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Writer Verta Mae Grosvenor examines how massive, rapid resort development has altered life on the Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina. The long-time residents are the Gullah -- or Geechee -- people. The names are interchangable. The Gullah people are descendents of slaves, and managed for years to retain a distinctive, African-influenced way of life. Some 30 years ago, high-end tourism came to the region. One by one, land was bought up by outside developers. Now the Gullah people want to profit from the little land they still own.

The National Transportation Safety Board says a preliminary investigation has not yet determined the cause of last year's crash of an Egyptian airliner off the coast of New York. But NTSB Chairman Jim Hall said there were no unresolved safety issues. Egyptair flight 990 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in October killing all 217 people on board. Egyptian officials said more work needed to be done, mainly on the Boeing 767's elevator control system. Speculation about the cause of the crash has centered on one of the plane's co-pilots and the possibility that he deliberated plunged the aircraft into the sea. NPR's Guy Raz reports

Texas Governor George W. Bush began the final full week of the presidential campaign in the West today, trying to pry loose the biggest prize of all -- California and its trove of 54 electoral votes. Polls show the race tightening on the West Coast, where Bush has been outspending Vice President Al Gore in recent weeks. Gore now plans a return visit of his own to the state this week. NPR's Andy Bowers is based in Southern California and has been following the presidential campaign.

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.

Noah Adams talks with reporter Tom Gibb about a massive fire which has crippled an enormous 40-story offshore oil rig located 75-miles off Brazil's Atlantic coast. Officials are trying to prevent a spill of the 400,000 gallons of oil on board. The rig may sink within 48 hours. Three explosions on Thursday damaged a pillar supporting the rig; the explosions killed one worker and left nine others missing and presumed dead. The offshore rig was Brazil's top oil producer in the rich Campos Basin.

At least 10 people have been detained in connection with Monday's triple bombing in the Sinai resort of Dahab, Egypt. The explosions killed at least 22 people and wounded scores more. The investigation continues along Egypt's Red Sea Coast.

The first section of an 1,100-mile oil pipeline officially opened Wednesday in Azerbaijan. It will eventually carry oil from the Caspian Sea through Georgia and on to the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Writer Thomas Goltz has traveled the route of the pipeline by motorcycle and tells Melissa Block about the project.

In addition to flooding and power outages, Hurricane Katrina's landfall on the Gulf Coast may create delays in the area's oil and gas production, which supplies a large amount of the nation's needs. Monday morning, oil prices surged above $70 a barrel.

The cargo ship MV Torgelow returned to her home port in Mombasa, Kenya, last weekend after being held for 53 days by pirates off the coast of Somalia. This and other similar attacks are preventing relief agencies from delivering food and other supplies by sea to Somalia, according to relief officials.

In the third and final story in our series profiling California's Inland Empire, NPR's Scott Horsley reports that this sprawling region east of Los Angeles and north of San Diego has one of the fastest-growing economies in the nation. Affordable housing has drawn commuters from the coast, who in turn attracted small businesses. Then good highways and railroads turned the Inland Empire into a major distribution center. Now the question is whether it can climb the economic ladder by attracting high-paying jobs.