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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. Somebody in Pittsburgh took the law into his own hands. More precisely, the person took a paintbrush into his own hands. He or she is apparently upset that in 2009 the city denied requests to paint crosswalks in the Polish Hill neighborhood. This unknown person painted unofficial crosswalks. Authorities are publicly scolding the crosswalk vigilante. But by coincidence, they're also promising to install real crosswalks within weeks. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has suggested a connection between al-Qaida in North Africa and the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. She did not give any further details on what role the al-Qaida affiliate may have played in the attack

A tentative contract agreement has been reached between the National Football League and the referees' union. The impasse began in June when the NFL locked out the officials and used replacement referees.

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There is at least one group of musicians out there who don't seem to have any money problems. Our last word in business is: Kiss. They know what their fans want.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ROCK N' ROLL ALL NIGHT" )

KISS: (Singing) I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day. I, wanna rock and roll...

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

You know you're moving your head as if you're playing a guitar onstage right now.

Those who have made up their minds, both Democrats and Republicans, take advantage of early voting. Paul Gronke, a Political Science professor at Reed College, talks to David Greene about who votes early, and how early voting has changed the way people go to the polls. Gronke is Director of the Early Voting Information Center.

Oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee has written an article in Newsweek about what he calls America's current failure to treat and prevent cancer — and a failure to make funding cancer research a priority. Dr. Mukherjee tells David Greene there is a lag in designing cancer drugs as well as funding cancer research in the U.S.

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(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And I'm David Greene. Renee Montagne is talking with voters in Colorado this morning for our series First and Main.

It is hard to believe but we are finally nearing the end of a presidential campaign that in many ways started back in January 2009.

INSKEEP: Iowa begins early voting today. Other states begin soon, and the presidential candidates are preparing for a final expensive and possibly brutal final act.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's swing through Ohio took him from the suburbs of Columbus through parched cornfields and pumpkin patches to industrial corridors near Cleveland and Toledo. Romney says his policies will make things better for struggling Americans.

A small solar power company hopes to become a winner in a market littered with losers.

San Jose, Calif.-based SoloPower is opening a $60 million manufacturing facility in Portland, Ore., Thursday as it works toward receiving a major government loan — like the one given to now-bankrupt Solyndra. SoloPower thinks it has a strategy to succeed where Solyndra failed.