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Ellen Ciurczak of member station KQED reports that the California state senate has passed an emergency measure that would reduce the cost of electricity. The state assembly won't consider the bill until after next week's Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. Under deregulation, electric bills for some Californians have doubled and even tripled this summer.

NPR's Mike Shuster reports that the Russian navy is continuing rescue operations, hoping against hope to save survivors among the 118 men aboard the submarine Kursk. British and Norwegian teams are heading to the site of the disaster in the Barents Sea, but won't arrive before Saturday. President Vladimir Putin said today that immediately after the accident in the Barents Sea last weekend, he was told the chances for saving the men were extremely slim.

Maura Farrelly reports on summer camp, where kids can learn complex computer skills instead of participating in the more traditional camp fare of games and outdoor activities. Many of these kids say they don't fit in well with peers at school, but at computer camp, they find acceptance and self worth in their computer skills. They also get some tips on how to use those skills to gain more acceptance when school starts again.

NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports that many unsuspecting women from former Communist countries in Eastern Europe are being sold like slaves and forced into prostitution in Western Europe by organized crime rings. Albanian gangs run the highly lucrative and extremely brutal sex slave trade in Italy. Poggioli talks to some women who were rescued and freed by Italian police.

NPR's Pam Fessler reports on the Democrats' push to get their agenda acted on during these final weeks of the 106th Congress. Led by President Clinton, Senate Leader Tom Daschle and House Leader Richard Gephardt, the Democrats once again urged passage of an increase in the minimum wage and a patients' bill of rights. But both parties know that much of what is going on maybe less about legislation and more about gaining the electoral advantage as November 7 approaches.

NPR's Allison Richards reports that medical ethicists are awaiting the outcome of a case in Britain in which judges will rule whether doctors may surgically separate Siamese twins in hopes of saving one of them. Doctors have said both babies will die in three-to-six months unless they are separated, but the operation means certain death for one of the infants. The case is important ethically because it involves the power of doctors and courts to sacrifice one life to save another.

NPR's Patricia Neighmond reports on a new survey in the Journal of the American Medical Association which shows a decline in the number of students applying to medical school. Experts say the booming economy and wider choices in the health care field could be among the reasons for the decline. Some say doctor complaints about long hours and less pay could also be factors.

NPR's Eric Westervelt reports from Philadelphia that newly unsealed police documents show that Pennsylvania State troopers posed as union carpenters to infiltrate groups of protesters at last month's Republican National Convention. During the convention, Philadelphia police repeatedly denied any such infiltration. But city and state police worked together to contain the protests, so it's improbable that city police didn't know what the state police were doing.

NPR's Ted Clark reports on the possibility that North Korea has privately agreed to allow US troops to remain on the Korean peninsula, as part of the reconciliation between North and South Korea. South Korea's President Kim Dae-Jung says he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il reached an agreement during a June summit meeting that the remaining US troops would help stabilize the region.

Producer Taki Telonidis and Reporter Hal Cannon of the Western Folklife Center tell the story of the repatriation of a lock of hair from Chief Big Foot, the leader of the Sioux band that was massacred soldiers of then U.S. Cavalry at Wounded Knee in 1880. Chief Big Foot's lock of hair was taken by a white trader and given to the Massachusetts Historical Society where it remained until this summer when it was retuned to land of Chief Big Foot's people.