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with Congress and anyone connected with Washington.
• Writing this week in an opinion piece, Jindal added: "We are not going to allow the Republican Party to be defined by the dysfunction in Washington."
• From New Jersey to Wisconsin to Michigan, governors with national aspirations are sounding similar tones. Their potential 2016 competitors now in Congress -- including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul -- have been relatively silent about a government shutdown that has closed national parks and forced hundreds of thousands of employees out of work and threatens to further damage the Republican Party's image.
• ___

• NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Tropical Storm Karen was poised to become the first named storm to hit the U.S. during what had been a relatively quiet hurricane season.
• Karen was forecast to lash the northern Gulf Coast over the weekend as a weak hurricane or tropical storm. A hurricane watch was in effect from Grand Isle, La., to west of Destin, Fla. A tropical storm warning was issued for the Louisiana coast from Grand Isle to the mouth of the Pearl River, including the New Orleans area.
• From a tiny, vulnerable island off the Louisiana coast to the beaches of the Florida Panhandle, Gulf Coast residents prepared Thursday for a possible hit from the storm.
• The National Hurricane Center in Miami said early Friday that Karen was about 295 miles (470 kilometers) south of the mouth of the Mississippi River and was moving northwest at 10 mph (17 kph).
• The storm's maximum sustained winds decreased slightly to 60 mph (95 kph) with the U.S. National Hurricane Center saying little change in strength was expected Friday. But forecasters said some strengthening was possible Saturday, when the storm's center would be near the coast.
• ___

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is canceling a trip to Asia to stay in Washington and push for an elusive funding bill to get the nation's business

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