Government & Politics

Boston Probation officer William Stewart and Judge Sydney Hanlon (woman) talk about "Operation Night Light," a program that is credited with reducing juvenile crime in South Boston. Under the program, probation officers go out with police at night looking for probation violators. Last year, President Clinton touted Boston as a national role model for what cities can achieve in reducing juvenile crime. William Stewart serves as Assistant Chief Probation officer in the Dorchester District Court in Massachusetts.

Charley Rosen is author of the new novel "Barney Polan's Game" (Seven Stories Press) The book is largely based on the real-life college basketball point-shaving scandal in 1950 and 51. Rosen also wrote a non-fiction account of this in "Scandals of 51: How the Gamblers Almost Killed College Basketball".

Journalist, conservative pundit, and former Presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan. His new book is "The Great Betrayal: How American Sovereignty and Social Justice Are Being Sacrificed to the Gods of the Global Economy" (Little, Brown and Company).

Filmmaker Wayne Wang. With the films "Chan is Missing," "Dim Sum," "Slamdance" and "Eat a Bowl of Tea," to his credit, Wang was the first Chinese-American film director to make an impact in the American film industry. Wang went on to direct "The Joy Luck Club," and the films "Smoke" and "Blue in the Face." His newest film is set in Hong Kong, "Chinese Box" starring Jeremy Irons.

Singer, songwriter, pianist Ben Folds of the piano-bass-drum trio, Ben Folds Five. They're best known for their hit "Brick" a ballad about an abortion, in which the word "abortion" is never used. The band, from North Carolina, has been in existence since 1994. It includes drummer Darren Jessee and bassist Robert Sledge.

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich. He's written a new book, "Newt Gingrich: Lessons Learned the Hard Way: A Personal Report" (HarperCollins).

Film critic John Powers reviews "Primary Colors."

Dr. Benjamin Spock died yesterday at the age of 94. We'll hear a interview with Spock he did in 1988. (Originally aired 10/5/88)

Historian Ellen Carol Dubois teaches at the University of California, Los Angeles. She's the author of the new biography: "Harriot Stanton Blatch and the Winning of Woman Suffrage" (Yale University Press). Blatch was the daughter of the famous suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton. When her mother died, Blatch carried on her mother's work, encouraging women of all classes to participate. Dubois also edited "The Elizabeth Cady Stanton-Susan B. Anthony Reader" (Northeastern University Press)

Dr. Jonathan Tucker is the Director of the Chemical & Biological Weapons Nonproliferation Project based in California. In 1995, Tucker was a member of a biological weapons inspection team in Baghdad for the United Nations. He'll talk about obstacles facing the newest round of inspections in Iraq. Tucker has also served on the Presidential Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses. (Interview by Barbara Bogaev)

Writer Richard Preston talks with Barbara Bogaev about the emerging threat of biological weapons. In this week's The New Yorker magazine, Preston writes about the former Soviet Union's research into biological weapons. His new novel "Cobra" (Random House) explores the use of bio-weapons in a civilian setting. Preston also wrote the international bestseller "The Hot Zone." (Interview by Barbara Bogaev)

Iranian film maker and film professor Jamsheed Akrami will discuss film making in Iran and Iran's Fajr (FAH-jer) Film Festival which took place in February. This year's festival included a juried competition for international films and was open to Iran's independent and government sponsored producers.

A talk with The New York Times' Youssef Ibrahim who is in Baghdad where he's been reporting on the situation in Iraq. Meanwhile, U.S. Military forces remain in the Middle East, waiting for the United Nation's weapons inspections to begin in Iraq. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Neil Jacobson is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Washington, and a pioneer in the scientific study of marital therapy. He is co-author (w/John Gottman, author of "Why Marriages Succeed or Fail") of "When Men Batter Women: New Insights into Ending Abusive Relationships" (Simon & Schuster). The book is based on their decade of research with 200 couples in which they observed the arguments of severely violent couples. Their research shatters a couple of myths: that women batter too, and that women often provoke men into battering them.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg on the uses of suffixes to create new words.

Former head of the FBI's Serial Crime Unit, John Douglas. His new book is "Obsession: The FBI's Legendary Profiler Probes the Psyches of Killers, Rapists and Stalkers and Their Victims and Tells How to Fight Back" (Simon & Schuster). For 20 years Douglas investigated serial murders for the FBI, and developed techniques to get criminals to talk, and to lure them into capture. He also pioneered criminal profiling. Many of his techniques have been adopted by police departments and prosecutors nationwide.

Historian Stanley Kutler. He's edited a collection of the most recently released Nixon tapes." The book is titled "Abuse of Power" (The Free Press). Kutler sued the National Archives and the Nixon Estate for the release of 3000 hours of tapes in 1996, 200 hours of which are now available. Kutler is also the author of "The Wars of Watergate," and historical advisor for the television documentary, "Watergate." (REBROADCAST from 11/19/97)

Journalists James Risen, investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times, and Judy Thomas, reporter for the Kansas City Star. The two have collaborated on the new book "Wrath of Angels: The American Abortion War" (BasicBooks) about the rise of the anti-abortion movement. They'll talk about the movement, and about recent events, like the bombing of the women's clinic in Birmingham, Alabama in which a security guard was killed.

Gillian Caldwell and Steven Galster went undercover to investigate the emerging illegal sex trade in Russia and the newly Independent States.

Former Police Commissioner of New York City and Boston William Bratton. When taking over as New York's commissioner in 1994 he publicly vowed to bring the crime rate down. His new memoir is about how he accomplished his goal," "Turnaround: How America's Top Cop Reversed the Crime Epidemic." (w/Peter Knobler, Random House). (