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Host Howard Berkes talks to NPR's Julie McCarthy about today's court hearing in Warsaw on whether Lech Walesa (LEKH wah-WEN-suh), former President of Poland worked for communist-era secret police.

NPR's Eric Westervelt reports on the continuing protests in Philadelphia this week during the Republican National Convention. On the first day of the convention, thousands of protesters wound their way along city streets to the convention site. Few arrests were made and city police say they would accommodate the protesters as long as they remained non-violent. (5:05

NPR's Richard Knox reports that snakebite antidote supplies are running very low this summer. In many areas, doctors have run out of the crucial medicine before patients have completed treatment. So far, no deaths are blamed on the shortage, but antivenom experts say it's only a matter of time. The shortfall arose when the manufacturer of the main antidote cut back production.

In the second part of her Mafia series, NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports on a civic campaign to rebuild the old city of Palermo, capital of the Italian island of Sicily. Palermo is a living museum, with architectural styles ranging from the ancient to art nouveau. But under the influence of corrupt politicians and their friends in the Mafia, it fell into ruin. Citizens have now begun to take back their city from the mob, restoring its architectural treasures. (8:00) Music after story was "Costumi Siciliani" from the CD "Italian String Virtuosi", copyright 1995, Rounder Records.

Megan Williams of Youth Radio reports that while more and more young people are volunteering and taking part in public service -- many do not see voting as the best way to express their beliefs or influence others. The same kids out on the street making the voices heard, will not necessarily show up in the voting booth.

Russia produced some of the world's great theoretical physicists, and some have made their home in Minnesota. 'Moscow on the Mississippi', they call it. NPR's David Kestenbaum looks at why physics bloomed in the Soviet Union -- and how things have changed for the scientists who came west.

In his summer series, Play-by-Play, NPR's Neal Conan profiles Perry Barber, one of the few women who work as umpires in professional baseball. Barber works in the Atlantic League.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews The Blind Assassin (Doubleday) the new novel by Margaret Atwood.

Today is the 10th Anniversary of the American with Disabilities Act. While many are celebrating it's accomplishments, others say we still have a long way to go before disabled people are fully accepted in society. Margot Adler reports on how some attitudes about disabled people have changed in the past ten years, and how some have not.

Linda talks to Carl Newton, a retired Los Alamos National Laboratory nuclear scientist, who is also a friend and neighbor of Wen Ho Lee. Newton helped organize a homecoming party for Lee.