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Rain and storm surge from Hurricane Rita have sent water over and through breaches in patched levees around New Orleans. The lower Ninth Ward, which was completely flooded by Hurricane Katrina, is once again under water.

Alan Cheuse reviews The Diviners, a satire by Rick Moody about an independent movie company trying to produce a television mini-series.

The New York Fire Department releases dispatch tapes from the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, along with transcripts of firefighters' oral histories recorded after the event. From member station WNYC, Beth Fertig reports.

The Bush administration is facing key decisions on troop levels in Iraq. Juan Williams says President Bush is hesitant to increase U.S. troop strength to overwhelm the insurgency, due to polling that shows falling support for the war.

More than 20,000 hurricane survivors have already moved out of the shelter at Houston's Astrodome, many finding temporary housing in the city. Countless have been helped by Houston churches.

In New Orleans, Mayor Ray Nagin says Hurricane Katrina has taken the lives of hundreds -- and most likely thousands -- of people in the city. Efforts to repair breached levees and floodwalls have been unsuccessful as a massive evacuation continues.

Hollywood sound designer Randy Thom has helped create the sound for such films as The Incredibles, The Polar Express and the upcoming release War of the Worlds. He wants NPR listeners to help him find new audio to help bring movies to phonic life.

John M. Coski is author of The Confederate Battle Flag: America's Most Embattled Emblem. The book looks at the flag's history and the various meanings attached to it. Some people view it as a symbol of white supremacy and racial injustice; others think it represents a rich Southern heritage. Coski is historian and library director at the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Va.

Photographer Issa Touma is the man behind an increasingly well-known photography festival in Aleppo, Syria. Touma uses his images to try to crowbar open Syrian cultural and intellectual life.

The American Red Cross is garnering the lion's share of hurricane relief donations from Americans. The relief agency is written into law as the first responder to natural catastrophes. But some charities say that leaves them with fewer resources for long-term rebuilding.