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Iraqi television broadcasts footage of what it claims is President Saddam Hussein visiting residential areas of Baghdad on Friday. If the video is authentic, it would be Saddam's first public appearance in two years. Meanwhile, Iraqi ministers continue to report the battle is going according to Iraqi plans. NPR's Anne Garrels reports.

The Los Alamos National Laboratory will remove all weapons-grade nuclear materials from a section of the lab after determining the area to be too prone to security lapses. Scientists at the facility say morale is low after four employees were fired and another was forced to resign. NPR's David Kestenbaum reports.

Despite new security rules aimed at quelling the Iraqi insurrection, there has been fresh fighting in some areas. At least five American soldiers died in a mortar attack. The interim Iraqi government acknowledges the severity of the insurrection and pledges to combat it. Hear NPR's Philip Reeves and NPR's Melissa Block.

The Tucson-based band not only takes its name from the border region between California and Mexico, but also finds inspiration in the geography, history and music of the area. Calexico joins David Dye from Wave Lab Studios in Tucson to play songs from its new album, Carried to Dust.

U.S. and Iraqi government troops move deeper into the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, as an overnight operation thrusts into the eastern part of the city, an area previously under insurgent control. Since U.S. forces captured the nearby town of Fallujah in November of 2004, Ramadi has been a main base of the insurgency.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff defends his decision to cut his agency's grants to New York City and for the Washington, D.C., area by 40 percent, saying New York still receives the most money of any city for security. News of the grant amounts prompted sharp criticism.

An ongoing study by sociologist Robert Cushing examines the list of U.S. military deaths in Iraq and reveals an apparent statistical anomaly: soldiers and Marines from rural areas are dying at higher rates than troops from cities and suburbs. NPR's Howard Berkes looks at the research and at a Nevada family's loss.

San Francisco-area jazz guitarist/singer/songwriter Joyce Cooling creates music because she says it's in her bones. NPR's Tony Cox talks to Cooling about her latest CD This Girl's Got To Play — hear full-length tracks from the critically lauded album.

When Joel Goldman was diagnosed with a medical condition that makes him shake and stutter, he quit his law practice and started writing novels inspired by true crime in the Kansas City area. Eventually, he gave his disorder to FBI Agent Jack Davis, one of his main characters.

Some economists warn that Hurricane Katrina will have economic impact far beyond the Gulf Coast region. David Wessel, deputy Washington bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal, says the inability to refine and distribute oil in hurricane-battered areas could negatively affect the economy nationally, including unemployment.

NPR's Susan Stamberg remembers her colleague, Mike Waters, who died yesterday at age 69. He hosted this program from 1971 to 1974, part of that time as co-host with Stamberg. Waters had a rich, deep voice. It was said "he had a cathedral in his head." We hear some his work -- include a skit in which a sunrise is "directed" by Waters as an archangel.

Robert talks to Jack Randorff, the acoustical engineer in charge of sound at the Republican Convention. It's Randorff's job to make sure everyone at the convention -- and perhaps more importantly, the broadcast audience -- can hear the sounds of the gavel, and the voices of the speakers. (2:30)NOTE: MUSIC HEARD HERE WAS THE ESKIMO "MOUTH BOW" VERSION OF THE "ALL THINGS CONSIDERED" THEME, PLAYED BY JOHN PALMES OF JUNEAU, ALASKA

Linda talks with Karen Donelan, a senior research associate at the Harvard School of Public Health, and the lead author of a survey published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, called "Whatever Happened to the Health Insurance Crisis in the United States? Voices From a National Survey." Donelon's survey found that one in four American adults had difficulty acquiring medical care in the last year.

Photographer Harriet Logan first visited Afghanistan in 1997, when the Taliban had been in power for only 15 months. She made friends with women who were compelled to wear a head-to-toe veil in public -- but in private, showed a very different face. NPR's Jacki Lyden talks with Logan about her new book, Unveiled: Voices of Women in Afghanistan.

Dondero is a brilliant storyteller and poet. His searching melodies and distinctive voice are both heartbreakingly beautiful and whimsically uplifting. But after releasing eight albums in the past decade, Dondero remains largely unknown. The Austin, Texas-based singer takes a funny swipe at his own obscurity on his latest album, Number Zero With a Bullet, available here in its entirety until Aug. 3.

In Oberlin, Ohio, young children have found a public voice -- over the airwaves of WOBC, the local college radio station. Two college seniors produce I'm on the Stereo, a program featuring interviews with -- and sometimes hosted by -- kids ages 4 to 18. Linda Wertheimer speaks with the producers of the show, and some of their young radio stars. (8:00) I'm on the Stereo's Web site.

Anouar Brahem, the Tunisian master of the Oud, the predecessor of the lute and guitar, took a break recently from his beloved instrument ... to play the piano. When he returned to the Oud, he created a new role for its ancient voice. Michelle Mercer has a review of Brahem's latest CD Le Pas Du Chat Noir, (The Black Cat's Footsteps) on ECM Records.

Noah talks to Katy Daley, an on-air personality at commercial radio station WMZQ in Washington, DC, about John Duffey, founder of the bluegrass group "The Seldom Scene." Duffey died yesterday at age 62 after a heart attack. Duffey was also in "The Country Gentlemen", an earlier group that helped popularize bluegrass. He played mandolin and sang in a high, tenor voice.

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.

Melissa Block reports on what's known about the causes of the crash of TWA Flight 800. The National Transportation and Safety Board is currently in charge of the investigation. As long as the NTSB is running the investigation the assumption is this is an accident. But the FBI will take over the investigation if it is determined that the explosion of the plane was the result of foul play. Tons of wrechage have been brought ashore for use in determiing this but thus far, the plane's voice and data recorders have yet to be found. Rough weather is hampering efforts to recover more wreckage.