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NPR's Peter Overby reports on today's budget surplus forecast by the Congressional Budget Office. The CBO is projecting a surplus of more than three-trillion dollars over the next decade -- or 5.6-trillion if you count the Social Security surplus. Republicans say that means there's plenty of room for a big tax cut. Democrats argue that the projections of a huge surplus may be overly optimistic in the long term. They are supporting smaller tax cuts.

Several American Indian leaders are asking for nearly 6,000 human remains and artifacts back from the University of Alabama's archaeological park and museum in Moundville.

New trade rules lifting quotas on garment exports are having an impact for many countries. One such country is the tiny African nation of Lesotho, where six factories have closed and some 6,000 workers have lost their jobs.

Melissa Block talks with John Reeves, self-described freeform industrial ice artist. Reeves is the artistic genius behind a 160-foot tall ice sculpture outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. Using strategically placed sprinklers, Reeves estimates that he flows about 6,000 gallons of water onto the sculpture every hour.

Some 6,000 pages of documents released under the Freedom of Information Act provide new details about the mistreatment of detainees by U.S. soldiers and intelligence personnel in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. Hear NPR's Michele Norris and NPR's Jackie Northam.

We kick off our series on country music in time for the Labor Day holiday with Martie Maguire, Emily Robison and Natalie Maines. They are considered the biggest-selling female band in history, but found themselves boycotted in 2003 when Maines made an off-the-cuff remark about President Bush on the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. In June, they released their first CD in three years, Taking the Long Way. (Original air date: June 6, 2006)

By a 6-3 vote along ideological lines, the Supreme Court has struck down President Biden's plan to forgive some or all federal student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans.

In 2000, the muscular, 6-feet-10-inch NBA star was diagnosed with a rare, life-threatening kidney disease. Alonzo Mourning made a full recovery following a transplant. Now, he's written a memoir about the obstacles he had to overcome on the road back to the NBA.

The U.S. Department of Labor reports that a whopping 2.6 million jobs disappeared in 2008 and that an estimated 11 million Americans are looking for work. Three recent college graduates — Mimi Wong, Sarah Ahmad and Kelsey Schwenk — describe the frustrations and fears of finding themselves unemployed.

Last year, there were 10.48 births per 1,000 people — the lowest since the country was founded in 1949. Beijing also said its economy cooled to the slowest pace in nearly three decades.