CDC scientists fight to halt a deadly outbreak

CDC Headquarters (Courtesy CDC)

ATLANTA -- At the main campus of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, dozens of people are working day and night to bring a meningitis outbreak under control.

RELATED | 189 Ga. patients treated with steroids tied to deadly meningitis

Dr. John Jernigan is a medical epidemiologist at the CDC leading the clinical investigation team for the outbreak response. He says this infection, which is caused by a fungus, is very unusual.

Meningitis is typically caused by a virus or bacteria. The fungus linked to this outbreak is common in dirt and grasses, but it is making people sick because it found its way into a steroid injected into people with back pain.

That steroid was distributed by a Massachusetts pharmacy that is currently under investigation. Nearly 200 people in more than a dozen states have been sickened, including 15 who have died.

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Pedestrian hit by car in Cartersville

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- A pedestrian was hit by a car and killed outside a McDonald's on Joe Frank Harris Parkway in Cartersville early Monday morning.

The man, whose name has not been released pending notification of his family, was trying to cross Joe Frank Harris Parkway near Martin Luther King Drive when he was hit at around 1:35 a.m., according to Cartersville Police Chief Thomas Culpepper.

The driver who hit the pedestrian stayed on the scene. Culpepper said the driver was on his way to work at the McDonald's before the accident.

Culpepper said the pedestrian appeared to be improperly crossing the highway. He was wearing dark clothing and it was raining, so the driver probably did not see him before hitting him.

The pedestrian was pronounced dead at WellStar Kennestone Hospital.

Culpepper said the driver does not face any charges.

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Early voting begins in Georgia

Clayton County residents wait in line to cast early votes.

ATLANTA -- Voting for the presidential election kicked off in Georgia Monday.

It runs from Oct. 15 and goes through Nov. 2.

This is an opportunity for people to vote who may not be able to go to the polls on election day.

Voters can request a ballot by mail or vote in person.

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Polls: Obama, Romney in tight race

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) speaks during his debate with Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney (L), who greets the audience at the conclusion in Denver, Colorado, on October 3, 2012. (STF/AFP/GettyImages)

WASHINGTON -- Another poll, another close result between President Obama and Mitt Romney.

President Obama leads by a single point -- 49%-48% -- in the latest POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground Poll released Monday morning, well within the margin of error.

On the other hand, former Gov. Romney leads 50%-48% in the poll's 10 top "battleground states:" Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll gives Obama a 49%-46% lead among likely voters.

Various polls also show a toss-up race in the Electoral College.

Obama once led most polls, but things have tightened in recent days for one major reason: The first debate on Oct. 3, perceived by many as a Romney victory.

Obama and Romney debate again Tuesday night in New York, and a third time a week from tonight in Boca Raton, Fla.

Some other highlights of the POLITICO-George Washington University Battleground Poll:

-- Of the 86% of voters who watched the first presidential debate, three in four declared Romney the winner; only 16% thought Obama prevailed.

-- Romney leads with independents by 8 points, 49%-41%.

-- Obama still leads with women, 54%-43%.

-- Regardless of who they're supporting, only 53% of voters now believe Obama will win the election (down from 61% before the first presidential debate).

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SEC holds 4 of top 7 BCS ranking slots

(USA Today) -- Regardless of whether the Southeastern Conference can put two teams in the BCS championship game for a second consecutive year, it is poised to dominate the conversation once again in the second half of the season.

The SEC held four of the top seven spots in the initial BCS standings Sunday, led by defending national champion Alabama at No. 1 and Florida at No. 2. It's the third time in the last four years SEC teams have debuted 1-2.

Though that may not seem significant, only twice since the BCS was conceived -- in 1998 and 2008 -- did at least one of the top two teams in the first release of the standings fail to make the championship game. On two other occasions, including last year with LSU and Alabama, the teams that started 1-2 also finished there.

It's unlikely Florida and Alabama would meet in the title game this year because, assuming they stay unbeaten, they would meet in the SEC Championship game on Dec. 1. The final BCS standings are released the next day. Last year, Alabama and LSU played earlier in the season, and the Tide, despite losing, had time to work its way back to No. 2 in the final standings.

Alabama coach Nick Saban preferred to tone down the expectations and keep his players mentally into the challenges ahead.

"The big thing is you have to get them to focus on the next game, the next play, the next practice so you can continue to improve as a team," he said on ESPN after the standings were released. "Mindset is so important in this day and age in this game.

"We have a young team and I think the most important thing for our team to do is to continue to develop the kind of chemistry that will help us play with consistency."

Though the Crimson Tide (6-0) ranked just third in the aggregate of six computer polls that make up the BCS formula, its near-unanimous hold on the No. 1 spot in the human polls, including the USA TODAY Sports coaches poll, lifted it to a significant edge over Florida (.9761 to .9092 out of 1.000) in the BCS average. Florida and Notre Dame, which came out No. 5 overall in the BCS standings, were ranked as the top two teams by the computers.

Oregon, ranked No. 2 in the coaches poll, edged out Kansas State for No. 3 in the BCS standings. Oregon is sixth in the computer ratings.

LSU and South Carolina lead the group of one-loss teams at No. 6 and No. 7, respectively. Other undefeated teams include Mississippi State at No. 12, Rutgers at No. 15, Louisville at No. 16 and Cincinnati at No. 21.

Georgia sits at No. 11 on the list.

Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, whose team beat Stanford 20-13 in overtime on Saturday, said he wouldn't specifically address the standings with his team, but took pride in being part of the championship conversation again. Though Notre Dame still has to pass three teams to get one of the coveted top-two spots, it will have a huge opportunity to impress voters on Oct. 27 at Oklahoma.

"I don't normally gauge the interest of these things with our football team, but they watch TV. They see that," Kelly said. "I just have to make sure they understand with that pride comes a greater obligation to do the thing the right way."

This will be the second-to-last year college football has BCS standings to debate in mid-October. Though the exact process for the four-team playoff is still being worked out for its debut in the 2014 season, conference commissioners have agreed that the selection committee will not release weekly standings.

BCS Standings for week of October 14:

1. Alabama
2. Florida
3. Oregon
4. Kansas State
5. Notre Dame
6. LSU
7. South Carolina
8. Oregon State
9. Oklahoma
10. USC
11. Georgia
12. Mississippi State
13. West Virginia
14. Florida State
15. Rutgers
16. Louisville
17. Texas Tech
18. Texas A&M
19. Clemson
20. Stanford
21. Cincinnati
22. Boise State
23. TCU
24. Iowa State
25. Texas

(USA Today)

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Apple expected to unveil new iPad next week

No. 1: Apple (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

SAN FRANCISCO -- There's another new iPad in the works, and it's expected to be unveiled by Apple next week.

The iPad Mini, as analysts refer to it, will have a smaller screen, similar to competing tablets from Samsung and Amazon, and a lower price as well.

RELATED | Would an iPad mini be worth buying?

Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray, predicts the new iPad will sell for $299, have a screen between 7 and 8 inches (down from 9.8 inches for the full-size iPad) and be available in a Wi-Fi only version. Other iPads have Wi-Fi and cellular service plans available.

The new iPad comes at a time when many companies are dramatically increasing their portfolio of smaller tablets to try and take on Apple. Amazon just unleashed several new Kindle tablets including a beefed up $199 Kindle Fire; Google and Samsung have the $199 Nexus 7. Both have 7-inch screens.

Microsoft will launch its answer to the iPad, Surface, at a splashy event in New York on October 26th. No price has been announced for the Surface, which has a larger screen.

By not having a 7-inch model, "Apple is ceding 20% of the market to competitors," says Munster.

Apple in the past has insisted that consumers prefer the large screen of its iPad, but now, says Munster, "There are some people who just naturally prefer having a smaller tablet," and Apple can satisfy them.

Munster projects that Apple will sell 5-10 million of the smaller iPads by the end of the year, depending on whether it can get its production issues in order. "If things so smoothly, it's 10 million, if things don't go well, it's 5 million," he says.

The new iPhone5, which burst out of the gate three weeks ago with sales of 5 million phones, has been plagued by supply issues. Apple could sell way more phones if it had them, Munster says.

Apple puts its next-day supply available as pre-orders online only, at 10 p.m. ET. Munster checked every night last week at 100 stores, and all were sold out quickly. "There wasn't a store anywhere where a phone was available after 11 p.m."

Apple introduced a new iPad in March, the successor to the iPad 2, with a brighter, sharper screen and an improved video camera. Nearly 75 million iPads have sold since the tablet was first introduced in 2010. Apple has sold nearly 250 million iPhones.

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Musician in Jerry Lee Lewis' band killed in Memphis shooting

Bassist B.B. Cunningham was shot to death at an East Memphis apartment complex where he was working as a security guard on Oct. 14, 2012. (WMC-TV)

MEMPHIS -- A member of music legend Jerry Lee Lewis' band was shot and killed in a Memphis shootout on Sunday morning, police told WMCTV.com. An unidentified 16-year-old was killed at the same time.

B.B. Cunningham, 70, was moonlighting as a security guard at an apartment complex when he heard a shot and went to investigate, police told The Commercial Appeal newspaper. Both Cunningham and the teen were dead by the time police arrived on the scene.

PHOTOS | Notable deaths in 2012

"I don't know much about him but he was always nice to me we always talked a lot and sometimes he helped me out when I was having trouble with my vehicle," apartment complex resident Judy Baladez told WMCTV.com about Cunningham.

Cunningham most recently toured with Sweden's The Cadillac Band in July.

He was a member of the Memphis group "The Hombres" in the mid-1960s and co-wrote the group's hit song in 1967, "Let It Out, Let it All Hang Out." He joined Lewis' band in 1997.

(NBC News)

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