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All Things Considered staff member Debra Schifrin talks about her recent 10 year high school reunion in the San Francisco Bay area. Having lived on the East Coast for six years, she was shocked at how the incredible wealth that has flooded Silicon Valley has affected her high school class. And she was surprised at her own reaction to all the talk about money.

Republicans now have a slim majority of just six votes in the House of Representatives -- and all 435 seats are on the ballot in November. Democrats are hoping to become the majority if they can sweep the close races on the West Coast. One of the most closely watched of these contests is in California's fabled Silicon Valley, ground zero for the micro-chip and personal computer revolution. NPR's Richard Gonzales reports.

Playwright Tom Stoppard has a new work on stage in London. The author of Rosencrantz and Guildensten are Dead and many others, turns out a nine-hour dramatic trilogy about the Russian intelligentsia. It's called The Coast of Utopia. Fred Mogul of member station WNYC reports.

Shipping companies file court papers charging West Coast dock workers with a work slowdown. Union leaders say they are working as fast as they can given the backup resulting from a recent lockout. NPR's Elaine Korry reports.

After a five-day struggle to save it, a 40-story-high oil rig sank today off the coast of Brazil with 400,000 gallons of crude oil and diesel fuel on board. Last Thursday, 10 people died when gas explosions damaged the rig. Now officials are trying to prevent an environmental disaster. Noah Adams talks with reporter Tom Gibb.

Host Bob Edwards speaks with Anne Bancroft. Bancroft and Liv Arnesen have recently become the first women to cross Antarctica on skis. The last leg of their journey measures a relatively small part of the total distance-- though it is equivalent to the distance across France. And because of ice forming off the coast of Antarctica, their boat is leaving on February 22 -- with or without them.

On Friday night a United States submarine surfaced off the coast of Hawaii and hit a Japanese fishing boat. The boat carried Japanese students and teachers from Uwajima Fisheries High School. Nine people are still missing. Host Lisa Simeone talks with Damon Erickson who teaches English at the school, located on the southern Japanese island Shikoku.

When Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, it also disrupted the education of thousands of students. While many schools remain closed, Benjamin Franklin High School is one of the few operating charter schools in New Orleans. We talk with two teachers.

President Bush has asked Americans to cut back on fuel usage as oil companies and refineries in the hurricane-affected Gulf Coast region work to resume production at facilities.

To better understand the role of the heartbroken lover in the Schubert song cycle "Winter's Journey," American tenor David Pisaro is hiking 200 miles in two weeks along the blustery English coast. He performs at stops along the way. Hear Pisaro and NPR's Scott Simon.