- Newsmaker: North Korea Ready to Engage in Talks with US
Today, a week after admitting that it is building nuclear weapons, North Korea shocked South Korea when it announced that it wants to reopen its dialogue with the United States. Don Kirk, who reports from Seoul, South Korea, for the International Herald Tribune, says that mutual skepticism has moved both the US and North Korea to issue demanding prerequisites before any such meeting. - Reporter-s Notebook: Organic Food Must Meet New Federal Standards
Once, many small farmers elected not to use chemical pesticides and fertilizing sludge, selling their produce locally on the day it was picked. But as organic food became popular with big business, everything changed. Miles McEvoy, Washington State organic program manager, says that new federal regulations may move many in the original organic movement to stop using the term altogether.
Heartland is Battleground in Midterm Elections
In 1994, midterm elections shocked President Clinton by giving the Republicans Congressional control. In just two weeks, George Bush will find out if the same thing will happen to him. With the Republican party controlling the House by a very slim margin, and Democrats leading in the Senate by a single vote, America-s political agenda for the next two years may be again decided on local issues, especially in the Midwest, which has more than its share of close races. We survey the nation and hear from the heartland, where a lot of power rests with very few voters, with the director of the Pew Research Center, the president of the Warren Poll, and political reporters from the Los Angeles Times, the De Moines Register, and Sioux Falls- Argus Leader.