1. COLORADO FIRES WORSEN, FORCE 32,000 TO EVACUATE
A wildfire near Colorado Springs grew suddenly worse Tuesday, and 32,000 people were forced to flee their homes. The Waldo Canyon Fire is near several state landmarks, including Pikes Peak and the Air Force Academy. It's just one of a number of ferocious fires burning in Colorado and is thought to have consumed more than 6,200 acres in the past few days. The High Park Fire near Fort Collins has consumed 87,250 acres since it started two weeks ago, making it the most destructive fire in state history. [Reuters]
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2. NORA EPHRON DIES AT 71
The journalist, humorist, essayist, Oscar-nominated screenwriter, and film director passed away Tuesday night in New York City. Her son said the cause of her death was pneumonia caused by acute myeloid leukemia. She wrote classic romantic comedies like When Harry Met Sally, and both wrote and directed a number of others, including Sleepless in Seattle and Julie & Julia. Ephron got her start as a journalist in New York in the 1960s. She married Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein in 1976 and got into the film business working on a script for the film adaptation of his and Bob Woodward's book All the President's Men. She later wrote a best-selling novel, Heartburn, about her painful divorce from Bernstein. [New York Times]
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3. STOCKTON, CALIF., TO FILE FOR BANKRUPTCY
Stockton, Calif., is set to become the largest city in the country to declare bankruptcy. Mayor Ann Johnston says Chapter 9 is the only remaining option for the city, with officials having failed to come to an agreement on how to address a $26 million budget deficit. A river port city with a population of 290,000, Stockton will be the seventh U.S. municipality to file for bankruptcy protection this year. [Associated Press, Reuters]
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4. GUNMEN ATTACK SYRIAN TV STATION
Syrian state media reports that gunmen attacked a pro-Assad TV station in Ikhbariya, south of Damascus, killing seven. Hours before the alleged attack, President Bashar al-Assad said the country was in "a real state of war." [BBC]
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5. POLLS: OBAMA AHEAD IN THREE SWING STATES
According to a new Quinnipiac University poll, President Obama leads Mitt Romney in three election battleground states. Obama is ahead by nine points in Ohio, six points in Pennsylvania, and four points in Florida. [Bloomberg]
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6. GUTHRIE MAY REPLACE CURRY ON TODAY
Savannah Guthrie is reportedly the frontrunner to replace Ann Curry on NBC's Today show. Word got out last week that NBC was negotiating Curry's exit, just before ratings were released showing that ABC's Good Morning America had beaten Today for five consecutive weeks. [Washington Post]
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7. DEBBY BECOMES A TROPICAL DEPRESSION
On Tuesday night, the National Hurricane Center declared that Debby had weakened from a tropical storm to a tropical depression. Debby is expected to head out to the Atlantic on Wednesday, but forecasters say coastal areas are still in danger of flooding. [Associated Press]
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8. APPLE WINS SAMSUNG TABLET SALES BAN
In a big patent dispute win for Apple on Tuesday, a judge banned Samsung from selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the U.S. The injunction will go into effect as soon as Apple posts a $2.6 million bond for damages suffered by Samsung in the event the ruling is later found to have been wrong. Samsung, in response to the ruling, which it plans to appeal, said in a statement: "Apple sought a preliminary injunction of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1, based on a single design patent that addressed just one aspect of the product's overall design." [Reuters]
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9. MORSI TO PICK WOMAN FOR EGYPT'S VP
A policy adviser to Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's newly elected president, says Morsi will pick both a woman and a Christian to serve as two of his vice presidents. A former Muslim Brotherhood leader, Morsi once worked to ban women from becoming president; prior to the election, he said he would support women's rights. [CNN]
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10. QUEEN ELIZABETH MEETS WITH EX-IRA LEADER
In what's being hailed as a "historic handshake," Queen Elizabeth met and extended her hand to Martin McGuinness, a former Irish Republican Army commander, on Wednesday. McGuinness is the now the deputy first minister of Northern Ireland; his meeting with the queen comes 14 years after the IRA ceased its bloody war against the British claim to the province. [Reuters]
