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NPR's Larry Abramson reports on the struggle between new high-tech businesses and unions over whether employees are allowed to organize. Union membership has been dropping in recent decades, while high-tech jobs are growing, so the industry is key to the future of labor relations.

Noah talks with Jonathan Zittrain, asst. prof. of law and is co-dir. of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, at Harvard School of Law. They talk about the efforts of the French legal system to deal with internet access from France to an online auction of Nazi memorabilia by Yahoo. France has a law against the buying and selling of Nazi items. Mr. Zittrain talks about the legal precedents for the law, and the technical difficulty to enacting it.

The city of Santa Monica was one of the first communities in the nation to discover that its underground water source was contaminated by the gasoline additive MTBE. Now they are suing seven major oil companies for the money to pay for the cleanup. Nova Safo reports from Santa Monica.

NPR's Michele Kelemen reports that the tragedies of the gulag archipelago still haunt the Siberian mining city of Norilsk. Stalin deported prisoners to this frozen region in Russia's far north to mine some of the world's richest deposits of nickel, palladium and platinum. Today, construction crews plough up miners' bones from mass graves in the industrial wasteland.

Commentator Jeffrey Tayler was in the Belarusian town of Polatsk. He opted to spend the evening at the restaurant in his hotel. As he writes in his journal, he was pulled into the drunken conversation of two young women. The women mistake him for a Pole, and take offense at his unwillingness to share their bottle of vodka with him.

Host Jacki Lyden speaks Tom Santaniello, who at 17, is the youngest delegate attending the Democratic Convention. Santaniello has been involved in politics in his home state of South Carolina since he was an 8th grader, just four years ago. As a class assignment, he had to write to someone famous he admired. While others wrote to sports heroes, he wrote to Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-SC). Since then, he's been volunteering on campaigns, and has attended state party conventions.

Host Jacki Lyden opens up our mailbag, and reads some of our listeners' letters.

NPR's Don Gonyea speaks with host Jacki Lyden about Vice President Al Gore's recent visit to Silent Spring author Rachel Carson's estate. Gore, a long-time crusader for a clean environment, spent time at the author's estate, and said her book helped to get him interested in environmentalism.

NPR's Aaron Schacter reports that as the Democrats prepare to open their convention this Monday, groups of activists are holding their own conventions. But unlike the multi-million dollar affair taking place at Staples Center, this group of activists decry the influence of money in politics - and the two-party system itself.

Host Jacki Lyden speaks with New York Times Magazine reporter Benjamin Weiser. One of his recent articles gives a detailed account of one man's harrowing journey. Diagnosed schizophrenic Kerry Sanders was falsely imprisoned for two years, a sentence that should have been served by Robert Sanders, a fugitive with a long criminal history.

NPR's Bob Mondello takes a look back at the life and career of actress Loretta Young. Young, who won an Oscar Award in 1947 for her role in The Farmer's Daughter, died today of ovarian cancer.

This week marks the 25th anniversary of Robert Altman's film Nashville. Altman discusses his film career with Jacki Lyden. The director of M*A*S*H and The Player has been nominated for Academy Awards four times.

NPR's Linda Gradstein reports from Ramallah that many Palestinians look forward to reaching a peace agreement with Israel as a way of revitalizing the local economy. They say a peace agreement would attract foreign investors who currently are leery of the region's political instability. Some Palestinian economists also suggest that under a peace agreement, Israel might be convinced to lift tariffs and remove restrictions that prevent goods from travelling between the West Bank and Gaza. Unemployment is high in Palestinian territories and per capita income is much lower than in Israel, a situation that fuels Palestinian anger.

NPR's Eric Weiner reports from Jakarta, Indonesia, that former President Suharto is set to go on trial on charges of corruption. The 79-year-old Suharto is accused of amassing a fortune, along with his family, during his more than 30 years in power. But proving the case against the aging general won't be easy as much of his wealth has been disguised or transferred overseas. Lawyers for Suharto say he is too ill to be put on trial. The case has divided Indonesia as the country remains enmeshed in economic and political instability.

Noah has a brief note on some of the other stories on the program.

The protesters who have gathered around the Democratic National Convention represent causes large and small. While they seem to get media attention only when they clash with the law, NPR's Don Gonyea paused to take in the clashes and the quiet last night.

NPR's Tovia Smith reports on the decision by a Greenwich, Connecticut judge that Michael Skakel, Ethel Kennedy's nephew, can stand trial for the murder twenty-five years ago of a 15-year old neighbor. It's still undecided, however, whether Skakel will be tried as an adult or a juvenile, and the penalties are vastly different.

Records now show the state actually crossed the 50,000 death threshold on Sept. 5, but the count didn't reflect that until Sept. 16 due to delays in processing the information.

NPR's Rick Karr reports on yesterday's federal ruling which re-enforces copyright law on the internet. The decision prohibits journalist Eric Corley from distributing the DeCSS computer program on his website. The program allows users to copy DVDs.

As wildfires burn across the U-S, Asia and Europe, NPR's John Nielsen reports on scientists' efforts to understand and predict the behavior of fires. The method of prediction is similar to the way that meteorologists forecast the behavior of hurricanes and tornadoes.

Commentator Dick George came home to find a white cross out in front of his family's rural home, memorializing the scene of a fatal car crash. He says it's been difficult for some people in the community to move forward with the constant reminder and impromptu memorial out front.

Brooklyn-based historian, author and playwright Charles Mee believes that the greatest plays in human history -- those by the ancient Greeks and Shakespeare -- would never have been written had copyright laws existed to keep the authors from borrowing from the culture around them. Mee puts his money where his mouth is. He makes the texts of his plays freely available on the Web, and forgoes royalties. NPR's Rick Karr reports.

Highlights from Democratic vice presidential nominee Joseph Lieberman's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.

Linda talks with Josh King, vice president of SpeakOut.com, about the Website's instant polling to gauge reaction to speeches at the Democratic National Convention. People who are watching and listening to the convention, can give their reactions to the major speeches, by logging on to their Website. They see something like an odometer on their screen, and as someone like Joe Lieberman is speaking, they move the mouse across a scale from 1 to 100, with 50 being neutral. This way, he says, we can get a RANDOM, but interesting perspective on how a speech and its presentation moved people who heard it. (5:45) The interent address is http://speakout.com/

Noah talks to Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Brands, a pilot with the U.S. Air Force Reserve Command, about the use of the C-130 transport plane in fighting western wildfires. Brands discusses why the C-130 aircraft is used, how it flies, and strategies for dropping fire retardant.