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Across the nation, educators are balancing mandates to improve test scores and a chronic lack of resources with the need for children to have enough time to simply be children. In the first of a four-part series about homework on Morning Edition, NPR's Margot Adler examines how the increasing academic workload is stressing out kids and their families.

At a Pentagon briefing, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says the overnight missile strike near Baghdad hit a "senior Iraqi leadership compound." And he says there are reports the Iraqi regime may have set fire to three or four oil wells in southern Iraq. Hear NPR's Tom Gjelten.

Britain has sent more than 25,000 troops to Kuwait, along with tanks, artillery and other equipment. Many are stationed about 20 miles south of the Iraqi border and are poised for a possible assault on the Iraqi town of Basra. The troops have been training intensively since their arrival three weeks ago. NPR's Mike Shuster describes how the troops practice an assault on enemy trenches, the kind of defensive positions they expect to find when they cross the border into Iraq.

In Kuwait, the First Marine Division prepares for a possible invasion of Iraq by playing a war game to try to learn the preferred tactics, personalities and weaknesses of Iraq's regional commanders and to predict the Iraqi military's response to an attack. NPR's John Burnett reports.

At an emergency parliament session, Iraqi lawmakers are urged to rally behind Saddam Hussein and defend the country. Meanwhile, residents flee Baghdad and nearly 300,000 U.S. and British soldiers deployed in the Persian Gulf area prepare to invade Iraq. Hear NPR's Anne Garrels and NPR's Mike Shuster.

In 1997, All Things Considered senior host Robert Siegel first interviewed Jeremy Armstrong, sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing another man. He was just 15 when he committed the crime, but was sentenced as an adult under the state's new "get-tough" juvenile justice policies. Siegel catches up with Armstrong, now living in a medium-security lockup -- listen to past interviews with Armstrong as Siegel follows his progress.

Host Bob Edwards talks with actor John C. Reilly about the turn his career has taken over the past year. Reilly appeared in four films this year, three of which are nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. And he's up for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar as well. It's a big change for a man that most movie watchers would recognize but wouldn't know his name.

NPR's regular program schedule was pre-empted by NPR News Special Coverage of the war in Iraq. Audio for the day beginning at noon ET is available at the link below.

The U.S. launches a pre-dawn missile attack on what President Bush calls "selected targets of military importance" in Iraq. In Baghdad, where streets are deserted, Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf accuses President Bush of a crime against humanity in ordering the attack. Hear NPR's Steve Inskeep and NPR's Anne Garrels.

Secretary of State Colin Powell says the U.S-led "coalition of the willing" to oust Saddam Hussein has the support of at least 45 nations. But he says a third of them "do not yet wish to be publicly named." NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.