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Public health experts have gotten better at detecting new diseases and figuring out their cause since the SARS outbreak nearly 10 years ago. Advances in communications and genetics mean information about new microbes is more accessible.

Washington state apple growers are harvesting the second-largest crop in history, but it appears there won't be enough workers to get the fruit off the trees quickly enough. The next few weeks are when the bulk of the region's fruit is picked. The labor shortage comes as apple prices are high.

The national bank settlement over robo signing takes effect Wednesday. And the California monitor for the settlement says the most notable complaint her office gets is for "dual-tracking." That's when homeowners are on track to be foreclosed on while trying to get a mortgage modification.

U.S. auto sales last month were the best they've been in more than four years, according to numbers compiled by an industry group. Toyota led the way with more than a 40 percent jump from a year ago. Experts give credit for the boost in sales to cheap financing for car loans, and growing consumer confidence.

Early voting began Tuesday in the battleground state of Ohio — even as court fights continue over the state's early voting laws. Ohio voters have picked the winners in the last 12 presidential contests. Within minutes of the polls opening, 24 people were lining up to use the touch-screen voting booths.

The latest poll by NPR and its bipartisan polling team shows President Obama with a 7-point lead among likely voters nationally and a 6-point lead in the dozen battleground states where both campaigns are spending most of their time and money. But battleground voters were also more downbeat about the direction of the country.

Buyers from all over the world still come to vendors in Manhattan to buy cheap toys and tchotchkes. We find out why.

The face-to-face spar has the potential to shift the momentum in the campaign.

With young people among the hardest hit by the down economy, NPR wondered what millennials want from tonight's debate. The head of a group of college Republicans poses theoretical questions for President Obama. The president of a chapter of college Democrats fashions questions for Mitt Romney.

This first presidential debate will focus on domestic issues, with the economy topping the list of homefront problems. Here are three economic terms likely to come up in the debate.