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NPR's Madeleine Brand reports on Amtrak's latest contribution to passenger happiness. It's a car in the train where riders will find a quieter environment.

NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., about the ongoing talks over President Biden's domestic spending plan.

How many monthly fees are too many for one consumer to handle? With the advent of more and more communications technology -- like DSL service, cell phones, pagers, cable TV, and now satellite radio -- the number of bills for tech-savvy households is growing. Robert Siegel talks with Howard Horowitz, president of Horowitz Associates in New York about whether this trend can continue.

Robert Siegel talks with Maryland State Sen. Barbara Hoffman, a Democrat from Baltimore, about her proposal to require gun safety courses for all Maryland public school students. The legislation passed the House of Delegates yesterday in a vote 98 to 32. If the Senate passes it, and the governor signs it, Maryland would be the first state in the nation to require firearms instruction.

Rex Doane of NPR's On the Media has the story of corporate anthems -- elaborate songs and even shows that were geared not to the customer, but to the employees. The songs -- like a school fight song or a national anthem -- were meant to elevate morale.

NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports on disappointing results released today from the National Assessment of Educational Progress -- a report known as the "nation's report card." Reading scores of fourth graders have improved little over the last eight years and the achievement gap between white and minority students remains substantial.

NPR's David Welna reports the Senate has approved a federal budget with a tax cut that falls about $400 billion short of President Bush's $1.6 trillion tax cut plan.

NPR's John Ydstie reports the unemployment rate notched up another tenth of a percent today to 4.3 percent. And the Labor Department said the economy lost 86,000 jobs in March -- the biggest monthly job loss in nearly a decade.

NPR's Melissa Block reports the prosecution has rested in the trial of four men accused in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. In presenting its case in New York, the prosecutors called dozens of witnesses and presented a range of evidence from tapes of wiretapped phone conversations to network news interviews with Osama Bin Laden. Some of the most powerful testimony came from people who were injured in the bombings.

Robert Siegel talks to Helene Stapinksi, the author of Five Finger Discount: A Crooked Family History, a book about growing up in Jersey City, N.J., where the whole town seemed to be on the take. (7:30) Five Finger Discount: A Crooked Family History, by Helene Stapinski, is published by Random House, 2001, ISBN # 0679463062.