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Host Liane Hansen speaks with Peter Shrag, ditorial page editor for the Sacramento (California) Bee newspaper, Richard ard, editor of the Miami Herald's Sunday Viewpoint Section and Mike hristiansen, Washington correspondent for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution bout the top stories in the news for the past year. Topics include the budget attle on Capitol Hill, the Oklahoma City bombing and the Simpson trial.

that their party's anti-regulatory position on environmental issues is going to cost them dearly in this year's elections. Major revisions in the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, and other environmental protection laws have been a top legislative priority for the new Republican majority.

NPR's Ina Jaffe reports on a plague that is threatening the sunny image of Beverly Hills. Something is causing some of the city's signature palm trees to lose their heads. The tops, or crowns, of a number of trees have simply broken off and crashed to the ground. But with $1.5 million in its "urban forestry" budget, the city is working hard to root out the cause and keep it from spreading. After all, just imagine what a palm crown weighing a ton and a half could do if it fell on someone's Ferrari!

Compensation expert GRAEF ("GRAFE") CRYSTAL. He used to design compensation packages for CEOs. But he's since become critical of the widening gap between what top executives make and what workers do. He recently conducted a preliminary survey of executive compensation in the nation's largest corporations. The survey found that the pay of chief executives has been rising, while that of workers has stagnated.

- Daniel speaks to Khulu Sibiya, the Editor in Chief of City Press, a leading newspaper in South Africa, about the recent revelations that have surfaced during the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Several top ex-leaders including the former President of South Africa Pieter W. Botha are alleged to have had a major role in killings during the years of apartheid. The allegations were made this week during confessions by several high ranking police officers who admit to taking part in the killings.

It employs technology that General Motors accuses one of its former top executive of stealing, when he went to work for V.W. in 1993. Jose Lopez insists the idea for the plant at Resende, Brazil, is entirely his own.

Carolyn Jack reports from Toronto on the growing demands for the resignation of Canada's top military officer. General Jean Boyle has come under fire in the course of an official inquiry into the killings of Somali civilians by Canadian peacekeepers. The inquiry has uncovered allegations of a coverup of the military's handling of the 1993 torture and murder of a Somali teenager. The calls for Boyle's removal escalated when he defended himself by questioning his staff's integrity and moral fiber.

Linda talks with Joe Jackson, a pop music correspondent for the Irish Times. They discuss the new CD collection of old Irish hymns called "Faith of our Fathers," which has hit the top of the pop charts in Ireland. (STATIONS: "Faith of Our Fathers," featuring Frank Patterson, Regina Nathan, the Monks of Glenstal Abbey and the Irish Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, is not yet available in the United States. It is expected to be released in March of this year, on the RTE label, catalogue number RTE CD198.) (8:00) ((ST

Musicians Joe Hunter and Jack Ashford were part of the group of musicians known as the Funk Brothers whose sound defined Motown in the 1960s and 70s. They worked with such legendary performers as Diana Ross and the Supremes, the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, The Four Tops, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, The Miracles and many more. The Funk Brothers are the subject of the new documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown.

The United States Olympic Committee is wracked by turmoil. Again. Members of the group charged with promoting America's Olympic fortunes are bickering so incessantly that Congress will hold a hearing next week. A top corporate Olympic sponsor says the bureaucratic infighting could wind up harming athletes. NPR's Howard Berkes reports.