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We take the temperature of health care reforms across the country. While health legislation stalls at the federal level, states are moving ahead...with new programs of their own, designed to cover more people and lower costs. We'll look at what the states are doing, what successes they're having...and when they're running into trouble. Laura's guest is Ken Thorpe, consultant to the Vermont Health Commission and the Robert W. Woodruff Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Policy & Management, in the Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University in Atlanta. He also co-directs the Emory Center on Health Outcomes and Quality. Professor Thorpe was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Policy in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 1993 to 1995 where he coordinated all financial estimates and program impacts of President Clinton’s health care reform proposals for the White House. We'll also hear from Laura Tobler, Health Policy Analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures. Michael Doonan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at the Heller Graduate School at Brandeis University. He is the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Health Policy Forum, and Director of the Council for Health Care Economics and Policy. Ruth Liu, Associate Secretary for Health Care Reform in California's Health and Human Services Agency.

The question in Washington is "will Attorney General Alberto Gonzales survive?"

He is being accused of mishandling the firing of eight US Attorney Generals.

This week the pressure for him to resign has risen to a boil.

Republican New Hampshire Senator John Sununu is the first Republican to join Democrats in calling for his resignation.

NHPR Correspondent Matt Laslo reports from Washington.

It's the Ides of March today, and if you're a superstitious kind of person, you're going to want to watch your back. You're also going to want to listen to the Front Porch. We're going to delve into the psychology of superstition with the man who wrote the book on it. Even the most rational people have been known to wear a lucky hat from time to time, or avoid opening umbrellas indoors. We'll find out why we're drawn to superstitions, even if we don’t believe in them.

Our guest is Stuart Vyse, professor of Psychology at Connecticut College. He's author of Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition.