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NPR's Debbie Elliott reports Mississippi has a new take on the reality TV craze: It's a Website where the world can watch four young smokers living for a week in an apartment trying to quit. The state is offering a cash prize to each member of the group who makes it through the week without lighting up. And the web audience gets to vote on activities that will make it harder or easier for them.

Just hours before his acceptance speech to the Republican National Convention, George W. Bush attended a luncheon honoring his wife Laura. The program was sponsored by the National Federation of Republican Women, a group that says the Texas governor can end the Democrat's two-decade dominance among women. NPR's Steve Inskeep reports.

Robert Siegel is at the Republican convention in Philadelphia, where he talks with Marvin Olasky, an occasional informal advisor to George W. Bush. He also coined the phrase Compassionate Conservatism, a phrase that is also the title of Olasky's new book. Olasky is a University of Texas journalism professor, and also senior fellow of the Acton Institute for the study of Religion and Liberty. He talks with Robert about how Bush's Christianity could infuse his presidency and his policies.

Commentator Rebecca Flowers says all this diversity at the GOP convention made her wonder about the dream republican ticket---Bush and Puff Daddy. The gangsta rapper is black, musical and rich -- all the things the GOP seems interested in this week. They probably share similar views on gun control---and Puff Daddy's girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez is Hispanic.

JP Manoux (mah-NOO) is a professional commercial actor. At least he was until May 1st, that's when the Screen Actors Guild went on strike. It's a strike that continues with no end in sight. He offers his musings on the business of commercial acting and what the strike means to him and for his craft.

Carolyn Johnson of Nebraska Public Radio reports on an effort in the state to built one of the world's largest networks of cosmic ray detectors. A physics professor is putting the detectors on the roofs of all 314 Nebraska high schools to help students get hands on science experience.

Linda speaks with Seth Shostak, an astronomer at SETI (Search for Extraterrestial Intelligence) Institute in Mountain View, California, funding for a new radio telescope to be devoted to listening for intelligent life in other parts of the universe. The telescope will be located near the Mount Lassen National Park in Northern California, and Shostak says it will improve the chances of hearing a signal from intelligent life by a thousand fold.

NPR's Adam Hochberg reports from Perquimans County, North Carolina, a rural area that's trying to stimulate its economy by attracting retiring Baby Boomers. Studies show that a retiree can bring as much money to a local economy as three factory jobs. But some experts warn that while the senior dollar may provide short term economic help, as retirees age, they can become more of a burden than a boon.

Noah talks to Travis Bell, the developer of high tech sled runners for the U.S. Olympic Bobsled team, about the theft of some bobsled runners from his storage locker. Four sets of the runners were found behind an abandoned service station, but seven sets are still missing.

NPR's Mike Shuster reports that Russia today asked Britain and Norway for help in rescuing the crew of the submarine Kursk, which has been stranded for days at the bottom of the Barents Sea. Britain has airlifted a mini-sub to Norway, to be sent on to the crash site. The request for foreign help followed repeated, unsuccessful attempts by the Russians to dock a diving bell to the sub, to evacuate the more than 100 men on board.