Romney was not on the scheduled lineup of speakers and the crowd exploded into cheers when he walked into the room.

 

We didn't have this planned. But we decided to stop by just to say hello, when I heard my boys were going to be here. I couldn't resist.

 

He reprised one of the most successful lines from Wednesday's debate.  

 

I saw the president's vision as trickle-down government.

 

After weeks of bad news for his campaign, Romney badly needed the reset that the debate provided. Now he campaigns in Virginia and Florida, two of the most important swing states in this election. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, traveling with the Romney campaign.

 

President Obama also rallied his supporters in Denver post debate with this reference this morning. 

 

I met this very spirited fellow who claimed to be Mitt Romney. But it couldn't have been Mitt Romney, because the real Romney has been running around the country for the last year promising $5 trillion in tax cuts that favor the wealthy. The fellow on stage last night said he didn't know anything about that.

 

The next presidential debate is scheduled for October 16th in a town-hall-style format at Hofstra University.

 

After a rough start to the school year Chicago, teachers have overwhelmingly endorsed a new three-year contract. NPR's Cheryl Corley tells us the Chicago Teachers Union has agreed to pay raises and a new teacher evaluation system. 

 

The Chicago Teachers Union says 79% of the Union's membership ratified the contract for the country's third largest district. The last step comes later this month when the Chicago school board meets. Then it is expected to approve the deal. Teachers walked off the job last month for seven days, the first school strike in Chicago in 25 years. The contract which Mayor Rahm Emanuel calls an honest compromise includes a longer school day and a compromised evaluation system based partially on standardized test scores. Teachers will receive pay raises of 7% over the three years plus extra pay for experience and education. The School District says Chicago teachers on average make about 76,000 dollars a year. Cheryl Corley NPR News, Chicago.

 

American Airlines says a fleet inspection has completed and loose seats that had been discovered on some planes have been repaired. 

 

On Wall Street at this hour, the Dow was up 82 points, the NASDAQ up nine. 

 

This is NPR News in Washington.

 

Cross-border shelling by Syria earlier this week left fiver Turkish civilians dead and led Turkey to fire back. Now Russia is blocking a draft U.N. statement condemning the Syrian cross-border strike proposing a weaker version calling for restraint. At the same time, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is warning that the risk of regional conflict and threat to international peace is increasing. 

 

Health officials are investigating how patients in five states contracted a rare kind of meningitis from injected drug. NPR's Richard Knox says experts fear the problem may grow. 

 

So far there are more than two dozens known cases of meningitis caused by a fungus, a rare and difficult to treat form of the brain infection. Four patients have died. Evidence points to contamination of an anti-inflammatory steroid called methylprednisolone that doctors often inject into patients' spines to treat back pain. This form of meningitis can not be transmitted from person to person, it's caused by a fungus called Aspergillus, a common leaf mould. It doesn't usually cause meningitis, but it can when injected into spinal fluid. Federal and State Health Officials are on the alert for more cases. The incubation period can be as long as a month and the Massachusetts company that made the suspect drug shipped to many states. So the danger period may not be over for a few weeks. Richard Knox, NPR News.   

 

Canadian authorities say they have seized more than 600 barrels of stolen maple syrup in New Brunswick as part of an investigation into the theft of millions worth of syrup in Quebec. Quebec produces 80% of the world's maple syrup.