Gunman, three others dead, including two Guardsmen
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Authorities say the man who opened fire at an IHOP restaurant in Nevada's capital city has died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
Carson City Sheriff Kenny Furlong says the man opened fire at the restaurant at 9 a.m. Tuesday, wounding six people and himself and killing two uniformed National Guard members and a third person.
He then shot himself and was transported to a hospital, where he died.
Nevada National Guard Sgt. Mike Getten says it wasn't immediately clear if the gunman had any connection with the military or the Guard. He says Guard members were meeting at the restaurant.
Furlong noted the shooting appeared to be an isolated incident.
UPDATE: Boehner, Cantor say positions shouldn't be locked in place
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republican leaders are urging flexibility, in advance of President Barack Obama's jobs speech to a joint session of Congress on Thursday.
In a letter to Obama, Speaker John Boehner (BAY'-nur) and House GOP leader Eric Cantor say neither the Republicans nor the White House should consider their ideas an "all-or-nothing situation."
The say both Republicans and the administration believe that their policy prescriptions are best for the country -- and that neither side is likely to get the other to adopt all of each other's proposals.
In the letter, Boehner and Cantor asked Obama to meet with the bipartisan leadership of congress this week to discuss his proposals in advance of the speech.
The outreach comes as polls show that Congress has lower approval than Obama on the economy. It's a political environment that White House aides say Obama will exploit if Republicans block his proposals.
ATLANTA (AP) — At least four people are dead from the rough winds and drenching rains of the former Tropical Storm Lee.
And the storm is continuing to bring heavy rain with it, as it moves northward. Flood watches and warnings are in effect from Alabama and Tennessee through West Virginia to upstate New York -- which was soaked by Hurricane Irene.
Meanwhile, officials on the Alabama coast are trying to determine the origin of the tar balls that have washed onto the state's prime tourist beaches. The mayor of Orange Beach says the globs of oil that have been found so far are very small.
Officials in Gulf Shores say black and brown chunks of tar -- some nearly the size of baseballs -- are on the beach. They're being sent to Auburn University for testing to see if the tar is from last year's BP oil spill.
One Alabama woman who spent the Labor Day weekend in Gulf Shores says she came back from a walk on the beach to find that she had to scrub her feet with a wash cloth and soap.
BP says it's sending survey teams to the beaches, to see what's been deposited there.
Officials say the material found so far doesn't compare with the thick oil found on beaches after the spill.
Hurricane Katia weakens a bit, still a Cat 3 storm
MIAMI (AP) — Hurricane Katia is a little weaker but still a Category 3 storm as it moves over the open Atlantic after briefly becoming a Category 4 system.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami says Katia's maximum sustained winds Tuesday were 115 mph (185 kph). The hurricane center says some fluctuation in strength is possible over the next 24 hours followed by slow weakening.
Forecast maps show Katia veering to the northeast away from the U.S. mainland in the coming week. But the hurricane center says large swells could affect the East Coast, Bermuda, the Greater Antilles and parts of the Bahamas over the next few days.
Katia is centered about 365 miles (590 kilometers) south-southwest of Bermuda and moving northwest at 9 mph (15 kph).
NEW: Vt. gov. seeks vacation homes for flood victims
MORETOWN, Vt. (AP) — Vermont's governor is asking anyone who owns a second home in the state to let displaced Irene flood victims use it temporarily.
Citing preliminary assessments that show about 700 homes were damaged or destroyed in the Aug. 28 flood, Gov. Peter Shumlin says he hopes second homeowners will step up to fill the need for temporary housing.
He says assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency won't go all the way to getting most people who lost everything to flooding situated in their own housing.
He made the comments Tuesday in Moretown, flanked by a couple whose mobile home was destroyed.
According to FEMA's preliminary damage estimate, about 125 Vermont homes were destroyed by Irene and about 570 suffered major damage.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats are unveiling legislation that provides $6 billion in new disaster aid to help victims of Hurricane Irene and those from disasters dating to Hurricane Katrina.
The legislation could spark a battle with tea party-backed House Republicans, who say Congress should cut federal spending elsewhere to pay for disaster aid.
Democrats counter that the recent budget pact signed into law last month by President Barack Obama allows for federal disaster aid to be provided as emergency spending outside of other budget limits. The White House says $6.7 billion is needed to take care of disaster needs next year.
A Senate Appropriations panel responsible for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's budget approved the measure by voice vote.
NEW YORK (AP) — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says that after a decade of war with al-Qaida the potential for another devastating terrorist assault "remains very real."
The Pentagon chief spoke Tuesday at ground zero of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, following a somber walk through the National September 11 Memorial park and museum with Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Panetta told reporters that Americans must remain vigilant against the threat of another successful al-Qaida attack.
"The potential for that kind of attack remains real," he said from the 10th floor of 7 World Trade Center, the first completed office tower at the site where hijacked commercial airliners were flown into the Twin Towers, killing more than 2,700 people.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Family members and Western officials say an American civilian working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been strangled to death in Afghanistan.
Carrie Hughes says military officials came to her house in South Carolina on Monday to inform her that her father, James W. "Will" Coker, had been killed.
Kabul corps spokesman J.D. Hardesty confirmed that a corps employee had been killed but gave no further details.
A Western official in Kabul who was briefed on the incident said that the man was kidnapped from a power plant where he was working on the outskirts of Kabul, and his body was later found in a cave in nearby hills. He was strangled with a belt, the official said, speaking anonymously to discuss matters of intelligence.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Eddie Murphy is hosting the Oscars.
Academy Awards producers Brett Ratner and Don Mischer say the actor and comedian will host the 84th annual Oscar ceremony.
Ratner called the 50-year-old entertainer "a comedic genius; one of the greatest and most influential live performers ever." Mischer called Murphy "a truly groundbreaking performer" whose "quick wit and charisma will serve him very well as Oscar host."
This will be Murphy's first time hosting the Academy Awards. He was nominated for an Oscar in 2006 for his supporting role in "Dreamgirls."
Murphy said in a statement Tuesday that he is "enormously honored" to join the ranks of past Academy Awards hosts such as Johnny Carson, Bob Hope, Billy Crystal, Steve Martin and Whoopi Goldberg.
UPDATE: Democrats, GOP duel over consumer agency nominee
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are opposing President Barack Obama's pick to head a new bureau designed to protect consumers borrowing money and making other financial transactions, saying the agency has too much unfettered power.
But at a hearing of the Senate Banking Committee, Democrats say the nominee — former Ohio attorney general Richard Cordray — should be quickly confirmed.
Alabama GOP Sen. Richard Shelby says that with the feeble economy, this is no time to give "an unelected and unaccountable bureaucrat a blank check" to impose rules that could make it harder for companies to create jobs.
But Banking panel chairman Tim Johnson of South Dakota says by delaying approval of the nomination, Republicans are playing political games aimed and trying to thwart the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from protecting consumers.
NEW: Working-age adults make up record share of US poor
WASHINGTON (AP) — Working-age America is the new face of poverty.
Census figures show the new working-age poor represent nearly 3 out of 5 poor people, the highest share on record. They include adults 18-64 who were laid off in the recent recession as well as single twenty-somethings still looking for jobs.
It's a shift from the early 1970s when children made up the main impoverished group. Demographers say the now-weakened economy and limited government safety net for workers are playing a factor.
When new census figures for 2010 are released next week, analysts expect a continued increase in the overall poverty rate due to persistently high unemployment last year.
Currently, the U.S. poverty rate stands at 14.3 percent, or 43.6 million people.
CHICAGO (AP) — A new government report shows fewer U.S. adults are smoking, and those who light up are smoking fewer cigarettes daily. But the trend is weaker than the government had hoped.
Overall, about 19 percent of adults said they smoked last year, down from about 21 percent in 2005. The rate for smoking 30 or more cigarettes daily dropped to about 8 percent from almost 13 percent.
The report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention compared last year with 2005 and says the decline means 3 million fewer adults were smoking.
The recent trend has been mostly flat. CDC chief Dr. Thomas Frieden says any decline is a good step. But he also notes that you don't have to be a heavy smoker to get smoking-related diseases.
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