Mark Memmott

Students and parents won't be surprised to hear that the prices colleges and universities officially charge for tuition, room and board went up yet again this academic year.

The College Board reported Tuesday that:

-- "Published in-state tuition and fees at public four-year institutions average $8,244 in 2011-12, $631 (8.3 percent) higher than in 2010-11."

The local community board for the part of Manhattan where the Occupy Wall Street protests are being held voted Tuesday night to bless the occupation "within certain parameters," The Village Voice reports.

There was a 5.7 percent increase in sales of new homes in September from August, the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development report.

The 313,000 (at an annual rate) pace was still down 0.9 percent, however, from a year earlier.

There were no illegal drugs in singer Amy Winehouse's system when she died on July 23, a British coroner reported today.

Instead, the troubled 27-year-old suffered "death by misadventure" — a drinking binge.

This young man's death says a lot about how much has been asked of the nation's men and women in uniform and their families since Sept. 11, 2001:

Sgt. 1st Class Kristoffer B. Domeij, 29, was killed on Saturday in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, by an improvised explosive device, according to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.

"He was on his 14th combat deployment to Afghanistan in support of the War on Terror," the statement adds.

The news this morning that "a prominent former Goldman Sachs board member" has surrendered to federal authorities in New York City "to face criminal charges stemming from a massive hedge fund insider trading case" (as the AP writes), takes the federal investigation into new territory, New York Times reporter Azam Ahmed said earlier today on Morning Edition.

Good morning.

Our early posts were:

-- Violence At 'Occupy Oakland,' Some Protesters Vow To Regroup

-- Was Libya A 'Recipe For Success,' As Obama Says?

Other stories making headlines include:

"Dozens of police in riot gear and hundreds of protesters supporting the Occupy Wall Street movement engaged in a game of cat-and-mouse in downtown Oakland on Tuesday," The Associated Press writes, "with authorities using tear gas to respond to demonstrators' repeated agitations."

The U.S.-NATO mission in Libya was a "recipe for success in the future," President Obama said Tuesday on NBC-TV's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

During a sober discussion that lasted several minutes, the president told Leno that he doesn't agree with critics who say the U.S. led from behind.

"The defining sound of the Occupy Wall Street" protests in Manhattan, as Weekend Edition Sunday's Audie Cornish has said, is "the never-ending drum circle."

Saying that it "reorders the way they do business in Washington by reinventing the tax code and restoring our nation to fiscal health through balanced budgets and entitlement reform," Texas Gov. Rick Perry is this hour unveiling his "cut, balance and grow plan" on taxes.

"Oakland police arrested dozens of people at a plaza outside City Hall and at a second, smaller camp nearby early this morning, two weeks after the protesters launched efforts as part of the nationwide Occupy Wall Street movement against corporate greed and economic inequality," The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

A sharp drop in a widely watched gauge of consumer confidence has brought that key economic barometer to a low "last seen during the 2008-2009 recession," Conference Board director of consumer research Lynn Franco says in a report released by the private research group this morning.

The board says its consumer confidence index fell this month to 39.8, from 46.4 in September. Other measures of consumer sentiment, about current conditions and expectations, also declined.

If you need a break from the "real news:"

The Washington Post's Justin Jouvenal is "live-tweeting" from the so-called #no2trial today in Fairfax, Va.

From Alabama and Georgia north to the border with Canada, there are reports from all over the continental U.S. today about a fantastic show last night:

An intense geomagnetic storm that produced some of the best "Northern Lights" in recent memory, reports SpaceWeather.com.

Many folks are posting photos and videos. Here's one that the poster says was taken in Michigan.

Good morning.

Earlier, we posted about:

-- Gadhafi Buried, Location Kept Secret

-- VIDEO: 2-Week Old Girl Rescued From Rubble In Turkey

-- Mundane Mixup Helps Rangers Take 3-2 Lead In World Series

Though the death toll (more than 360) continues to climb and the chances of finding more survivors are dimming, there is this bit of good news about what's happening in eastern Turkey, where a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck on Sunday:

A 2-week-old baby girl, Azra Karaduman, was rescued today from the rubble of an apartment building.

If anyone asks you why the Texas Rangers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 last night to take a 3-2 lead in the World Series, tell them it was a missed call.

But it wasn't, as NPR's Mike Pesca said on Morning Edition, a mistake made by an umpire.

The bodies of former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi and his son Muatassim were buried this morning in a secret location, according to officials of the local military council in Misrata, Libya.

The news that President Obama and his team are going to make the case that "we can't wait" any longer for Congress (and in particular, his Republican opponents) to take action on his ideas about how to boost job growth has inspired much discussion on Twitter today.

"#WeCantWait" is, it seems, an almost perfect hashtag no matter which side you're on.

Michele Norris, an All Things Considered co-host since December 2002, is stepping away from that post until after the 2012 presidential campaign because her husband has taken a senior position with President Obama's re-election effort.

She is not leaving NPR's airwaves, however. While she will not be involved in coverage of the 2012 election, Norris will continue to report and produce projects for the organization.

In a message just sent to NPR staff, Norris says:

Saying that "an arbitrary and unlawful financial blockade ... has destroyed 95 percent of our revenue," WikiLeaks has suspended publishing operations and founder Julian Assange says it may have to shut down permanently by year's end.

President Obama's latest bid to get at least some of his economic ideas enacted will be to make the case that "we can't wait" for Congress to act, The New York Times reports this morning.

The Times says with his $447 billion jobs package stalled in Congress, today in Las Vegas the president will begin unveiling "a series of executive-branch actions to confront housing, education and other economic problems over the coming months."

Good morning.

Our early headlines today were:

-- Gadhafi's Death To Be Investigated, Transitional Leader Says

-- U.S. Ambassador Leaves Syria Due To 'Credible Threats'

"Libya's transitional leader has ordered an investigation into the death of Moammar Gadhafi after the U.S. and other international powers pressed for the probe," The Associated Press reports. It adds that "Mustafa Abdul-Jalil told a news conference in the eastern city of Benghazi that the Transitional National Council formed a committee to investigate the killing on Thursday, amid conflicting reports of how the dictator who ruled Libya for four decades died."

"The U.S. has pulled its ambassador out of Syria over security concerns, blaming President Bashar Assad's government for the threats.," The Associated Press writes. "State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Monday that Ambassador Robert Ford returned to Washington this weekend after 'credible threats against his personal safety.' "

Pitcher Derek Holland gave up just two hits over 8 1/3 innings as his Texas Rangers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-0 Sunday night and evened the best-of-seven World Series at two games each.

Three home runs. Five hits. Six runs batted in.

Sounds like what a Major League Baseball team might do on a typical night.

But that's what one guy — the St. Louis Cardinals' Albert Pujols — did Saturday evening against the Texas Rangers in Game Three of the World Series. His heroics led the Cards to a 16-7 win and a two-games-to-one advantage in the best-of-7 fall classic.

Moammar Gadhafi was killed in the crossfire of a battle between his supporters and fighters loyal to the opposition that topped the dictator's regime, Libya's interim prime minister told NPR this afternoon.

"Nobody can tell if the [fatal] shot was from the rebel fighters or from his own security guard," Interim Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril told All Things Considered host Robert Siegel.

A year ago, President Obama just said, "the notion of a free Libya" seemed far-fetched.

But today, with the death of ousted dictator Moammar Gadhafi, the "dark shadow of tyranny has been lifted" in that North African nation, the president added.