A 23-year-old gunman shot and killed a TSA agent at the LA international airport today, wounding several others. Police say Paul Ciancia was wounded and is in custody. At press conference, FBI special agent David Bowdich says there is no known motive and it will take time to investigate.

"This is a very large-scale investigation. The crime scene is extensive. We are currently applying a tremendous number of resources in conjunction with our partner from LAPD and Los Angeles World Airport Police."

Bowdich says they are looking closely at Ciancia as background but would not go into detail. The shooting took place at terminal three at LAX this morning. The airport was close for a time but the parts have reopened.

The Treasure Department is making flexible spending account for healthcare more attractive by allowing some of the money to roll over at the end of year. As NPR's Julie Rovner reports until now, consumers who did not use the all of the money they set aside had to forfeit it.

The account a popular way for people to save for unreimbursed medical expenses like deductibles and co-payments, and things that often are uncovered like eye glasses. But the fact, the money was used or lose it meant the account have been less attractive to those with more moderate incomes, and they often led to frantic and sometime wasteful end of year's spending as consumers trying to avoid losing money deducted from their pay checks. Under the new rules, employers will have the options of letting people carry over up to 500 dollars to use through the next year or providing a 2.5 months grace period. They cannot do both however. Julie Rovner NPR News, Washington.

Beginning today, tens of millions of Americans who get food stamps will see their benefits start to decrease as NPR's Alice Chen reports, a short-term increase in funding for the program from 2009 stimulus is expiring.

Since the recession hit, the number of people who are relying on food stamps has ballooned. The 2009 stimulus package provided a temporary boost to the food stamp program but beginning today that program is getting hit with five-billion-dollar cut. Farm bills passed by both House and Senate would make further cuts. And the negotiations between the two chambers have just begun as to how big the cut should ultimately be. The house bill will reduce funding by additional four billion dollars annual while cuts in the senate bill will amount to about a tenth of that. Today's blow to the food stamps program comes just as other parts of stimulus package have ended as well, like the two-year payroll tax holiday. Alice Chen, NPR News, the Capitol.

Other of news by the closing bell on Wall Street today, the Dow Jones industrial average up 69 at 15,615, NASDAQ up two, S&P 500 up five.

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The man believed to have been behind a failed car bombing in New York City's Time Square has apparently dead. Intelligence officials in Pakistan and Taliban militants claim US drone strikes killed Hakimullah Mehsud, Pakistani officials say four others were killed by the drone strike. Officials from US National Security Council however will not confirm his death. He was on the CIA counter-terrorism center's most-wanted list for his role on the suicide bombing at base in Pakistan in 2009 that killed seven Americans.

Violent storms had moved out of central Texas, but several areas are still being ravaged by flood water. Texas public radio's Ryan Lord reports runoff from this week's downpour is creating dangerous conditions.

Crews are out serving, the damage from a slow moving storm system that crawled over central Texas late Wednesday, in Destruct county, east of Austin, rivers are at flood stage or above, the county's emergency management coordinator, Michael Fisher, says although his areas saw 3.5 to 7 inches of rain, run off from parts of Austin that is on massive amounts of rainfall as now roaring down stream.

"So this is really taking on two-character trace, there is local flush flooding and in a river rain flooding. That was an accumulation of water that came down stream to us."

Fisher says the soaking is on top already saturated soil from the past months. For NPR News, I am Ryan Lord in San Antonio.

Auto sales took a hit with partial federal government's shutdown last month but rebounded nicely in the last two weeks of October. That is from the month before, sales rose 11% to 1.2 million vehicles sold. GM, Ford, Nissan and Chrysler are recorded double digits sales gains. Toyota and Honda saw smaller gains.

I am Jeanine Herbst, NPR News in Washington.