• Lava flow creeps toward community on Hawaii's Big Island

PAHOA, Hawaii - After weeks of slow, stop-and-go movement, a river of asphalt-black lava was less than the length of a football field from homes in a Big Island community Tuesday.

The lava flow easily burned down an empty shed at 7:30 a.m., several hours after entering a residential property in Pahoa Village, said Hawaii County Civil Defense Director Darryl Oliveira.

A branch of the molten stream was less than 100 yards from a two-story house.

Residents of Pahoa Village, the commercial center of the island's rural Puna district south of Hilo, have had weeks to prepare for what's been described as a slow-motion disaster. Most have either already left or are prepared to go.

At least 50 or 60 structures - including homes and businesses - are in the area likely to be hit.

• House Republicans' late-campaign ads have plenty of Obama

WASHINGTON - House Republicans rolled out late-campaign attack ads tying Democrats to an unpopular President Barack Obama on Tuesday as the chief executive embarked on a round of travel to boost gubernatorial candidates in a half-dozen states.

One week before election day, the television ad wars neared a crescendo in the battle for Senate control.

In the area around Louisville, Ky., campaign officials said target voters could expect to see an average of 97 commercials related to the contest in the final week. The region is ground zero in the race between Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes.

Republican hopes of capturing the Senate received a boost in Kansas, where the Tea Party Patriots Citizen Fund announced support for embattled Sen. Pat Roberts in his race with independent Greg Orman - after opposing the 78-year-old incumbent in the GOP primary.

"We've been counting on you, Kansas. You're a Republican state, for goodness sakes!" exhorted Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, lending his tea party star power to the incumbent.

• Kurdish Peshmerga troops ready to fight Islamic State militants

IRBIL, Iraq - A group of Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga troops arrived in Turkey early Wednesday and headed toward the border to help their Syrian brethren fight Islamic State extremists in the embattled town of Kobani.

Earlier, they received a rousing send-off from thousands of cheering, flag-waving supporters as they left the Iraqi Kurdish capital of Irbil by plane for Turkey.

The unprecedented mission by the 150 fighters to help fellow Kurds in their battle with the Islamic State group came after Ankara agreed to allow the peshmerga to cross into Syria via Turkey - although the Turkish prime minister reiterated that his country would not be sending any ground forces of its own to Kobani.

The peshmerga forces landed early Wednesday at the Sanliurfa airport in southeastern Turkey, according to AP video journalists. They left the airport in buses escorted by Turkish security forces and are expected to travel to Kobani through the Mursitpinar border crossing.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the BBC that sending the peshmerga was "the only way to help Kobani, since other countries don't want to use ground troops."

• The politics of Ebola: Tricky balancing act for Christie, Cuomo

NEW YORK - Two ambitious governors - one Republican, one Democrat - known for their no-nonsense, take-charge style in a calamity have set off a furor with their aggressive handling of the Ebola crisis, and how it plays out could shape their political futures.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie won praise for their decisive response to Superstorm Sandy two years ago, and their reaction to Ebola seemed rooted in the same philosophy: They would take bold steps to reassure a jittery public with a display of bipartisan cooperation.

But their style this time has proved far more divisive.

"This is a big moment, and a lot of people are watching carefully," said William Eimicke, professor of public affairs at Columbia University. "It's about balance and judgment, and voters will remember if this was handled well or not."

The two men hurriedly put together a mandatory, three-week quarantine plan for health care workers returning from Ebola-stricken West Africa which has come under fire from the White House, medical groups and some quarters of the media, even as the new guidelines were emulated by other states and seemed to influence the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which tightened its recommendations.

• X-ray: Sick tortoise had swallowed small turtle pendant

MIAMI - The source of a sick tortoise's discomfort became clear after a south Florida veterinarian took an X-ray: The animal had swallowed a turtle pendant.

Dr. Don Harris said the 15-pound male African spurred tortoise named Lola hadn't pooped for a month and began acting sick over the weekend. Lola's owner brought him to the Avian and Exotic Animal Medical Center in Miami, which Harris co-owns.

After an X-ray, Harris spotted the small, turtle-shaped object inside his patient.

Lola's owner told Harris she didn't recognize the pendant, but Harris said tortoises graze like cattle. They eat grass, plants and other vegetation, sometimes consuming rocks and other objects as well.

Harris is keeping Lola at his clinic, trying to get the pendant to pass. If that fails, surgery may follow.

- The Associated Press