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The House of Representatives approved today the main portion of President Bush's $1.6 trillion tax cut. Republican leaders were exultant about passing the president's prize proposal in record time. The vote followed party lines, despite weeks of courtship by the White House. And the bill faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where a bipartisan group of centrists is insisting on modifications. NPR's David Welna reports.

Scott Simon talks with Sherry Sabin. Mrs. Sabin's sixth grade class contributed the first three hundred and seventy-eight dollars of the 1.6 million dollars it took to build the newest addition to the FDR memorial - a statue of Roosevelt sitting in a wheelchair. The statue was unveiled on Wednesday.

Scott talks with the Doyenne of Dirt, Ketzel Levine, about noxious weeds. Ketzel says that one region's common garden plant can be another regions invasive pest. (6:00) NOTE: There is plenty more dirt to be found in our Talking Plants section.

NPR's Nina Totenberg reports on a Supreme Court decision that hospitals cannot reinstate a practice of testing pregnant patients for drugs and turning over the results to the police, unless they get the woman's permission first. The justices ruled 6-3 that testing women who did not understand that the results could be used to prosecute them was a violation of the constitutional protection against unreasonable searches.

Employers added 75,000 jobs in May, the Labor Department reports. It was the smallest increase since October 2005. At the same time, the nation's unemployment rate dipped to 4.6 percent, its lowest reading since the summer of 2001.

A 6.0 earthquake rattled central California on Thursday -- is it a harbinger of the "Big One?" NPR's Alex Chadwick talks with Andrew Michael of the Menlo Park Earthquake Hazard Team about the earthquake near the rural California village of Parkfield, and the challenge of forecasting temblors.

The fifth and final season of the acclaimed HBO drama The Wire has its season premiere Jan. 6. Fresh Air's TV critic has a preview.

Noah Adams talks with Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, who's happily playing the blues at 72. He has a new album out called Long Way Home. Gatemouth is on the album by some new and old friends like Eric Clapton, Leon Russell, Ry Cooder and Maria Maldon. [GITANES JAZZ PRODUCTIONS] (6:00) (IN S

Writer RICHARD FORD. His book "Independence Day" (Knopf) has just won a Pulitzer Prize, as well as a National Book Critics Circle Award. It's the sequel to FORD's "The Sportswriter" FORD is also the author of "Wildlife," "The Ultimate Good Luck," "A Piece of My Heart," and "Rock Springs." (REBROADCAST from 6

NPR's Jim Zarroli reports that a jury in Brooklyn has ordered computer maker Digital Equipment to pay nearly $6 million to three women who suffered disabling injuries from working on Digital's computer keyboards. Lawyers for the plaintiffs say this is the first time such a suit has succeeded. Digital says it will appeal the decision.