While looking for a story about climate change in North America, photographer Nina Berman stumbled upon a tiny subject with a huge impact.  The Mountain Pine Beetle is an 8 mm-long (about 1/3 of an inch) insect that is killing millions of acres of forest across Canada and the northern United States. 

DOCUMENTARY FILM TO BE DISTRIBUTED VIA NEWSPAPER – Gannett has announced that its newspapers will distribute one million copies of a documentary film made by the organization The Smile Train, which helps children in developing countries.  The film, “Smile Pinki”, follows Pinki, a young girl in rural India whose life is transformed when she receives free surgery to correct her cleft lip. The Smile Train’s mission is to help very poor children in developing countries who are suffering from cleft lip.

NEW YORK TIMES ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF SAN FRANCISCO SECTION – The New York Times has announced that it will begin publishing pages with local content in the San Francisco Bay area Fridays and Sundays.

According to a site comparison for the month of September on Compete.com, Huffington Post has surpassed both the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post in unique online visitors. 

Stephen Farrell, a correspondent for The New York Times held hostage by militant for four days, has been freed in a commando raid in northern Afghanistan.  His interpreter, Sultan Munadi, and a British commando were reportedly killed during the operation. 

REPORT SAYS NEW YORK TIMES JOURNALIST KIDNAPPED – The German Press Agency dpa is reporting that an unidentified New York Times journalist visiting the site of the deadly NATO airstrike has been kidnapped along with his interpreter.  ***UPDATE: Bill Roggio of The Long War Journal blog is reporting that the kidnapped reporter is Stephen Farrell.

The Los Angeles Times has compiled a number of high-resolution, staff photographs of the Station Fire raging in the Angeles National Forest in southern California.