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President Bush is set to announce a plan to vaccinate all Americans against smallpox. The general population won't be offered the inoculation until 2004. Meanwhile, soldiers and "first-response" personnel prepare for early inoculations. NPR's Joanne Silberner reports.

Robert Siegel and Michele Norris read from some of this week's letters.

NPR's David Welna reports on the latest developments about Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott. Today, President Bush weighed in on the matter for the first time, saying that Lott's comments -- which seemingly endorsed the views held by Strom Thurmond when Thurmond ran for president on a segregationist platform in 1948 -- were "offensive" and "wrong." Mr. Bush made his comments before an enthusiastic Philadelphia audience made up of many minorities. But the President refused to ask for Lott's resignation as leader.

NPR's Jack Speer reports President Bush is naming former Goldman Sachs investment banker Stephen Friedman as his top economics adviser. Friedman is being appointed to the White House job despite an aggressive campaign to torpedo his candidacy by some conservative Republicans.

Michele Norris talks with David Hampton, editorial director for the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., about how the Trent Lott controversy is playing out in his home state. Hampton says the Clarion-Ledger has been deluged with mail, both condemning and supporting Lott.

As part of NPR's year-long Housing First project, Morning Edition this week airs three reports on the economics of housing for some of the neediest Americans. In the third report, NPR's Cheryl Corley reports from Boston on a controversial program that's had some success turning around crumbling neighborhoods, but can also be used to clear desirable land for high-rent construction.

Cardinal Bernard Law resigns as Archbishop of Boston as controversy persists over his handling of sex-abuse allegations against the Roman Catholic clergy. The move comes after 58 priests called for Law to step down.

NPR Religion Correspondent Duncan Moon reports on the dilemma the Roman Catholic Church faces over whether to give the Boston Archdiocese the go ahead to declare bankruptcy. Cardinal Bernard Law, archbishop of Boston, resigned this week after meeting with Vatican officials in Rome. Moon reports that bankruptcy may not remove the tremendous financial problems the Boston Archdiocese faces because of lawsuits, filed by victims of alleged sexual abuse by Catholic priests.

NPR's Nancy Marshall reports a price war between two bus services recently cut the price of a trip from Washington to New York to $10. That particular fare didn't last long. Both bus services that offered it have raised their prices a bit, but budget travelers are still filling the buses, even though most of them leave in the middle of the night. The buses go from Chinatown D.C. to Chinatown in New York and are a good enough bargain to lure passengers away from Greyhound. NPR's Nancy Marshall reports.

A new off-Broadway play is all about hats -- sort of. Based on a book of photos by photographer Michael Cunningham and journalist Craig Marberry, Crowns tells the story of six African-American women through the hats they wear to church. On Weekend Edition Saturday, Jeff Lunden reports. Online, view a photo gallery of costume sketches for the play.