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The professionals who design and build the nation's infrastructure say vital systems are decaying. The American Society of Civil Engineers reports that, in report card terms, U.S. bridges, roads and schools get a grade of D-plus. The group says the country should start fixing the problems, with an investment of $1.3 trillion dollars over five years. NPR's Emily Harris reports.

Host Bob Edwards talks with Khidhir Hamza, former head of Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons program. After defecting from Iraq, he wrote a memoir -- in collaboration with Jeff Stein -- called Saddam's Bombmaker, in which he tells how close Iraq came to building a working bomb.

NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports on the future of a Clinton administration regulation that limits road-building and subsequent logging in 58 million acres of National Forest land. Today, the Bush administration is expected to announce that it intends to modify the so-called "roadless rule" to allow state and local officials to challenge the restrictions on a case-by-case basis.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports on Israeli Prime-Minister-elect Ariel Sharon's efforts to build a national unity government. Sharon's Likud party holds only 19 out of 120 seats in the Israeli Parliament, and many Israelis say that Sharon must include the defeated Labor party in his government in order to accomplish anything.

Melanie Peeples reports about the concern growing among Anniston, Alabama, residents about a chemical weapons incinerator the Army is building there. The U.S. must dispose of all chemical weapons by 2007 under an international treaty; residents of the small southern town fear that the facility may not be completely safe.

From Minnesota Public Radio, Dan Gunderson reports on the community effort in Moorhead, Minnesota, to protect homes and buildings from flooding rivers. With memories of the 1997 floods fresh in their minds, residents are quickly erecting emergency levees in the hopes of avoiding the billions of dollars in damage they saw four years ago.

An association of public safety officials wants to negotiate a settlement to its ongoing fight with cellular phone companies. Each side has blamed the other for delays in building a tracing capacity into their phones to aid emergency workers. The public safety officials want the FCC to reject delaying tactics by the phone companies. NPR's Emily Harris reports.

The House of Representatives will vote tomorrow on the first trillion-dollar portion of President Bush's proposed tax cuts, and approval is expected. But the Bush administration and House Republican leaders want a show of bipartisan support to build momentum for a later showdown in the Senate. And, so far at least, only a handful of Democrats are expected to cross the aisle. NPR's David Welna reports.

In a further sign the U.S. is shifting its focus in the Persian Gulf from fighting to nation building, Gen. Tommy Franks went to the Iraqi capital for the first time since the start of the war. Meanwhile the Pentagon's comptroller estimates the cost of the Iraq war so far at $20 billion. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.

Literature aimed at adolescents is difficult to translate to film. Yet, a buzz builds around the film version of a Newbery Award-winning novel. Like the book, the movie is called Holes. NPR's Bob Mondello says it has a shot at being as big a hit on screen as it is at bookstores.