The nation in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“We need to unlock the energy we have in this country to create jobs.”

GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, saying that if elected, Mitt Romney’s administration would immediately approve an oil pipeline from Canada to U.S. refineries in Texas Article, 1A

Coloradans seek missing girl, 10

WESTMINSTER, Colo. - Authorities searched fields and along highways in suburban Denver on Monday for signs of a 10-year-old girl who has been missing since leaving for school on Friday and whose backpack may have been found miles away.

The effort to find fifth grader Jessica Ridgeway also focused on the area around the home in Westminster where she lives with her mother, and a neighborhood six miles to the north where the backpack believed to belong to her was found Sunday.

Jessica was last seen Friday walking to a park where she meets classmates before school. A police flier with her photo was posted on the front door of her two-story home that was decorated for Halloween.

The FBI was assisting the investigation, and investigators have been in contact with relatives in Independence, Mo.

N.Y. crash splits car, kills 4 teens

WEST HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. - A car was cut in half after smashing into trees along a Long Island parkway Monday morning, killing four 18-year-old passengers, the New York State Police said.

The 17-year-old driver, who had a learner’s permit, was taken to a hospital.

The accident on the westbound Southern State Parkway happened at about 4 a.m., closing the roadway for more than five hours.

State police identified the driver as 17-year-old Joseph Beer of Queens. His four passengers were not immediately identified. Police said those killed were thrown out of the vehicle after the driver failed to negotiate a curve in the road and crashed into the woods.

Alien journalist freed after arrest

MINNEAPOLIS - Immigration authorities said Monday they won’t take action against a Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist who was arrested in Minnesota for driving without a valid license.

Jose Antonio Vargas attracted national attention last year when he revealed that he’s an illegal alien. He was scheduled to speak at Carleton College in Northfield last Friday but never made it.

When a state trooper stopped him in Minneapolis for driving with headphones on, Vargas produced a canceled Washington state driver’s license, said Lt. Eric Roeske, a spokesman for the Minnesota State Patrol.

Vargas was booked at the Hennepin County jail and released on his own recognizance Friday pending a court appearance set for Oct. 18. The State Patrol contacted Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Roeske said, but the federal agency did not block his release.

An immigration spokesman in Washington said Monday that the agency intends to leave Vargas alone because he’s not a high priority.

Vargas was part of a Washington Post team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre.

Front Section, Pages 3 on 10/09/2012

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