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ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

NPR's Debbie Elliott was on the convention floor last night, and she reports the sentiment there seems to be that a speech from the Comeback Kid will be a shot in the arm for Democrats.

DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE: To get a preview of what delegates are anticipating from President Clinton tonight, I climbed high above the convention floor to find his home state delegation.

DEBBIE WILLHITE: Hello. How are you? Welcome to Arkansas.

ELLIOTT: Thank you.

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ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

I'm Melissa Block.

And we begin this hour with politics. It's day two of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. Tonight's headliner is former President Bill Clinton. And we have our own headliner, NPR's Mara Liasson, who's joining us from Charlotte with a look ahead. Hey, Mara.

MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Hi, Melissa.

The space shuttle Endeavour will make its final trip next month, to the California Science Center in Los Angeles. But while most South L.A. residents are excited to have a piece of history nearby, many are also upset that the shuttle's 12-mile transit is forcing the city to cut down about 400 trees.

On Monday, Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan told a campaign rally audience in North Carolina that "the president can say a lot of things, but he can't tell you you are better off." Later that day in Detroit, Vice President Joe Biden responded "America is better off today than they left us."

New York Times Washington bureau chief David Leonhardt argues that both Ryan and Biden are right: It's partly semantics.

Zadie Smith wrote her last novel On Beauty seven years ago — a long time in the anxious world of publishing. Her new novel NW was released in the U.S. on Monday. Critic Maureen Corrigan asks: Was it worth the wait?

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California is working on a plan to balance goals of developing renewable energy projects on desert lands and protect the endangered species that live there. Californians can weigh in at a public meeting on Wednesday

Remote desert areas may seem like the perfect place for wind and solar energy projects. But some projects have already stalled because they threaten endangered species such as the desert tortoise or bighorn sheep.

The state and the federal government are working on a plan to balance those two goals.

Many people buy and eat organic food because they believe it's more nutritious. A new study suggests that may not be the case. But with a vast number of influences and variables, from the ripeness of produce to the length of the studies, researchers note that more research is needed.