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Commentator Frank Deford says in a world with an increasingly destabilized economy, the choice between athletics as entertainment and more basic needs will mean tough times for major league sports.

He directed the new HBO movie Wit based on the Pulitzer-prize winning off-Broadway play about a college professor dying of ovarian cancer. (It premieres on HBO Saturday, March 24 at 9PM). Nichols is also the director of The Graduate (for which he won an Oscar for Best Director), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Silkwood, Working Girl, and Primary Colors. Before he became a film director NICHOLS was known for his popular comedy improvisations with Elaine May.

The Bush administration's decision to throw out new rules limiting arsenic in drinking water has angered environmentalists. Industries that emit arsenic and small water suppliers who would have had to rebuild purifying plants are relieved. As NPR's Larry Abramson reports, the new rules were proposed by the Clinton administration. Now the EPA says the present limit is good enough and that better health research is needed before a new standard can be written.

The Bush administration's decision to halt standards for arsenic levels in drinking water is giving local water companies a bit of a reprieve. Under the new standards a municpal water company would have to increase its standards from 50 parts per billion to 10 parts per billion. In most cases that would have meant building new water filtration systems. George Hansen is the general manager of Chesapeake Ranch Water Company in southern Calvert County, Md. Noah Adams speaks with him about the changes he would have to make under new standards and what they are doing now to treat arsenic.

Race relations loomed large in the news -- and in the lives of 30-year-olds. They talk about being bussed as children and valuing diversity as adults.

In its first three months, the administration of President Bush has kept its distance from the power problems of California -- making clear it wanted the state to work out its own problems. But today the president issued a directive to federal agencies in that state instructing them to turn off escalators and keep air conditioning at a low level this summer. President Bush also used the occasion to restate the government's commitment to conservation as a key element of its policy for controlling energy costs and avoiding shortfalls. NPR's Don Gonyea reports from the White House.

The Pentagon today was at pains to clarify its policy towards contacts with the Chinese military, saying they would continue but be evaluated case by case. Officials were also intent on dispelling the notion that yesterday's mixed messages on the subject indicated any breakdown in the department's internal lines of command and communication. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports from the Pentagon.

Most 30-year-olds grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons, and on ABC, Schoolhouse Rock.

The state of California is waging a bitter battle against power generators that sell electricity to the state. Two lawmakers have filed lawsuits against five of the companies, accusing them of price gouging. Meanwhile, Gov. Gray Davis is preparing for a showdown with power generators next week. But representatives of the power producers say the aggressive tactics may backfire and discourage investors from building needed power plants in California. NPR's Elaine Korry reports.

On National Prayer Day, observed throughout the U.S. today, commentator Joseph Loconte analyzes the success of The Prayer of Jabez. It's a book by Bruce Wilkinson which has risen to No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list. The book celebrates a little known character named Jabez who appears in the Old Testament. (3:30) The Prayer of Jabez, by Bruce Wilkinson, is published by Multnomah, ISBN # 1576737330.