PRESIDENTIAL RACE ENTERS FINAL MONTH: A presidential race shaken up by
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's winning debate performance last Wednesday (October 3rd) and September's jobs report out Friday that showed unemployment falling to 7.8 percent for the first time since President Obama took office, down from 8.1 percent the previous month, is entering its final month this week. Romney will deliver a major foreign policy address today in which he'll call for the U.S. to be more assertive on the international stage, while Obama will declare a national monument at the home of the late labor leader Cesar Chavez, the United Farmworkers Union founder, an event intended to appeal to Hispanic voters in swing states.

PHARMACY TIED TO MENINGITIS RECALLS ALL ITS PRODUCTS: The pharmacy that distributed a steroid linked to an outbreak of fungal meningitis expanded its recall on Saturday
(October 6th) to now include all of its products. The New England Compounding Center said the move was a precautionary measure and that there's no evidence other products have been contaminated. The Centers for Disease Control and prevention said Sunday that the number of cases of the rare, non-contagious meningitis has risen to 91 in nine states, with at
least seven people killed. The outbreak could potentially affect hundreds or even thousands of people who received injections of the contaminated steroid for back pain from July to September.

BORDER PATROL AGENT BELIEVED KILLED BY FRIENDLY FIRE: The head of the Border Patrol agents' union said Sunday
(October 7th) that the 30-year-old agent killed last week in southern Arizona apparently opened fire on two fellow agents thinking they were armed smugglers and was killed when they returned fire. The two sets of agents approached an area where a border sensor had been activated early Tuesday and encountered each other in an area of heavy brush,
according to National Border Patrol Council president George McCubbin. Agent Nicholas Ivie apparently opened fire first and wounded one of the other agents, but was killed by return fire. McCubbin's statement comes after the FBI said Friday that the shooting appeared to be a friendly fire incident.

VENEZUELAN PREZ CHAVEZ RE-ELECTED: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was re-elected for a third time on Sunday (October 7th), coming out on top in his closest race yet over nearly 14 years in office. With 90 percent of votes counted, Chavez had more than 54 percent of the vote to 45 percent for challenger Henrique Capriles, a former state governor. After his victory was announced, Chavez addressed thousands of supporters from a balcony of the presidential palace, declaring, "The revolution has triumphed!" and saying his
supporters, quote, "voted for socialism." Chavez had pledged ahead of
the election to make an even stronger push for socialism in the next term.

TURKEY FIRES INTO SYRIA FOR FIFTH DAY: Turkish forces fired across the border
into Syria on Sunday (October 7th) after a shell from Syria landed in Turkey's border town of Akcakale. It was the fifth straight day that Turkey fired into Syria in retaliation for incoming bombardment from the neighboring nation, where President Bashar al-Assad's forces are fighting rebels who control land near the Turkish border. Turkey had previously warned that it would respond with force to any violence spilling over into its territory. The cross-border exchange of fire contributes to the fear that Syria's civil war will draw in regional powers.

PHILIPPINE GOV'T. REACHES PEACE DEAL WITH MUSLIM REBELS: The Philippine
government and the country's largest Muslim rebel group have reached a preliminary peace deal that's a major breakthrough toward ending a decades-long insurgency that killed tens of thousands of people. Philippine President Benigno Aquino III said that what he described as a "framework agreement" announced Sunday (October 7th) calling for an autonomous region for Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation was an assurance that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front insurgents will no longer try to secede. The agreement lays out principles on issues including the extent of power, revenues and territory of the Muslim
region. Officials said a final peace deal could be reached by 2016.

RECORD-BREAKING GAS PRICES IN CALIFORNIA: California drivers faced another day of record-breaking gas prices on Sunday (October 7th), due to a temporary drop in supply caused by a power outage the previous Monday at a refinery in the southern part of the state. The refinery came back online Friday, and prices were expected to stabilize in the coming days, although they could still peak higher before going back down. Gas prices statewide on Sunday averaged $4.65 for a gallon of regular unleaded, according to Triple-A, up from $4.61 a day earlier. Both day's averages were the highest in the nation.

SPACE X DRAGON COMMERCIAL CARGO CAPSULE LAUNCHED: The Dragon capsule commercial cargo ship from California company SpaceX was launched Sunday (October 7th) on the Falcon rocket, headed for the International Space Station.  This trip is the first of a dozen supply runs to the orbiting outpost under the $1.6 billion SpaceX contract with NASA. The Dragon is carrying key science experiments and other supplies to the space station, and after three weeks there, will return to Earth bringing other cargo back with it. This was the second launch of a Dragon capsule to the space station, after a test flight last spring. NASA
has teamed up with private businesses to carry out the supply runs after the end of the space shuttle program last year.

OBAMA CAMPAIGN RAISES $181 MILLION IN SEPTEMBER: President Obama's re-election campaign announced on Saturday (October 6th) that they'd raised $181 million in
September, the largest monthly amount for the campaign since the president launched his re-election bid. The announcement said that 98 percent of the contributions in September were $250 or less, with an average contribution of $53. Also emphasized was that the campaign and the Democratic National Committee has gotten more than 10 million donations in 2012, which is a record. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's campaign has not yet released its September fundraising figures.

ARKANSAS STATE REP. TAKES HEAT AFTER CALLING SLAVERY 'BLESSING IN DISGUISE': A Republican state representative in Arkansas is taking heat and other GOPers
in the state are distancing themselves from him after he wrote in a book that slavery was a, quote, "blessing in disguise." State Rep. Jon Hubbard wrote in a 2009 self-published book called, Letters to the Editor: Confessions of a Frustrated Conservative, that, quote, "the institution of slavery that the black race has long believed to be an abomination upon its people may actually have been a blessing in disguise." He also wrote that African-Americans were better off than they would have been had they not been captured and forcibly taken to the U.S. for enslavement. On Saturday (October 6th), State Republican Chairman Doyle
Webb called the book "highly offensive," and Republican U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford, who represents the northeastern part of the state, said it was "divisive and racially inflammatory."

EINSTEIN LETTER ABOUT GOD BEING SOLD ON EBAY: A 1954 letter written by Albert Einstein in which he rejected the idea of God is being sold on eBay, with a starting price of $3 million. In the letter Einstein wrote a year before his death to philosopher Eric Gutkind, he discussed his views on religion, including that the concept of God is a product of human weakness and the Bible, quote, "a collection of honorable but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish." The letter is being sold by an anonymous collector who bought it in 2008. The auction beings on eBay today (October 8th) and will close on October 18th.

THREE DAYS GRACE UNVEILS ’CHALK OUTLINE’ VIDEO: Three Days Grace has unveiled the official music video for "Chalk Outline," the first single from the Canadian band's new Transit Of Venus album. The clip finds singer Adam Gontier prowling the streets of Brooklyn as various accidents and altercations occur around him. The rest of the band members make cameos in the video as well. The song is currently enjoying its fourth week at the top of the Active Rock radio chart, making it the eighth single of the group's career to hit that peak.

THREE NEW SONGS SET FOR 3 DOORS DOWN HITS PACKAGE: 3 Doors Down has revealed that a best-of collection titled Greatest Hits will arrive on November 19th, featuring nine of the group's all-time biggest tracks along with three new tunes called "One Light," "There's A Life" and "Goodbyes." The first of the new songs, "One Light," made its debut in late August at the Republican National Convention, where the band performed on the main convention stage.

• Other tracks slated to appear include "Kryptonite," "It's Not My Time," "When I'm
       Gone," "Away From The Sun" and "Here Without You."
• 3 Doors Down has been going through a rough stretch. The band's latest album, 2011's Time Of My Life, was a commercial disappointment, and the group parted ways earlier this year with founding guitarist Matt Roberts.
• Roberts left the band due to circulation problems he's been having for years. Guitarist Chet Roberts, unrelated to Matt, has stepped in for live work.

EX-HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD SINGER DEUCE FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST FORMER BANDMATES: Ex-Hollywood Undead vocalist Deuce is suing his former bandmates for assault and battery as the result of an incident last May in which Deuce, whose real name is Aron
Erlichman, alleged that two members of the group and others jumped him outside a Los Angeles club and beat him badly, leaving him and a friend who was also victimized with permanent injuries.

Named in the suit are Hollywood Undead members Dylan "FunnyMan" Alvarez and Jorel "J-Dog" Decker, who were both cited in the police report on the May 25th incident. Erlichman is suing for unspecified damages.  The vocalist also claimed that there were a pair of men videotaping the attack as he was being roughed up.

• Hollywood Undead have yet to comment on the lawsuit.
• Erlichman told Loudwire after the incident, "You know when six guys come up and go after you, when you're drunk -- I don't really see that as a tough lose . . . if they want
       to go one on one fine -- not six guys jumpin' you out of nowhere."
• Erlichman and Hollywood Undead parted ways in late 2009 under less than amicable circumstances. He told Pulse of Radio that he was kicked out of the band because his musical output was outshining that of the  others: "I rose above them
       musically. Vocally I rose above them. Singing-wise I rose above them.
       Writing-wise I rose above them. They didn't want me to rise above them.
       They got jealous and I was forcefully, illegally kicked out, and I had to
       get lawyers involved."
• Erlichman released his debut solo disc, Nine Live, last April. The CD has yielded two singles, "America" and "I Came To Party."
• Hollywood Undead's most recent effort, American Tragedy, arrived in 2011.

OZZY TO MAKE GUEST APPEARANCE ON ‘THE TALK’: Ozzy Osbourne will help his wife and manager Sharon celebrate her 60th birthday on Tuesday (October 9th), when
he makes an appearance on The Talk, the CBS daytime show co-hosted by
Sharon. The program will also feature appearances from other family members and
friends, including the Osbournes' daughter and Fashion Police co-host Kelly. It is not known yet whether their son Jack, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis earlier this year, will appear as well.

DARYL HANNAH ARRESTED: Daryl Hannah has been released from jail following her arrest in Texas last week during a protest. The actress and 78-year-old Eleanor Fairchild were busted for blocking heavy equipment in an attempt to stop construction of the Keystone XL pipeline on Fairchild's land. In recent years, Hannah has been known as an environmental activist.

AMBER TABLYN AND DAVID CROSS TIE THE KNOT: Amber Tablyn and David Cross are husband and wife. Tamblyn, 29, and Cross, 48, tied the knot over the weekend. Director Lance Bangs broke the news of their nuptials, tweeting a picture of the couple with the caption, "Yo La Tengo playing Superchunk, Mission of Burma, and Pixies covers at David and Amber's wedding." The two announced their engagement in August 2011.

LINDA HOGAN ARRESTED FOR DUI: Linda Hogan was arrested last Thursday on suspicion of DUI. After she was stopped, Linda recorded a blood alcohol level of .084 -- just above the legal limit of .08. He rep said that Linda was coming from a jewelry function, where
the former reality star drank a glass of champagne on an empty stomach.

'GMA' WEATHER MAN ENGAGED: Good Morning America weather anchor Sam Champion is engaged. The New York Times revealed that Champion is planning to marry boyfriend Rubem Robierb later this year. The couple is planning to exchange vows on New Year's Eve. They will make the marriage legal in NYC, and then celebrate with a party in Miami.

'PRICE IS RIGHT' SELECTS FIRST MALE MODEL: The Price Is Right has selected its first male model. After a nationwide search, Rob Wilson was selected to appear on the game show beginning on October 15th. He'll appear for at least one week -- possibly longer if he is well-received. The 24-year-old is an actor, who has appeared in Bride Wars, music videos, print ads and ABC Family's Secret Life of An American Teenager.

SINGLE LINDA HOGAN STARRING ON BRIDE SHOW: Linda Hogan will star on TLC's new show Brides of Beverly Hills -- even though she's nothing close to a bride. TMZ.com reported that Linda was booked for the show while she was engaged to 23-year-old Charley Hill, but the two split back in May. Even though she's single, Linda still wanted to do the show because her situation shows "the other side of weddings."

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE TAKES ON PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: Daniel Craig hosted Saturday Night Live this past weekend, but it was the presidential debate that dominated the show. Check out clips in 'Last Night's Audio'