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Linda talks with E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post and David Brooks of the Weekly Standard about the presidential campaigns of Al Gore and George W. Bush. Political wisdom holds that the candidate who leads on Labor Day wins the race -- but this year the race is too close to call.

As many as 25,000 people from around the world have joined in the fight to put out the wildfires in the western United States. Even with the abundance of manpower, the problem remains — there is a lack of skilled workers on the front line. Kathy Witkowsky reports from Montana's Bitteroot Valley on the what kind of skill and training are needed to fight the fires raging in the West.

One of the issues most often mentioned by voters this election year is education. The presidential candidates Al Gore andGeorge W. Bush are responding. Both men have made schools and education reform a top priority on the campaign trail. But as NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports, what can the president of the United States really do to improve the nation's schools?

Voice artist and animation historian Keith Scott has written the new book The Moose That Roared: The Story of Jay Ward, Bill Scott, a Flying Squirrel, and a Talking Moose (St. Martin's Press) The book is about the creator (Jay Ward) and writer (Bill Scott) of the popular Rocky & Bullwinkle TV cartoon show of the late 1950s, early 60s. The new film The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle is based on the characters and stars Robert Deniro, Rene Russo, and Jason Alexander. Scott also is the voice of Bullwinkle in the film. (REBROADCAST from 7

NPR's Steve Inskeep compares the differing approaches of Presidential candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush toward reforming the Social Security system. Bush favors a plan that would allow people to invest part of their Social Security retirement taxes in private stock market accounts. Gore opposes radical changes to the current system. He supports keeping all Social Security taxes in the federal system and giving people the option of opening supplemental retirement accounts.

The way that American elections are financed was a major topic in the presidential primaries, when some candidates saw the subject as a way to cut the frontrunners down to size. But then the frontrunners got nominated, and talk about campaign finances took on a different role in the debate. Now, with Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore the party standard-bearers, the subject is mostly used as a metaphor for issues of character. For NPR News, Peter Overby reports.

Using a variety of local sources, researchers have managed to assemble a 150-year record of freeze and ice breakup dates for lakes and rivers in such far-flung locales as Wisconsin and Japan. The resulting chronicle shows a consistent trend towards later freezing and earlier thawing that corresponds with other evidence of global warming. NPR Science Correspondent Chris Joyce reports.

Mark Scott reports teachers in Buffalo, New York are walking the picket lines today. After two years without a contract, the teachers voted to strike despite a New York State law that forbids them to do so.

Jill Scott is at the forefront of a small revolution taking place in the world of R & B music. Tom Moon has a review of her first CD, Who is Jill Scott? (4:30) The label is Sony/Epic, ASIN: B00004UARR The Website is http://www.whoisjillscott.com/.

A jury in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho has found the leader of a white supremacist group, and his former employees are liable for more than 6-million dollars in an attack on a woman and her son outside the group's headquarters. The case involves Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler, his former chief of staff and two security guards. Noah Adams talks to NPR's Andy Bowers about the verdict and the lawsuit.