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Good morning from Tampa where the Isaac-delayed Republican National Convention is set to get going for real this afternoon.

It's going to be a busy day for the GOP once the delegates are called to order at 2 p.m. ET. Here are some highlights from the schedule:

Good morning, we're following these stories today:

Isaac, On The Verge Of Hurricane Strength, Forecast For Landfall Tonight.

Romney's Forces Are In Control For Now, But Maybe Not Forever.

And here are more early stories:

Police say Fernando Santana Eagleheart was watching a movie in Sparks, Nev., when he dropped his gun and it fired. According to the Reno Gazette-Journal, Eagleheart apologized to the crowd in the theater as he left. Nobody was hurt except Eagleheart. He faces a misdemeanor charge for firing the gun.

In 2004, I started a project called A Book from Mom that provides incarcerated mothers with brand new children's books to give as gifts to their children during prison visits.

A Book from Mom helps strengthen the parent-child bond while a mother is away, seeks to increase literacy in both mother and child, and helps ease the tension of prison visits.

In its nine years, the project has placed more than 20,000 brand new books on prison shelves in Massachusetts and has inspired someone else to expand the program to a women's prison in Arizona.

Besse Cooper, the world's oldest living person, turned 116 over the weekend. For her birthday, Walton County, Ga., named a bridge after her. Over at Facebook headquarters, tech savvy Florence Detlor was honored by Mark Zuckerberg. At 101, Detlor is recognized as the social network's oldest registered user.

When the Republican National Convention finally gets underway today here in Tampa, it will renew a civil war that's been raging — off and on — for more than a century.

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.

NASA Rover Curiosity has been making history since it descended onto the surface of the Red Planet. At a news conference Monday, the rover made history again when it broadcast from the surface of Mars. NASA sent a data file of the recording up to the rover, and then beamed it back down.

People along a wide swath of the Gulf of Mexico coastline are making preparations for Tropical Storm Isaac. The storm is headed toward New Orleans, and is scheduled to develop into a hurricane that could make landfall as early as Tuesday.

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And I'm David Greene. Good morning.

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This is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning. I'm David Greene.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And I'm Steve Inskeep.

Having sidestepped a storm in the Gulf, the Republican Convention begins a day late in Tampa. Organizers are hoping to give the public a better feel for a presidential candidate that many have been reluctant to embrace.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Now that Isaac has passed by Tampa, the Republican National Convention gets underway today, but voters living in swing sates have already heard plenty of messages from both political parties - unprecedented waves of ads.

NPR's Steve Henn reports there is an app - an application that can help you figure out who's behind them.

STEVE HENN, BYLINE: If this is what your TV sounds like...

(SOUNDBITE OF AD)

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

ANNOUNCER #1: Two wars. Tax cuts for millionaires. Death.

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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.