As Election Day nears, the candidates for Washington governor appear to be getting mellower, not feistier. Republican Rob McKenna and Democrat Jay Inslee met Thursday night in their fourth formal debate.

Perhaps the candidates are tired of each other or tired of hearing themselves speak -- or just plain tired. Whatever the case, it was a mellower Inslee and McKenna than at past debates. They re-plowed their positions on many hot topics like the budget, education, taxes and Medicaid expansion.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta delivered a policy speech that he said was a "clarion call" for Americans to take cyber security seriously. Attacks that can cripple a country, he said, are no longer theoretical.

Nerds, rejoice! It's Nobel season — the Oscars for lab rats, peacemakers and cognoscenti alike. Every fall, big thinkers around the world wait for a middle-of-the-night phone call from Sweden, dreaming of what they might do with the $1.2 million prize.

In a dramatic reversal, Tokyo Electric Power Co. admitted for the first time that if it had fixed known safety issues, Japan's nuclear disaster following the March 2011 tsunami could have been avoided.

The Associated Press says the utility company made the admission in a statement released Friday. The AP reports the company said it delayed implementing the safety measures because of political, economic and legal pressures.

The AP adds:

Authorities have arrested three men suspected of having a role in the shooting of Malala Yousafzai, the 15-year-old activist who demanded an education for girls.

NBC News reports:

"Police said the suspects, aged between 17 and 22, had claimed the person who organized the attack Tuesday — in which two other young girls were shot and injured — was a man called Attaullah."

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. The space shuttle Endeavor is on the road this morning here in L.A., traveling the streets from the airport to its new home at the California Science Center. Four hundred curbside trees were cut down so its massive wings could pass by. Hundreds of metal plates laid down to protect underground utilities from the shuttle's weight. And dozens of traffic signals removed to accommodate its height. Even for L.A., an epic commute. This is MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: