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NPR's Renee Montagne pays a visit to the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, where the a paleontological dig is taking place. The pits once supplied Native Americans and local settlers with sealant and fuel, and in the late 1800's they began to yield the bones of ancient beasts.

Host Bob Edwards talks with Jake Moreland, of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees office about the recent violence in West Timor.

Jason Beaubien, of member station WBUR reports on the city of Boston's efforts to modernize its sewage treatment system.

NPR's Andy Bowers reports the civil case against Aryan Nations, a neo-Nazi group based in Idaho, has gone to the jury. Prosecutors are suing asking for more than 11 million dollars in damages stemming from a 1998 incident where three Aryan Nations security guards allegedly assaulted a women and her son at gunpoint.

NPR's Rick Karr reports from New York on a federal judge's damage award in the case that a record label brought against MP3.com. Judge Jed Rakoff ruled MP3.com services infringed on Universal Music Group's copyrights by allowing MP3 users to listen to CD's they own from any computer with an internet connection. The damages could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars.

Commentator Jeff Goodell says that Silicon Valley, the area where he grew up, appears to be experiencing a kind of "prosperity fatigue." Some affluent young residents seem bored with their material possessions and are giving generously to charities. And, he says, other less prosperous workers are discovering that "the Silicon Valley dream" is not quite as democratic as it first appeared.

Linda talks with Richard Galpin, a reporter for the BBC in Jakarta, Indonesia, about the evacuation of U.N. workers from West Timor after thousands of rioters stormed the office, killing at least three workers. Galpin says the rioters were angry about the death of an Indonesian militia leader yesterday.

NPR News' Michael Sullivan reports a year after the violence and destruction that followed East Timor's vote for independence, tens of thousands of refugees have not returned home. They remain in refugee camps in West Timor, where aid officials and some refugees say they are being threatened and intimidated by pro-Indonesian militias. There is some evidence that the militias are staging raids across the border into East Timor. U.N. officials say the situation is not likely to improve until the Indonesian government gets the militias out of the camps.

NPR's Ina Jaffe reports on the latest analysis of problems within the Los Angeles Police Department. An independent attorney was brought in to analyze the department's own inquiry into its troubled Rampart Division. Today, he made his first report on his findings. It wasn't good news for the LAPD.

Charles de Ledesma reviews Essence, by "A Guy Called Gerald." His real name is Gerald Simpson, and he has been a major force in the evolution of electronic dance music over the last 10 years. On his latest effort we hear "the next new thing" in electronica, which is toning down the fast and furious dance beats, and letting sumptuous female vocalists take center stage, with a slower, dreamier sound. (4:00) Essence by A Guy Called Gerald is on the Studio K7 label.