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Eight days of intense track and field competition wrapped up on Sunday night in Sacramento. Coaches and athletes consider these US Olympic trials as one of the greatest track meets in the world. The high levels of competition mean many world class athletes don't make the US Olympic team. KPBS reporter Nancy Greenleese has the story.

As NPR's Tom Goldman reports, 29-year-old Michael Bennett of Chicago is given a good chance to win a gold medal in the heavyweight division of the Olympics, even though he only took up boxing six years ago. Even more surprising than his late start is how he honed his skills: Bennett learned to box from fellow inmates when he was in prison. www.bennettboxing.com

Playwright and Commentator Thom Jones talks about basketball and "Yo Mama" jokes, in a piece adapted from his play, "Birth of the Boom."

NPR's Nina Totenberg reports on a very conservative appeals court that made a series of important and controversial decisions that made it to the Supreme Court this past term. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals was upheld by the Supreme Court on its ruling that a key part of the Violence Against Women Act was unconstitutional. But the Supreme Court rejected the 4th Circuit's decision that the Miranda warnings to a criminal suspect were not necessary if a court were confident the defendant's confession was given voluntarily.

Robert talks with Suzanne Rodgers, Northwest Editor of the Belfast Telegraph in Northern Ireland, about the prisoners who had been released under the Good Friday peace agreement. Some of the former prisoners are now working as taxi drivers and club bouncers, while others have gotten jobs doing "community work."

Commentator Cecilie Berry blames parents for the bad behavior of today's children. Parents, she says, don't speak up enough when they see other people's kids acting up. Parents are more interested in high achieving children than children who behave. Grownups used to be a "united front" who helped each other raise kids. Now things are more fragmented, and everyone, she says, suffers as a result.

THINKING -- Commentator Donald McCaig says the countryside can be noisy, with the sounds of thunderstorms or the peeping of frogs and bleating of sheep. But on summer evenings it's quiet enough to hear yourself think. He says that's unlike the city, where the challenge is not so much the din, as knowing what the noises mean. (2:30)NOTE: MUSIC AFTER THIS PIECE WAS HARMONICA VIRTUOSO RICHARD HUNTER, FROM HIS CD "THE SECOND ACT OF BEING FREE" ON TURTLE HILL PRODUCTIONS, PO BOX 651, MONROE, ct 06468-0651. PHONE: 203-459

NPR's Jennifer Ludden in Gaza reports that while Israeli and Palestinian leaders continue the search for peace at Camp David, both sides are also preparing for the worst. There are fears that a failure at Camp David could lead to a fresh eruption of violence.

NPR'S Jim Zarroli reports that Deutsche Telekom and Voicestream Wireless made it official today. The German telecom giant will acquire the Bellvue, Washington company in a stock and cash deal valued at more than 50-billion-dollars. The deal, if approved, would create a wireless phone service capable of operating in the U.S., Europe and Asia. The merger may face stiff opposition in Washington, though. Some lawmakers are concerned that the German government holds a majority stake in Deutsche Telekom.

Government figures released today show that nearly one million Medicare recipients now enrolled in HMOs will have to find another source of care next year. As NPR's Julie Rovner reports, HMOs are abandoning Medicare in record numbers, saying the program doesn't pay enough.