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The numbers are hard to estimate but as many as 25,000 or even more transgender people live in the United States. For those males redefining themselves as women the voice can be a difficult part of the transition. From member station KUOW in Seattle Cathy Duchamp reports on a voice therapy program designed to help them sound more feminine.

NPR's Barbara Bradley reports on a federal judge's ruling that felons have a constitutional right to DNA evidence testing. The Virginia case involves James Harvey, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence for a 1990 rape he says he did not commit. He asked the state to do DNA testing on items of evidence, but Virginia refused. The judge ruled that the state must do the tests, as part of Harvey's right to due process. The ruling is believed to be the first of its kind in the federal courts.

NPR's Nina Totenberg reports on today's oral arguments before the Supreme Court on mushroom ads. A mushroom grower is trying to get out of paying a share of the cost of a national ad campaign organized by the government. United Foods says it can promote its product better with its own ads.

NPR's Adam Hochberg reports that the 2000 census reveals a boom in growth in America's coastal areas. Demographers say the population explosion is driven by relatively cheap housing prices, desire to live near water, and technological advances that allow telecommuting. Environmentalists worry that the development boom threatens fragile coastal ecological systems.

Cisco Systems grew in breathtaking fashion to become one of the world's most valuable companies during the technology investment boom of the late '90s. But now Cisco is being hit hard by the economic slowdown. NPR's Jack Speer reports.

The Bush administration plans to uphold regulations issued in the last weeks of Bill Clinton's presidency requiring thousands of more businesses to report their releases of toxic lead into the environment. NPR's John Nielsen reports on the details of the announcement by the Environmental Protection Agency's administrator, Christie Whitman.

Linda Wertheimer talks with Jeremy Siegel, professor of finance at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, about the recent fluctuations of the stock market, and what's to be expected in the future.

Jerome Vaughn of member station WDET reports on the surprise announcement today that Detroit's mayor Dennis Archer won't seek a third term. The popular Archer told reporters he won't seek re-election because of the demands of the office. "I have no life," he said.

Reviewer Alan Cheuse tells us about a new novel by Allegra Goodman: Paradise Park.

President Bush today outlined his thoughts on trade in the Western Hemisphere at a meeting of the Organization of American States. The president said he hoped to see completion of a Free Trade Area of the Americas -- potentially the largest free trade zone in the world -- by the year 2005. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.