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Linda speaks with Rex Gephart, head of the Los Angeles MTA's "Metro Rapid" program, which aims to reduce bus travel times by 25 percent. As part of the plan, the MTA has equipped two of its major bus lines with a new device that hold a green lights for approaching buses. Gephart says ridership has increased significantly on the lines being tested. He says L.A. is the first city in the U.S. to implement so-called "signal priority" so extensively.

Jody Becker of Chicago Public Radio reports on a thorny environmental case being heard next month by the U.S. Supreme Court. It involves the right of some Chicago suburbs to build a landfill on land that's being used by migratory birds. Some environmental activists warn that the court could use the case to gut the landmark Clean Water Act.

NPR's Mike Shuster reports that US officials say a single Iraqi MIG-25 penetrated Saudi Arabian airspace on Labor Day, the first such incident since the Persian Gulf War. Officials say the incursion took place when several Iraqi warplanes flew into the "no-fly zone" in southern Iraq, a region the US has declared off limits to Iraqi overflights. According to one official, the US chose NOT to retaliate because the administration at the time did not consider the single Iraqi plane to be a threat. The US also suspected Iraq of trying to provoke a confrontation just before the UN millennium summit. Since the December 1998 bombing of Iraq, the administration has resisted engaging in military confrontations with Iraq.

Robert talks to Dan Carpenter, an Indianapolis Star op-ed columnist, about the demonstrations in support of fired Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight.

NPR's Peter Kenyon reports that George W. Bush and Al Gore have agreed on a series of debates. The two candidates both endorsed a plan presented by the b-partisan commission on presidential debates earlier this year. But third party candidates may find it difficult to be included...unless they show at least a 15-percent support rate nationally, they will not be invited to participate.

Republican Presidential candidate George W. Bush has sharply criticized the Clinton administration's national defense policy. He says the Clinton White House has undermined the U.S. military and let the defense forces decline. Bush has promised to "re-build" the military. But there are questions about how the candidate would pay for it. Though he has talked about a major upgrade, his actual proposal only involves a very small spending increase. NPR Pentagon Correspondent Steve Inskeep reports.

NPR Entertainment Critic Bob Mondello reviews a new French film that looks at labor relations through the prism of family relations. It's called Human Resources.

Boeing has agreed to redesign the rudder system of its 737. The jet's rudder has been studied as the possible cause of two fatal crashes in 1991 and 1994. The Federal Aviation Administration had mandated three changes in the 737 rudder controls earlier, and officials report no rudder problems since they were implemented. The FAA says the latest changes are meant to take what an agency spokeswoman calls an "extremely safe" plane to the "next level of safety." NPR's Mary Ann Akers reports.

Linda talks to Andy Kohut, Director of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, about the most recent survey on voter attitudes towards the presidential campaign. The poll shows more voters concerned about issues rather than personality. Gore is rating higher on the issues than Bush, even among some Republicans.

NPR's Ted Clark reports that India's prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today noted progress in US - India relations since the strains of the Cold War. He asked the US to understand India's decision to test nuclear weapons two years ago. In a speech to both Houses of Congress, Vajpayee said that India, like the US, has declared a voluntary moratorium on nuclear weapons testing and favors elimination of such weapons. The Indian Prime Minister defended 1998 weapons testing as necessary to India's security. In response to the nuclear tests, by India as well as its hostile neighbor Pakistan, the United States imposed sanctions on both countries. Tomorrow, Vajpayee meets with President Clinton, who visited India and Pakistan last March.