1. “Paul Ryan said he won't defend Donald Trump”

2. Washington D.C. - House Speaker Paul Ryan dealt his own party's presidential nominee a withering blow Monday, telling fellow Republicans he will no longer defend Donald Trump and will instead use the next 29 days to focus on preserving his party's hold on Congress. Ryan's comments follow Sunday’s debate and a Washington Post story out Friday which revealed Trump made lewd and sexually aggressive comments in The move -- highly unusual in US political history -- laid bare the seemingly intractable divisions now seizing the Republican Party with a month left before the presidential vote. "Paul Ryan should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee," Trump said. Support for Trump among the GOP, already weak amid disagreements over policy and tone, has now eroded to new lows. Ryan's comments angered more conservative GOP members who believed the speaker was essentially conceding the presidential contest to Clinton.

3. In Other News
A Rhode Island man has squashed a record set by his son by taking first prize in a pumpkin contest with a 2,261.5-pound gourd. Richard Wallace's 2,261.5-pound pumpkin beat the North American giant pumpkin record set by his son, Ron, at the same event last year. The younger Wallace said that his secret is "a lot of hard work" and what he calls the Wallace organic wonder fertilizer.
Fire officials in Texas say a man who apparently was sleeping in a dumpster survived when he and the trash in the bin were dumped into a trash truck, compacted and then hauled to a transfer station. Workers at the transfer station in Wichita Falls saw the man tumble Friday from the truck into a large garbage pit. Emergency responders had to lower a basket into the pit to retrieve the unidentified man, who appeared to be conscious when rescued and was taken to a hospital for evaluation. Officials say the man is in his 60s. Had workers not seen him fall into the pit, he could have been placed in another compactor before being loaded onto a truck and hauled to a landfill.