President Obama knows California San Gabriel Mountain attract more than 3 million visitors every year, more than Mount Rushmore more or the Grand Tetons. But the upgrade playground in the backyard of Los Angeles has long been neglected with overcrowded camp grounds and deferred maintenance. Obama says the monument designation is just beginning of multi-million-dollar efforts to improve the area which it has belong to all of us. 

"My commitment to conservation isn't about locking away of our national treasures; it's about working with communities to open up of our glorious heritage to everybody."

Obama uses his executive authorities to declare the national monument after a local congresswoman pushed as the mountain named a national recreational area withdrawn by partisan wrangling. Scott Horsley, NPR News, 

 

The Nobel Committee decision to award the peace prize to very different activists: one a girl from Pakistan, the other a man from India. It's been praised around the world. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports on reaction from Paris. 

"17-year-old Malala Yousafzai , a Muslin girl who was shot by the Taliban is known the world over for her fight for girls' education. Kailash Satyarthi, a 60-year-old Hindu, has dedicated his life to freeing children from forced labor. At the United Nations Educational & Cultural Organization in Paris, director Irina Bokova says the choice winners from different countries and religions was a smart one. 

"I think it's a good message of soft power of education, of the children threats, independent of all different kinds of other political or religious circumstances."

Bokova believes his year's prize will empower million of girls and young people across the planet. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris. 

 

Dr. Kent Brantly, the first American flew back to the US for treatment of Ebola is urging calm for people fear in epidemic in this country. 

"When it needs to be finding a practical way to help western Africa, not worrying that because you live a hundred miles from a hospital that treated the patient that was at risk."

Brantly was interviewed by reporters with Abilene Christian University's alumni magazine. He says he was willing to donate blood to help treat Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who died this week of Ebola in Texas. But Brantly says his blood test didn't match. 

 

It has been a roller-coaster for investors this week. The Dow finished today with a loss of 115 points, down to 16,544. This week's losses pushed the Dow back into the red for the year. Without the dip this week, the Dow would cover up a thousand points. The NASDAQ gave up 102, and the S&P fell 24 points. 

 

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Newly-released documents from the Clinton presidential library in the national archives are providing a glimpse of the White House strategy used to defend then president Bill Clinton during Monica Lewinsky scandal. The papers include talking points, questions prepared for media interviews and efforts to defend the president against impeachment. The 10,000 pages of records also touch the wide-wanted investigation of Clinton land dealings in Arkansas and the death of deputy White House council Vince Foste. 

 

US Senator John Walsh Montana no longer hold a master degree he had revoked for plagiarism. Montana Public Radio Eric Whitney says Walsh has been under investigation since August. 

Democrat John Walsh was appointed to the Senate in February, to complete the term of Max Baucus, who became US ambassador to China. Walsh was running to return the seat in this November election, but in July the New York Times reported he plagiarized most of his master thesis at the US Army War College in Pennsylvania in 2007. Walsh called the plagiarism is a mistake, saying he's suffering from post traumatic distress disorder for recent services in Iraq. In August, the War College initiated the plagiary in their investigation and Walsh withdrew his candidate for Senate. Walsh issued a statement, saying he disagreed with findings made by the War College, but accepted the decision and apologized to all Montanans. For NPR News, I'm Eric Whitney in Missoula, Montana. 

Fewer girls want to make new friends but keep her olds. For a second straight year, membership in the girl scouts has reportedly dropped sharply. According to the figures provided to Associated Press, the total of youth and adult volunteers dropped 7% the last year. And over the past 2 years, membership is down nearly 12%. Girls Scouts officials say the drop is largely due to societal factors.