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William Hewlett, co-founder of the Hewlett-Packard Company has died at the age of 87. Karen Lewis is company historian for Agilent -- a company that spun-off from H.P. She talks to Noah Adams about how H.P. got its start.

Later this month and new online service called Questia will debut. It will provide a library containing 50,000 volumes of literature, scholarly journals and texts. The company hopes to eventually reach 250,000 volumes in the next three years. Questia is targeted mostly to students and will allow them to cross-reference, footnote and do a bibliography all online. Robert talks with Troy Williams, the CEO and President of Questia Media, about the new company and what it has taken to get started.

Mona Simpson is the author of three, large sprawling novels, one of which, Anywhere But Here, found its way to the movie screen. Her new book, Off Keck Road, is a slender novel that our reviewer Alan Cheuse says has reach beyond its length. (1:45) Off Keck Road, is published by Knopf.

Noah talks with James G. Wright, Assistant Metro Editor for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, about aluminum plants on the West Coast, which have discovered they can make more money by shutting down production and reselling the electricity they bought from the Bonneville Power Authority in Washington State. Wright says this is because they locked in the price of electricity with the B.P.A. years ago when natural gas was very cheap. Their contracts allow them to resell the electricity back to B.P.A.

California narrowly avoided cutting off electricity to part of the state yesterday as power reserves fell below critical levels. Rolling blackouts across the state may still be necessary in the near future. NPR's Ina Jaffe reports on how the electricity grid choreographs these rolling blackouts.

Western governors are meeting in Sacramento today to work out a deal on energy transfers to California. The state continues to struggle for a solution to its energy crisis as they deal with critically low power reserves and nearly bankrupt utility companies. NPR's Richard Gonzales reports.

NPR's Rob Gifford reports that the second most senior figure in Hong Kong's government has resigned. Anson Chan was appointed by the outgoing British administration, before Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule in 1997. She was known as a ardent supporter of democracy and civil liberties. However, she denies she left her post because of any disagreement with the Beijing-appointed chief executive of Hong Kong.

Bob Garfield, co-host of NPR's On The Media, examines why the news media are so smitten with Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan.

Rhythm and blues singer, songwriter, and Guitarist Barbara Lynn. The left-handed guitarist was one of the first female practioners of the instrument. Her signature song is the 1962 hit Youll Lose a Good Thing. The Rolling Stones recorded her song Oh Baby (We Got a Good Thing Going) in 1964. After a lengthy hiatus to raise a family, Lynn made a come back in 1986. Her new album is Hot Night Tonight (Antone Records).

Environmental groups opposed to the nomination of Gale Norton as Interior secretary joined their voices in protest today. They say Norton, the former attorney general of Colorado, expounds theories of land use well outside the mainstream of contemporary legal thinking. But Norton has the backing of conservatives who say she simply follows a strict interpretation of the Constitution and the intent of the founding fathers. NPR's David Welna reports.