National Headlines

WASHINGTON (AP) - The door is still open for a deal with Republicans -- but the Senate's top health care negotiator is making it clear that he's ready to move ahead without one. After a teleconference today with two other Democrats and three Republicans, Democrat Max Baucus said he's "committed to getting health care reform done -- done soon and done right."

NEW YORK (AP) - With job losses slowing to the lowest pace in a year, investors have found enough reason to send stocks higher today. Although the unemployment rate moved from 9.4 to 9.7 percent in August, the number of payroll reductions was below what was predicted. The Dow finished nearly 100 points higher for the day, while the S&P 500 gained 13 and the Nasdaq composite is up 36.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - A federal appeals court says former Attorney General John Ashcroft can be sued by people who were wrongfully detained as material witnesses after 9/11. The court found that a man who was detained as a witness in a federal terrorism case can sue Ashcroft for allegedly violating his constitutional rights.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - As firefighters make further progress on the 232-square-mile arson fire north of Los Angeles, homicide investigators are involved in the effort to find out who set it. The two firefighters who were killed last weekend, meanwhile, are being remembered by colleagues. Hundreds of firefighters saluted by the roadside as a white hearse carried the body of Capt. Tedmund Hall through Los Angeles today.

RENO, Nev. (AP) - Police are trying to find out if Phillip Garrido might be linked to any of several unsolved cases from years ago. Garrido is the man accused of abducting 11-year-old Jaycee Dugard from in front of her home in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., in 1991. Among the cold cases getting another look now is the murder of two Reno children who vanished near their school bus stop in 1989.

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