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Veteran newsman Robert Trout has the second of two reports about the history of the Republican party, through his own reporting on the last 17 conventions over a period of nearly seventy years. Today, Trout picks up in the late 1940's and early 1950's, and the fight between moderates and conservatives -- between the forces of Dwight D. Eisenhower and Robert A. Taft. Eisenhower won. But the pendulum swung back in the 1960's with the nomination of Barry Goldwater. Ultimately, Trout points out that the struggle between moderate and conservative still marks party proceedings today.

NPR's Noah Adams travels to Chantilly, Va., for a conversation with Tom DeBaggio, his wife Joyce and son Francesco. Tom DeBaggio was diagnosed in the spring of 1999 with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. This is the fourth in a series of interviews with the DeBaggio family. In today's conversation, Tom describes his loss of familiarity with most of the material in his new book about the growing and the use of herbs, his willingness to give up driving when the time comes, and his acceptance of the need for an identification bracelet. He also tells of a harrowing experience one night when he accidentally took an overdose medication used in his Alzheimer's treatment. Book referenced is The Big Book of Herbs: a Comprehensive Illustrated Reference to Herbs of Flavor and Fragrance, by Arthur Tucker and Thomas DeBaggio Interweave Press, Loveland, Colo. ISBN 1-883010-86-1.

Noah talks with Tom DeBaggio, his wife Joyce and son Francesco, about Tom's early onset of Alzheimer's disease. This type of Alzheimer's strikes people between the ages of 30 and 60 and progresses more rapidly than another type found among the elderly. DeBaggio and his family run an herb farm. He says he noticed memory lapses about a year ago when he had trouble naming plants he had been selling for 25 years.

We feature a performance by humorist and NPR commentator David Sedaris. He charms us with the complete "Santaland Diaries." This piece first ran on NPR's Morning Edition a few days before Christmas 1992. Even though Sedaris has achieved national fame and movie contracts for his humor writing, he still cleans apartments during the day, because, he says, he can only write at night.

Folklorist Nick Spitzer tells the story of Woody Guthrie's leftist national anthem.

In the first of a five-part series on immigration in Western Europe, NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports that Italy has become a final destination for illegal immigrants from Eastern Europe, Asia, and North Africa, as well as a port of entry. Thousands of illegal immigrants -- many Albanians, Kurds, and North Africans -- are smuggled by sea into Italy each year, trying to make their way to a better life in Europe. In the past, Italy was just a way station on the route to Germany or Switzerland. Now immigrants are staying.

Secretary of State Blinken meets with European foreign ministers. The Senate is to vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. Some student loan borrowers have gotten good news.

In the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv at least half a dozen hospitals have been damaged by Russian attacks. One had to close most of its departments and reduce operations to emergency cases.

A study of more than 120,000 brain scans shows rapid growth before age 2 and accelerating decline after age 50. The results may one day help pick up abnormalities in the developing brain.

Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina let it be known in January that he would seek the Democratic nomination for president. In the first of a series of interviews with White House candidates, NPR's Bob Edwards sat down with the 49-year-old former trial lawyer to talk about his campaign and the issues that define his candidacy.