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A radicial approach to boost scores on state standardized tests is being tried by the Kansas City-Missouri School District--inviting students to study on Saturdays. Laura Spencer of member station KCUR in Kansas City reports that if scores don't improve, the state will take over the school district.

The story of FBI agent-turned-spy Robert Hanssen is told in the new film Breach with Chris Cooper as Hanssen and Ryan Phillippe and Laura Linney as his pursuers.

Our summer reading series profiles novelist Jackie Collins, author of 22 novels, including Lucky and Hollywood Wives. This summer Collins is reading Her (Knopf; ISBN: 037541388X) by Laura Zigman, Billy (Overlook Press; ISBN: 1585673080) by Pamela Stephenson, and Killing Pablo (Penguin USA; ISBN: 0142000957) by Mark Bowden.

This week the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival features high school contributors. Jennifer Steele and Laura Mandelberg are two of the writers featured in the 10th annual Young Poets Competition, co-sponsored by the festival. They read from their poems for Weekend Edition.

It's World War II, the Germans are bombing London and the widowed Mrs. Laura Henderson opens The Windmill Theater, a burlesque club. That's the gist of Dame Judi Dench's latest film, the quirky Mrs. Henderson Presents.

First Lady Laura Bush spent three days on the West Coast this week, promoting her initiative to help America's youth -- in particular, America's young men. NPR's David Greene has this report of Mrs. Bush's trip.

NPR's Laura Sydell reports on a national convention held in Washington, D.C., this week for people who own franchise businesses, or are hoping to. There are more than 750,000 franchises in the United States, but there are no statistics on how many go out of business each year.

Fresh Air's TV critic reviews HBO's Recount, about the uncertain and still-controversial aftermath of the U.S. presidential election. The movie stars Kevin Spacey, Laura Dern and Tom Wilkinson.

Farmers in western Kansas are in the midst of harvesting a poor wheat crop that has been damaged by this year's drought and cold winter. NPR's Laura Ziegler reports that the new farm bill has enough flexibility to allow farmers to plant a different crop to recoup their losses, which is a change from past policy.

Reviewer Alan Cheuse reviews the latest novel from Laura Esquivel, titled "The Law of Love." Though she became quite famous for the novel-with-recipes "Like Water for Chocolate," Cheuse is not that impressed with her novel-with-music book and CD package.