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South Carolinians vote November 7th on whether to have a state lottery. The idea is touted by Democratic Governor Jim Hodges as a boost for education. Thirty-seven states have lotteries. But the idea gets a mixed response in the Bible Belt: Georgia and Florida have one. Alabama defeated a proposal last year. In South Carolina, lottery proponents face opposition from church groups and black leaders. NPR's Adam Hochberg has the story.

No issue has divided the two major party presidential candidates more sharply than Social Security. Vice President Al Gore campaigns on guaranteeing current benefits for retirees and those who will soon retire. Texas Governor George W. Bush stresses the need to provide for younger workers by investing some Social Security funds in the stock market. And each candidate accuses the other of pitting one generation against another. NPR's Steve Inskeep reports.

A sound montage of some of the voices in this past week's news, including House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (Democrat, Missouri) on Missouri's late governor Mel Carnahan (Democrat); Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan; Texas Governor George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore at the third and final presidential debate in St. Louis, Missouri; President Bill Clinton at the memorial service for the USS Cole in Norfolk, Virginia.

NPR's Anthony Brooks reports from campaign trail, this week with Vice President Gore. Several thousand supporters turned out to see the Vice President in New Orleans last night. With governor George W. Bush showing a slight lead in the polls, the Vice President is fighting back hard.

Missouri voters have picked the winning candidate for President more often than any other state in the union. They've only gotten it wrong once in the past hundred years. But this year, how Missourians will vote is in question: popular Democratic Governor Mel Carnahan died in a plane crash earlier this week as he was campaigning for U.S. Senate. Now it's unclear who voters will be electing if they mark their ballots for Carnahan ... and that may hurt Vice-President Gore. NPR's David Welna reports

NPR's Don Gonyea reports on efforts by Republican presidential candidate Governor George W. Bush to appeal to women, by sending his wife Laura and mother Barbara out on a bus tour of swing states (3:30).

Kentucky's governor has declared a state of emergency in the eastern part of the state, where sludge from a coal mine spilled into two streams last week. Two-hundred-million gallons of toxic slurry -- a byproduct of coal washing with the consistency of wet cement -- have made the usual sources of drinking water in ten county area unfit for use. Noah interviews Larry Priest, a resident of Martin County, Kentucky, with a mobile home next to Cold Water Creek. Priest calls the spill the biggest black milkshake you've ever seen in your life.

(Update) Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan died last night in a plane crash that also killed his son and a senior aide. Carnahan had served two terms as governor and was locked in a close Senate race with freshman Republican John Ashcroft. Host Bob Edwards talks with NPR's David Welna in St. Louis.

(Update) NPR's Anthony Brooks reports from St. Louis, the site of tonight's third and final Presidential debate. Despite the informal "town hall" style, the stakes are again high, with Vice President Al Gore and Governor George Bush still in a statistical dead heat with only three weeks left until the election.

Despite an air crash that claimed the life of Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan last night, the two major presidential candidates decided to hold their debate tonight in St. Louis as planned. Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush are each taking time to remember Carnahan during the 90 minute meeting, which features a town hall format. NPR's Steve Inskeep reports.