would make priorities in a second term, among them, literacy, the environment, and gun control.

Noah talks with Phil Boyer, president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, about how small airports operate. Fourteen people died this week when a United Express turbo-prop and a private plane crashed at a small airport in Quincy, Illinois. Like most of the more than 18,000 airports in the United States, the Quincy airport did not have a control tower. Most such airports have good safety records. Boyer explains how pilots communciate with one another at non-towered airports to avoid accidents. They rely on radio...and their own eyes.

The former U.S. poet laureate Stanley Kunitz has died. He was 100. The Pulitzer Prize-winner was known for his expressive verse, social commitment and generosity to young writers. His career spanned three-quarters of a century.

Hollywood sound designer Randy Thom has helped create the sound for such films as The Incredibles, The Polar Express and the upcoming release War of the Worlds. He wants NPR listeners to help him find new audio to help bring movies to phonic life.

NPR's Melissa Block talked to people in Martinsburg, W. Va. about their reactions to President Bush's address last night about the crisis with Iraq. West Virginia has always been a state whose sons and daughters have served and died in high proportions in wars. Block finds almost universal support for settling the conflict in Iraq with force. But people express varying degrees of fear about what will happen next. Some fear chemical attacks and even a spread of war around the globe. More than 100 Martinsburg reservists are in southwest Asia.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday echoed U.S. views that Iraqi elections can't be held before the July 1 transfer of sovereignty to Iraqis. Iraqi Shiites express disappointment, but many still want U.N. help in setting up elections before the end of the year. But the delay is welcomed by minority Sunnis, who fear Shiites could sweep an early vote. Hear NPR's Deborah Amos.

Ravitch is the author of the new book, The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn. In her book she chronicles the efforts of school boards and bias and sensitivity committees to edit and shape the textbooks that end up in classrooms. Some examples of this include: omitting the mention of Jews in an Isaac Bashevis Singer story about prewar Poland, changing the expression "My God!" to "You don't mean it," and recommending that children not be shown as disobedient or in conflict with adults. Ravitch writes that the process has evolved into a practice that excises "words, images, passages and ideas that no reasonable person would consider biased in the usual meaning of that term."

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage discuss the turnover of power in Iraq with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Wolfowitz said it's too early to say how many troops would stay in the country. Lawmakers from both parties also expressed unease over the continuing scandal at Abu Ghraib prison. NPR's David Welna reports.