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NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports on a Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll that finds more Americans than ever support public education, and reforming rather than changing the system. The annual poll finds for the first time that low funding for schools is listed as the number one problem. Poll respondents of both parties say that the federal government should give schools more money without no strings attached. They see Democrats as more friendly to public schools than Republicans in general, but they see Al Gore and George W. Bush as equally good for public schools.

NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports from Rome that Pope John Paul the Second plans to beatify two of his predecessors next month. The two popes who will be elevated on the ladder toward sainthood influenced the Roman Catholic Church in very different ways. Pope Pius the Ninth is regarded by many as an arch-conservative, known for promulgating the doctrine of papal infallibility. He's also known as the pope who insisted a Jewish boy in Rome be raised a Catholic, against the wishes of the boy's parents. Pope John the Twenty-third, by contrast, is renowned for liberalizing the Church with the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

NPR's Snigdha Prakash reports that at least 50,000 of the striking Verizon Communications workers are back on the job today as the two-week strike against the largest local phone company winds down. The unions said they were happy with terms of the deal, which gives them better pay and better benefits; more important, from their perspective, the unions have increased their ability to organize the company's wireless and Internet divisions. Analysts say the settlement is being closely watched by telecommunications industry.

The Pain Relief Promotion Act would establish that the alleviation of suffering is a "legitimate medical purpose" for potent drugs. The bill also would reassert a federal ban on dispensing drugs for doctor-assisted suicide. Commentator Joe Loconte likes the bill, and tells us why.

NPR's Linda Gradstein reports that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has proposed a civil reform plan that would eliminate many of the privileges granted to ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel.

Jerome Vaughn of member station WDET reports on the move by Ford Motors to stop producing trucks and start producing tires at three of its plants -- this in response to the recall of Firestone-Bridegstone tires on some Ford trucks that was instituted last week.

Commentator Bill Lessard -- an experienced dot-com employee himself -- says that all those perks you hear about at technology companies don't really add up to as much as workers think they're getting.

From member station WNYC in New York, Amy Eddings reports that 35-thousand Verizon Communications employees are still on strike despite an agreement that was reached over the weekend. Approximately 50-thousand of the telephone workers in New York and New England who were on strike returned to work yesterday after the agreement was reached.

NPR's Michele Kelemen reports on the latest development on the Russian submarine that sank in the Arctic Barents Sea more than a week ago. After more than a week of desperate attempts to rescue the crew, on board the Kursk, yesterday the Russian navy formally announced that they were all dead.

NPR's Sarah Chayes reports on Air France's decision to ban smoking on all its flights. The company banned cigarettes on its domestic and European flights a decade ago.