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In the 1980s, Dungeons and Dragons inspired millions of kids to spend their spare time pretending to be wizards and dwarves. A new version of the D&D rule book comes out tonight, and the designers are betting it will lure today's kids away from video and computer games.

The Reform Party opened its national convention in Long Beach California today, still divided over the official standing of presidential candidate Pat Buchanan. Supporters of the firebrand conservative insist he has won a mail-in primary for the Reform nomination, while other party members say he has been disqualified. Buchanan supporters had the upper hand in the convention hall, so the dissenters walked out. NPR's Andy Bowers talks to Noah live from Long Beach.

Researching family history, short-story writer Desiree Cooper turns to classified ads from the 1700s which describe runaway slaves. She wonders if the man who fled wearing a blue suit and carrying a fiddle might be a distant relative.

Janet Babin of member station WCPN reports that scientists at a small company in Ohio have come up with what they see as a solution to a growing problem in many U.S. lakes. Eurasian water milfoil is a weed that grows so large and fast that it clogs the water and makes boating difficult. The company is using a tiny beetle which feeds on the weed to control it.

Hadassah Lieberman went home today to Gardner, Massachusetts, the town where her family made a new life after surviving the Holocaust in Europe. Arriving at Elm Street School, she got a celebrity's welcome as the wife of the man the Democratic Party will nominate next week for vice president. NPR's Tovia Smith reports.

Noah speaks with Coast Guard Commander Rick Ferraro about the search for the ship that dumped oil off of Florida's southern coast. It's the area's worst spill in at least a decade. Since Tuesday, investigators from the Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have been tracking down vessels that were in the area at the time the spill occurred. Ferraro says oil samples from all of the known vessels have been collected, and a lab is comparing those samples with oil from the slick.

Alan Cheuse reviews Alice Lichtenstein's first novel called, Genius of the World, about an American family in turmoil. The publisher is Zoland.

Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush spent a second day barnstorming California today, bringing along the man who nearly derailed him back in the primaries. Once a rival, Arizona Senator John McCain has become a cheerleader for Bush, and the two are showing off their newfound camaraderie. NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Linda from Salinas, California.

NPR's David Welna reports as Chicago works to improve its public housing some suburban mayors fear the city's just transferring the problems and people into their struggling neighborhoods. Chicago is tearing down its high-rise public housing and the residents are reconcentrating in predominantly black suburbs. Not so fast, say the suburbs.

Hubble's iconic images captured the public's imagination. Will NASA's next big space telescope, which sees infrared light, produce astronomy scenes that pack a similar punch?