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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.

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.

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.

NPR'S Jack Speer reports the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted a new rule today that should give individual investors better access to timely information. The SEC's new rule will require companies to publicly disclose important information at the same time it is shared with the analysts and brokerage firms on Wall Street. Brokerage firms remain opposed. They say the new rule will have a "chilling" effect on communication.

Commentator Dave Bean, an English teacher at Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine, wonders what's happened to Ricky Valarde, a student flirting with gangs and dropping out of school, who gets excited about climbing. He presses Bean to take him and they work in exchange for the gear. Bean goes climbing with him one last time, and learns they can count on each other.

NASA has decided to take advantage of the next landing opportunity on Mars and put two robotic rovers on the planet's surface. NPR's Christopher Joyce reports on what will be the the first-ever "twin-rover" expedition to explore the surface, and the first touchdown since last December's crash landing of the ill-fated Mars Polar Lander mission.

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.

Linda and Noah read from the All Things Considered listener mailbag, including reactions to commentator Carol Wasserman's Aug. 8 essay on the realities of aging.

Actor, singer and drag queen Ru Paul. The six-foot seven entertainer is even taller in heels and has fashioned for himself a supermodel persona. He attributes his mainstream appeal to his non-threatening sexuality and his "non-bitchy" drag queen personality. Ru Paul is appearing out of drag in the new comedy But I'm A Cheerleader. He plays an ex-gay rehab counselor. Ru Paul's other films include Crooklyn, The Brady Bunch Movie, and Wigstock the Movie.