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Old computer monitors and TV picture tubes dumped in landfills can leach hazardous amounts of lead into groundwater, according to a scientific study. The research is playing a key role in the fight to keep electronics out of landfills and has intensified a controversy over who should pay to recycle them. NPR's Emily Harris reports for Morning Edition.

At age 16, Carla the parrot has cut her first record, "I'm a Green Chicken," co-written by the bird, is a duet with music producer Skip Haynes, who talks with Scott Simon about the interspecies collaboration.

Weekend Edition Saturday once again features summer readings from the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival, held at the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, Conn. The festival's 11th year continues with "The Floral Apron" by Marilyn Chin.

A group of scientists reported finding a six or seven million-year-old skull in Chad, Central Africa. The specimen, the oldest hominid skull ever found, will shed new light on a mysterious period in human history. The new species has been nicknamed Toumao, a name for children born before the dry season in the African desert.

The HBO hit series Sex and the City, begins a new season July 21. We'll hear from two people involved with the show: Actress Sarah Jessica Parker was just nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. She's been acting for most of her life, including playing Annie on Broadway, the young bimbo in L.A. Story, and a fed-up fiancee in Honeymoon in Vegas. This is her fifth season starring in Sex and the City, as Carrie, a columnist who writes about the sexual mores of New Yorkers. Terry recorded this interview with Parker live before an audience at Martha's Vineyard in July 2001.

British actor Terence Stamp is best known for his roles in the 1960s films Billy Budd and The Collector. He also was in Far from the Madding Crowd. After working with Fellini in Italy and with other Italian directors, he took a nine-year hiatus. He returned to the screen in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and recently in The Limey and Star Wars: Episode One. His latest film is My Wife Is an Actress.

Leo Litwak is a retired San Francisco State University professor of English. He's the author of the new memoir, The Medic: Life and Death in the Last Days of World War II (Penguin Books). Litwak was a 19-year-old medic. One reviewer writes, "[A] book that should be given to every schoolboy in the country at the age of 13... the Medic teaches us so much, makes clear that sometimes the monsters in war are not only the enemy."

The best place to recapture details about Earth's first days may be the moon. Meteorities crashed into the Earth regularly then, and some of the collisions may have be strong enough to blast bits of tale-telling Earth rocks to the lunar surface. NPR's David Kestenbaum reports.

Former fire commissioner of New York City, Thomas Von Essen. He led the department through the Sept. 11 attacks and during rescue and early recovery efforts. During the attacks, the department lost 343 men, many of them Von Essen's friends and colleagues. Von Essen stepped down as fire commissioner on December 31, 2001. He's written a new memoir with Matt Murray, Strong of Heart: Life and Death in the Fire Department of New York.

Thirty years ago, the Flatlanders released their first record to almost universal indifference. Now, with the release of their second album, Now Again (New West Records), they're one of the nation's most talked about country bands, thanks to nationally syndicated radio host Don Imus. From member station KUHF in Houston, Ed Mayberry reports.