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Pole-vaulter Kevin Dare, a Penn State sophomore, died while competing at a championship event earlier this year. Ed Dare discovered that his son's death was not an isolated event and is pushing for safety reforms in the sport. NPR's Tom Goldman has the story on All Things Considered.

Catholic worshippers across the country express their feelings about last week's meeting between American cardinals and Pope John Paul II. Some parishioners are satisfied with the Church's statements on sexually abusive priests -- while others feel more should be done. We hear voices from Washington, D.C., as well as reports from Missy Shelton from member station KSMU in Springfield, Missouri, and Bellamy Pailthorpe from member station KPLU in Seattle.

In a special five-part series for All Things Considered, NPR's Guy Raz travels the length of the fabled Danube River -- from its source in Germany to the Black Sea -- and reports on how the river both unites and divides each of the nations that touch its banks. Monday's report begins in Germany, where even the origin of the river itself is cause for dispute.

Satirist Al Franken has a new book that spoofs how-to-succeed books. His new book is Oh, The Things I Know! A Guide to Success, or, Failing That, Happiness (Dutton). Franken is former co-producer of Saturday Night Live where he created the self-help guru Stuart Smalley. He's also the author of Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations.

As part of his continuing series of stories on Seattle's Roosevelt High School, NPR's Robert Smith reports from Orlando, Fla. A team of students from Roosevelt High competed this weekend in the national high school robot competitions.

Novelist Carol Shields won a Pulitzer Prize for her best-selling novel, The Stone Diaries. Her books are often about middle-class people leading quiet lives. Her other novels include Larrys Party, which won Britains Orange Prize, The Republic of Love and Swann: A Mystery. She also wrote a biography of Jane Austen as well as plays, poetry and story collections. In 1998 Shields was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is now in a late stage of the disease. Her new novel, Unless (Fourth Estate), was written after her diagnosis.

In 1924, a star-studded cruise on William Randolph Hearst's private yacht ended with a murder, and became a true Hollywood scandal. Now that scandal is the subject of a new film by Peter Bogdanovich. NPR's Bob Mondello has a review of the film, and Bogdanovich talks with All Things Considered guest host John Ydstie about Tinseltown history.

Writer Richard Lourie. His new book, Sakharov, is a biography of the Russian scientist, dissident and Nobel peace prize winner Andrei Sakharov. He's considered one of the greatest physicists of the 20th century. Sakharov created Russia's H-bomb, but later confronted his country over issues of nuclear responsibility and human rights.

Attorney General John Ashcroft took office amid controversy over his hard-line social conservatism. But events have conspired to give him unusual public exposure -- and popularity. NPR's Mara Liasson reports for All Things Considered. Also, in a Web-exclusive analysis, NPR Washington Editor Ron Elving puts Ashcroft's remarkable tenure into a historical context.

Actor Bill Paxton makes his directing debut with the new psychological thriller Frailty. He also co-stars in the film, along with Matthew McConaughey and Powers Boothe. Paxton previously starred in Twister, A Simple Plan, One False Move and Apollo 13.