50 Up Front
First Lady wannabes Laura Bush, Cindy McCain, Tipper Gore and Ernestine Bradley seem content to stand by their men and pursue their own passions

56 Is it saddle masochism? Since their 1990 wedding, John-Paul and Alycea Lamb-Horth have kept their romance fresh bicycling around the world

60 Gene Wilder, who campaigned for cancer awareness after the death of wife Gilda Radner, faces his own fight against lymphoma

63 Screen
He's got kudos and credits galore, but Matthew Modine—husband, father, tree hugger—would rather be down on his 100-acre farm in Upstate New York

68 Happy
Elvis's little girl Marie Presley gives burning love another go with soon-to-be husband No. 3, Hawaiian-born singer-songwriter John Oszajca

71 Pols
He's fit, he's trim, he's popular. But is newly ascendant Austrian politician Joerg Haider also a Nazi sympathizer?

76 To the Top
He may be bluegrass music's next big star, but until then, UPS driver and mandolin virtuoso Johnny Staats keeps on trucking

79 Crime
Wall Street CEO James McDermott Jr.'s alleged affair with porn star Kathryn Gannon leads to charges of fraud

89 Scene
Feeling nostalgic for the world of 1900, John Scapes re-created it in his basement

92 Cover
Forget his growing fortune: Between shooting hoops with his pals and doing the dishes at his mom's house, Ben Affleck treasures his good luck

105 Where Are They Now?
Moonlighting's rhyming receptionist Allyce Beasley wins a harrowing battle with breast

111 On the Move
Model, restaurant owner, author and TV personality B. Smith is giving Martha Stewart some competition on the hostess front

115 Farewell
At age 52, illusionist Doug Henning succumbs to the all-too-real effects of liver cancer

119 Oh, Baby!
With runaway pride, PEOPLE'S reigning Sexiest Man Alive, Richard Gere, and former Law & Order actress Carey Lowell welcome their first child, Homer James Jigme

123 Controversy
When 18-year-old Jesse Gelsinger died in an experimental trial, it cast a pall over the promising medical frontier of gene therapy

129 Guilty
British country doctor Harold Shipman was a beloved and trusted figure in his town. Who would have thought he'd kill 15 of his patients?

132 Arts
With passion and patience, art restorer Paola Passalacqua resurrects the earthquake-ravaged 13th-and 14th-century frescoes of Assisi, Italy

4 Mailbag
8 Star Tracks
18 Scoop
23 Online
25 Picks & Pans
49 Insider
85 Style Watch
91 Passages
126 Puzzler
136 Chatter