The first presidential convention of the new millennium is beginning less with a bang than a whimper. Despite a much-heralded effort to "reach out" to a diverse America, the GOP-like the Democrats for that matter-seems not to welcome controversy but to suppress it. TV networks that used to go gavel to gavel are pulling back ever more-but waiting, along with tens of thousands of news junkies-to see what happens outside. Will John McCain shake anything up when he addresses the so-called Shadow Convention on the demand for campaign finance reform? Will demonstrators shake up the streets of the city? Will the pre-scripted agenda inside the convention hall reveal what "compassionate conservatism" really means?
Newsmaker: Physicians for Social Responsibility and the group Ozone Action are trying to put an item on the agenda at next week's Republican convention: Global Warming. They've released a report about "extreme heat" in Los Angeles.
Reporter's Notebook: The music industry has federal law on its side-for the moment. But, whatever happens to Napster, how long can technology be denied?
KCRW
