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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. Somebody in Pittsburgh took the law into his own hands. More precisely, the person took a paintbrush into his own hands. He or she is apparently upset that in 2009 the city denied requests to paint crosswalks in the Polish Hill neighborhood. This unknown person painted unofficial crosswalks. Authorities are publicly scolding the crosswalk vigilante. But by coincidence, they're also promising to install real crosswalks within weeks. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And I'm David Greene. Renee Montagne is talking with voters in Colorado this morning for our series First and Main.

It is hard to believe but we are finally nearing the end of a presidential campaign that in many ways started back in January 2009.

INSKEEP: Iowa begins early voting today. Other states begin soon, and the presidential candidates are preparing for a final expensive and possibly brutal final act.

Those who have made up their minds, both Democrats and Republicans, take advantage of early voting. Paul Gronke, a Political Science professor at Reed College, talks to David Greene about who votes early, and how early voting has changed the way people go to the polls. Gronke is Director of the Early Voting Information Center.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has suggested a connection between al-Qaida in North Africa and the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. She did not give any further details on what role the al-Qaida affiliate may have played in the attack

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We are pleased to announce this morning that NPR has ended its lockout of Mike Pesca. The network reached a deal with our sports correspondent after his replacement repeatedly confused adjectives with adverbs. OK, that's a joke, but in reality the NFL reached a deal with referees after the replacements made a series of brutally criticized calls. Mike Pesca has been following developments.

Mike, good morning.

MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: And that was a goodly decision. Oh, wait a minute. I've done it too.

(LAUGHTER)

Oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee has written an article in Newsweek about what he calls America's current failure to treat and prevent cancer — and a failure to make funding cancer research a priority. Dr. Mukherjee tells David Greene there is a lag in designing cancer drugs as well as funding cancer research in the U.S.

Kareem Serageldin is accused of hiding mortgage security losses during the financial crisis. He faces extradition to the U.S. A former senior trader for Credit Suisse, Serageldin is the highest level Wall Street executive to be charged in a case related to the 2008 financial meltdown.

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There is at least one group of musicians out there who don't seem to have any money problems. Our last word in business is: Kiss. They know what their fans want.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ROCK N' ROLL ALL NIGHT" )

KISS: (Singing) I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day. I, wanna rock and roll...

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

You know you're moving your head as if you're playing a guitar onstage right now.

A small solar power company hopes to become a winner in a market littered with losers.

San Jose, Calif.-based SoloPower is opening a $60 million manufacturing facility in Portland, Ore., Thursday as it works toward receiving a major government loan — like the one given to now-bankrupt Solyndra. SoloPower thinks it has a strategy to succeed where Solyndra failed.

On April 11 of this year, an extraordinary cluster of earthquakes struck off Sumatra. The largest shock, magnitude 8.7, produced stronger ground-shaking than any earthquake ever recorded. And it surprised seismologists by triggering more than a dozen moderate earthquakes around the world.

The quakes are also a sign of big changes to come in the Earth's crust.

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People are not getting much work done in parts of Europe. Last night, there were violent protests in Spain. They were protests against austerity measures, which is also the case in Greece, where a nationwide strike came today. It closed businesses and schools, and reporter Joanna Kakissis is following the story from Athens.

Joanna, what's been happening?

Pizzerias in Canada's Niagara Falls region say they've been offered cases of cheese smuggled from the U.S. In Canada, cheese costs three times as much as it does in the U.S. So drivers are paid a lot to drive contraband cheese across the border. CBC News reports Niagara police officers are alleged to be in on the scam.