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Bill Zeeble of member station KERA in Dallas reports that the city has a new record -- sixty-one days and counting without rain. The previous record was 58 days set back in 1934 and tied in 1950. The dry spell has hit North Texas farmers hard, and it is starting to occasionally impact the city's drinking water. It is also drying out the soil causing the foundations of many houses to settle and generating business for local foundation repair companies.

Richard Gonzales reports that the U.S. Supreme Court has issued an emergency order that stops the distribution of marijuana for medical use. The ruling bars implementation of the medical marijuana measure passed by California voters in 1996.

Alison Richards of NPR News begins a three part series on osteoperosis. Today she details how the disease has become a public health crisis in such a short period of time. No one realized the size of the problem until the accountants took a look at the heath care costs.

NPR News Science Correspondent Richard Harris reports that scientists have been surprised by a rapid change in the Arctic Tundra. When the Arctic air warmed up in the 1980s, this delicate ecosystem started venting large quantities of carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere, potentially adding to global climate change. But a study in the journal "Nature" finds that arctic plant life has adapted to the changing climate, and is helping soak up some carbon dioxide.

NPR's Martin Kaste (KAH-stee) talks with host Linda Wertheimer about President Clinton's visit to Colombia to endorse his latest plan to curb drug trafficking. Clinton was meeting Colombian President Pastrana in the coastal city of Cartagena in the wake of a one-point-three-billion dollar package of aid and military support for the Colombian army to help fight guerillas and the drug overlords who support them.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports that a day after meeting with President Clinton in Cairo, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met with Yasser Arafat in yet another attempt to get the Middle East peace talks back on track. American mediators are still trying to bridge the gaps between the two sides over Jerusalem in advance of a September deadline for reaching a final peace deal.

Peter Kenyon of NPR News, reports from Erie, Pennsylvania that Texas Governor George W. Bush is defending his state's record in providing health insurance for children. A federal judge in Texas has ordered the state to improve its enrollment in a healthcare program for poor children. Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore has been pressing the Republican candidate for details of his health care plan for the nation. But Governor Bush is not being rushed. He says he'll have details of the plan after the Labor Day holiday. He goes on to criticize the Clinton-Gore administration for being ineffective on this issue for the past seven years.

When Al Gore and George W. Bush talk about health care, they sound a lot alike. But as Julie Rovner reports, the presidential candidates' plans for health care in the U.S. are starkly different. Gore wants to expand existing government programs to bring health coverage to more people. Bush believes he can achieve the same thing through private-sector initiatives.

NPR's Vicky Que reports High School biology teachers are attending summer classes to study the human genome project. They want to stay current with all of the latest developments in order to teach it next Fall.

Commentator Mary Sojourner attempts to come to terms with the shooting death of a policeman in Flagstaff, Arizona. Unwilling to rely on standard responses to the usual questions of how and why this happens, she raises a few of her own.