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NPR's Michele Norris talks with former U.S. marshals Don Forsht and Al Butler, who were part of a special team recruited to carry out school desegregation orders in the 1950s and '60s. Their work took them to all the southern hotspots during the campaign of massive resistance.

In the first of three stories about the national mood, NPR's John Ydstie meets with a group of 30-somethings from St. Louis. The most important issues for them are local revitalization -- and Iraq. While most of the group did not vote for President Bush, there is division about the war in Iraq. There is also concern that the Sept. 11 commission hearings are becoming more about finger pointing than finding answers about what happened and how to prevent attacks.

Khalil Naimi, first secretary to the Iranian embassy in Baghdad, is shot and killed in his car by unnamed assailants. The assassination comes as an Iranian delegation is in Iraq to mediate in the standoff between U.S. forces in Najaf and radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Hear NPR's Philip Reeves.

President George Bush's re-election campaign begins running hard-edged ads against likely Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry with the election eight months away. The Kerry campaign reports that for the next few days it will be running fewer ads and deciding what tactics to pursue next. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi says the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council should be disbanded in favor of a caretaker government that would receive sovereignty from the U.S.-led occupying forces on June 30. Brahimi's plan also calls for Iraqi elections to be held by the end of January 2004. Hear NPR's Robert Siegel and NPR's Anne Garrels.

The federal rental aid program expects to distribute the rest of its money by mid-summer. Some cities have already run out of funding, pushing eviction filings higher than before the pandemic.

A $1 billion-a-year industry has sprung up offering advertisers and other businesses advice on how to get the most consumer traffic out of their Web pages. Most are ethical, but some specialize in building pages that trick search engines into thinking they're more important than they are. In response, engines continually tweak programs to prevent misleading returns. NPR's Rick Karr reports.

President Bush's top getaway, his ranch in Crawford, Texas, is also the place where Laura Bush seems to find the most solace. NPR's Ketzel Levine gets a rare tour of the ranch with the first lady, who discusses her efforts to restore native grasses and plants to the 1,600-acre property. See photos of wildflowers at the Bush ranch.

There are an estimated 6,000 western private security contractors in Iraq. Often times, the line between defense and offense can blur as contractors are drawn into heavy firefights with insurgents. There's no real authority structure to control these contractors, and some U.S. lawmakers worry that it's setting a dangerous precedent in a war zone. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair meets with President Bush Friday. British officials say Blair hopes to flesh out a role for the United Nations in Iraq's transition. Blair has faced criticism at home for having little influence when it comes to Iraq -- despite Britain's 10,000 troops there. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.