Morning Edition

Clearwater, Fla., is in the swing county of Pinellas. That county went to George W. Bush in 2004 and Barack Obama in 2008. Now it's up for grabs. Steve Inskeep talks to Clearwater Mayor George Cretekos about voters' concerns there.

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And we have some news to report from Israel this morning. A court has absolved the Israeli military of all responsibility for the 2003 death of a young American protestor on the Gaza/Egypt border.

Sheera Frenkel has this report from Haifa.

Among the speakers with a prime-time slot at the Republican National Convention in Tampa this week is South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. The speech could propel her into national politics.

The talk about Haley always mentions her gender, her age — 40 — and her race — Indian-American. She wears the labels proudly, and for $19.95 you can read all about them in her memoir Can't Is Not an Option. But there's another label Haley likes: fighter.

On Comedy Central not long ago, she mixed it up with fellow South Carolinian Stephen Colbert:

As extremely hot temperatures continue to hit much of the country, high school football teams are busy getting ready for the fall season.

Last year, five high school football players died of heat stroke. Across the country, experts are trying to prevent those kinds of tragedies.

At the University of Connecticut's Korey Stringer Institute, researchers study the effects of extreme heat on athletes.

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

A Chinese city set the record for the most women to participate in a parade while wearing bikinis. Over the weekend, Ocean City, Md., set out to break the record of 1,085 — but fell far short at 325. Organizers blame the rainy weather for holding down turnout.

The Republican National Convention will come to order at 2 p.m. in Tampa, Fla., and then quickly go into recess. Because of Tropical Storm Isaac, the main events have been delayed until Tuesday. This is the second convention in a row where the GOP had to delay the opening because of bad weather.

Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, died over the weekend at the age of 82. Steve Inskeep talks to Neil Degrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York, about Armstrong's impact on space exploration.

Republicans have decided to delay the official start of their presidential nominating convention until Tuesday. Tropical Storm Isaac is causing weather-related issues around Tampa, Florida. As the convention is about to begin, polls show GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney is tied with President Obama.