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Pam Fessler reports on the results of a new poll on American attitudes about politicians. The poll by NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government found that while most people don't trust the government, they want it to do more.

NPR's Brian Naylor reports that the House of Representatives passed another tax cut yesterday. The measure decreases the amount of social security income that is subject to taxation. Critics of the Republican-led move say this and other recent tax cuts could lead to budget deficits in the future.

Ametha Sharma from member station KPBS reports the San Diego District Attorney's office is reviewing a number of cases to see if DNA evidence could definitely prove guilt or innocence. The reviews are being conducted on more than 500 convictions made before 1992, when DNA evidence was not widely in use.

Mid-summer is the busiest time of year for America's traveling circuses. These family-owned businesses play rural towns and county fairs across the country. Stiff competition from movies and television has forced circuses to be leaner and more efficient - but the allure of clowns and elephants and trapeze artists still draws a good crowd. Reporter Brian Mann spent the morning recently with a circus as they prepared for a show.

The World Toe Wrestling Championships, the Cone Museum, and the Blood Pudding Tossing Contest: these along with other British eccentricities are celebrated in the light-hearted book Eccentric Britain. Host Jacki Lyden speaks to author Benedict le Vay about the people that in some countries would be looked at as crackpots, but in Britain are respected and even revered. (Eccentric Britain: The Guide to Britain's Follies and Foibles;The Globe Pequot Press; 2000)

NPR's Brooke Gladstone looks at the history of convention coverage - and the reasons for the declining interest in it - over the course of this century. It seems H.L. Mencken was just as disgruntled with conventions in the 1920's as was Ted Koppel four years ago.

Linda has a series of interviews about tonight's scheduled shutdown of Napster -- the Web-based service that allows users to trade music recordings free of charge. A US District court judge ordered Napster to stop facilitating these trades tonight at midnight, saying the company was aiding copyright infringement. Linda talks to Ric Dube an analyst with Webnoize, which researches and reports on the new media entertainment industry. Then she chats with two university students. First, Jeff Meredith, who will be a senior at Indiana University in the fall, and has 1000 MP3 files on his computer, about 400 of which come from Napster. And finally, Sam Ross, a student at the University of Virginia who has thousands of mp3 files, downloaded courtesy of Napster.

JOHN C. REILLY CONTINUED.Guest film critic HENRY SHEEHAN reviews the new film –Girl on the Bridge.—12:58:30 NEXT SHOW PROMO (:29) PROMO COPY On the next archive edition of fresh air, actor JOHN C. REILLY. Hes currently starring in –The Perfect Storm.— He also starred in –Magnolia,— which was just released on video. Join us for the next fresh air.

Scott talks to Chicago fire commissioner James T. Joyce about that fire deparment's decision to retire the fire pole.

NPR's Scott Simon speaks with the Reverend Franklin Graham about his life and his ministry. Graham stands poised to inherit his father's Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.