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{LOST AND FOUND SOUND: "VOICES OF THE DUSTBOWL"} -- Today we hear the latest installment the "Lost and Found Sound," series: "Voices of the Dustbowl." In the 1930s, hundreds of thousands of people from Oklahoma and Arkansas traveled to California, in search of better living. Depression-related poverty and a massive drought and subsequent dust storms had made life impossible for them back home. There were no jobs, and the fields were fallow. California held the promise of work and wages, harvesting fruit and vegetables year-round. Sixty years ago, in the summer of 1940, Charles Todd was hired by the Library of Congress to visit the federal camps where many of these migrants lived, to create an audio oral history of their stories, and to document the success of the camp program to the Roosevelt administration back in Washington. Todd carried a 50-pound Presto recorder from camp to camp that summer, interviewing the migrant workers. He made hundreds of hours of recordings on acetate and cardboard discs. Todd was there at the same time that writer John Steinbeck was interviewing many of the same people in these camps, for research on a new novel called "The Grapes of Wrath." Producer Barrett Golding went though this massive collection of Todd's recordings. Together, they bring us this story, narrated by Charles Todd.

NPR's Peter Kenyon reports from Philadelphia, where the Republicans are holding their Platform Committee hearings in preparation for next week's presidential nominating convention. Republicans, following the lead of their presumed nominee, George W. Bush, are taking some of the tougher-edged rhetoric out of this year's document. But it remains a strongly conservative platform, as abortion-rights advocates were once again thwarted in their efforts to modify the plank.

NPR's Michele Kelemen reports that President Vladimir Putin is meeting with 21 Russian businessmen today in an effort to ease rising tensions caused by legal cases against big companies. The criminal tax investigations into some of Russia's top business tycoons, is making them unhappy. They accuse the government of singling them out.

Los Angeles Times film critic Ken Turan reviews Eddy Murphy's new Movie, Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps. Murphy's portrayal of the overweight and idiosyncratic characters in his first Nutty Professor movie won acclaim. But Turan believes this time around, the jokes and characters have lost their appeal.

NPR's Larry Abramson reports that officials from both Time Warner and America Online testified before the Federal Communications Commission yesterday. They're trying to convince the FCC to allow their planned merger. But a number of companies are opposing the business deal, saying it would put to much power in the hands of one company and could hurt consumers.

NPR's Steve Inskeep is on the road with the Bush-Cheney campaign. Today the presumptive Republican ticket stumped in Arkansas, the home state of President Clinton, on the way to next week's Republican Convention in Philadelphia. George W. Bush and Richard Cheney are making a point to stop in states that have voted Democratic in the last two elections.

Some members of Congress are concerned that taxpayers aren't getting their money's worth when the federal government sells and swaps land in the West. NPR's Howard Berkes reports that an audit of Western land transactions by the General Accounting Office has found questionable deals.

In the 20 years since the terror attacks of 9/11, movies have both been shaped by — and have shaped — the public's perception of that day's events.

The FDA has ruled on which e-cigarette products can remain on the market and which must be taken off, but deferred action on products made by Juul, which accounts for 40% of the e-cigarette market.

Alarms sounded on the Russian segment of the Space Station early Thursday. The crew reportedly activated air filters and returned to their "night rest" once the air quality was back to normal.