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Critic Kenneth Turan reviews the new movie Girlfight. The film is "Rocky" with a feminist twist -- the story of a troubled teen coming of age in a seedy Brooklyn gym. The movie garnered top awards at the Sundance Film Festival.

Linda talks with David Brooks of the Weekly Standard and E.J. Dionne, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a writer for the Washington Post, about tomorrow's debates. National polls show Al Gore and George W. Bush in a dead heat. Tomorrow's debate could sink either one of the candidates as well as set the tone for the rest of the campaign.

NPR's Cheryl Corley reports from Chicago on a newly released guide to help parents prepare their third-grade children for statewide achievement tests. The booklet is sold in six states that rely on the mandatory exams.

Poet and Memoirist Mary Karr. Author of the best selling Liars Club, she has just published a new book chronicling her teen age years entitled Cherry (Penguin Putnam, 2000). In a follow up to what critics call a "hard scrabble" childhood, she returns to East Texas to detail her adolescence. Karr relates anecdotes of rebellion, self doubt and sexual coming of age. The recipient of several literary awards such as the Pushcart Prize and the Bunting Award, she has published two volumes of poetry. She is the Peck Professor of English Literature at Syracuse University.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden in Gaza reports another cease-fire between the Israelis and Palestinians failed to stem the violence raging throughout the Palestinian territories. There were gun battles near an Israeli settlement in Gaza and in at least one town in the West Bank. Israeli troops clashed with stone-throwing demonstrators in other areas.

Anima, a group from Brazil, mixes its classical training and early music experience with an interest in Brazilian folk music and instruments. The band will tour the United States later this month. Susan Kaplan, of member station WFCR, reports. (7:45) Anima's CD's, entitled Especiarias and Espiral Do Tempo (Time Spiral) are available from MCD World Music. Websites in Spanish:Especiarias and Espiral Do Tempo

NPR's Andy Bowers reviews last night's debate between Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush. Coming just 5 weeks before Election Day, this was the first debate between the two candidates who are locked in one of the closest presidential races in decades.

Commentator Meghan Daum has left New York City for a small farm house in Nebraska, but she has found that some small communities still have big city problems.

Alysa Gardner reviews the new CD by Kelly Price called Mirror, Mirror. (4:00) Mirror Mirror is on the Def Jam label.

Noah talks to NPR's Jennifer Ludden about the latest efforts to halt the bloody violence in the West Bank and Gaza. Secretary of State Albright has been meeting with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Paris today, searching for ways to end the confrontation and revive the stalled peace talks.