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Moms in Scarsdale, New York took to the streets this month to protest too many tests. Meanwhile, the House just passed President Bush’s education plan,which requires annual reading and math tests in grades 3-8. It’s a nationwide debate over testing and accountability … and how much is enough. Laura's guests are Lil Tuttle, the Education Director of the Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute, and Dennis Murphy, a lobbyist for the NH chapter of the National Education Association.

Herbal Remedies and Supplements. Echinacea, St. John’s Wort and a few others have become so popular they’re almost considered mainstream now. But many doctors say there are still serious questions about how safe and effective they really are. We’ll get some answers, and try to find out which herbal products are best, and which to stay away from. Laura’s guests are Dr. David Riley, editor-in-chief of a peer-reviewed medical journal called ‘Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine’, and the Medical Research Director for the Integrative Medicine Institute www.integrativemed.org , and Dr. Tim Quill, professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. www.hitchcock.org/dhmcentr.htm

New patients' rights bills on Capitol Hill focus on the right to sue a health insurers. Some say the ability to sue will make HMO's more accountable for the care they give. But insurance companies claim more lawsuits will only drive up health care costs. Laura’s guests are Dr. Donald Palmisano, a New Orleans surgeon and with the Litigation Center of the American Medical Association and State Medical Societies www.ama.org and Rick Smith, Vice President of public policy and research for the American Association of Health Plans www.aahp.org.

Because more money for schools is coming from the state, lawmakers are trying to come up with ways to measure how well schools are doing. And they’re looking at how the state might be able to help schools that don’t make the grade. But many people worry this approach will infringe on districts’ local control. Steve's guests are State Senator Caroline McCarley, a Democrat from Rochester and's Vice Chair of the Senate Education Committee, and Warren Henderson, Republican Representive from Exeter, who chairs the House Education Committee.(www.state.nh.us)

President Bush says we need a new missile defense system to protect ourselves from ?rogue nations? such as North Korea and Iraq. But critics of the idea say it will create another arms race and that reliable technology for it is still years away. Laura talks with Joseph Cirincione, a Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (www.ceip.org) and Peter Huessy, a Senior Associate at the National Defense University (www.ndu.edu)