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Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge says at a Senate briefing and a news conference that al Qaeda is actively interested in disrupting this year's presidential election season. The nation's terror alert level remains unchanged. Ridge offered few details about potential threats, leading some Democrats to question the timing of his remarks. NPR's Pam Fessler reports.

The 9-11 Commission will reportedly urge that a new "czar" be created to oversee all U.S. intelligence-gathering operations. Hear NPR's Susan Stamberg and New York Times reporter Philip Shenon.

President George Bush says he might not name a successor to outgoing CIA Director George Tenet before November's election. Tenet, whose post will be filled by a deputy when he steps down on Sunday, is leaving as the Senate Intelligence Committee prepares to release its report on the CIA's intelligence work on Iraq's weapons programs. Hear NPR's Michele Norris and NPR's Mike Shuster.

Iraq's interim government unveils new security laws aimed at curbing the country's deadly insurgency. The new powers would allow the interim government to impose emergency rule in trouble spots. On the same day the new measures were announced, insurgents battled U.S. troops in the heart of Baghdad. NPR's Philip Reeves reports.

Bill Hawkins was Cleveland’s first black disc jockey. He was known for a jiving, rhyming style that had influence throught the industry and earned him many imitators. He also had a son he never knew. Lost and Found Sound sends that son -- William Allen Taylor -- back to Cleveland to find out more about his father.

President Bush had hoped the No Child Left Behind Act would help him counter the view that Democrats care more about public education than Republicans. But growing criticism of the law makes it unclear if the president's record on education will give him an edge against John Kerry. Bush's stance on education has polarized residents in West Virginia, a state that's up for grabs in the November presidential election despite its Democratic majority. NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews the new reissue Black Christ of the Andes (Smithsonian label) by pianist Mary Lou Williams.

During a campaign stop in the battleground state of Missouri, President Bush faces criticisms over the new Medicare prescription-drug discount card. Critics say the program is too confusing and unlikely to attract those it could benefit the most -- low-income seniors. NPR's Julie Rovner reports.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has nominated a four-star general to take command of U.S. forces in Iraq. Gen. George W. Casey, Jr. would replace Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez. Colleagues say Casey has demonstrated the ability to work closely with U.S. diplomats, a skill that will be needed in Iraq when the U.S. embassy goes into business in July. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

She is Kabul bureau chief for The Washington Post. She has covered South Asia for the Post since 1999, reporting from India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. She has a new memoir, Fragments of Grace: My Search for Meaning in the Strife of South Asia.