Shutdown Countdown: House Republicans are still ready to shut down the government if the Senate does not agree to kill Obamacare. The Republicans passed a spending bill that calls for a one-year delay in implementing the Affordable Care Act, as well as a provision that financially cripples it. The bill’s not that different from what the Senate rejected last week and is expected to reject again tomorrow. The two bodies have a few hours tomorrow to reach an agreement before a partial shutdown of the federal government. Looming beyond the fight over healthcare is another clash over the debt ceiling. The Treasury says the government will run out of its borrowing authority Oct. 17 and will be unable to pay its bills and debts.

Roundup of Death: Dozens of college students in northeast Nigeria were killed in an attack by Islamist rebels. Authorities say many of the students were shot as they slept in their dormitory rooms. Gunmen from the terror group Boko Haram also burned classrooms.

• A car bomb in Peshawar, Pakistan killed at least 32 people today not far from a memorial services for victims of last week’s church bombing.
• An overloaded boat capsized on a river in Nigeria Friday, killing 42 people and leaving at least 100 missing. The boat was carrying mostly market traders and their goods.

Social Pages: A New Jersey judge ruled last week that the state must allow same-sex marriage because the federal government must now give benefits to legally married gay couples. Judge Mary Jacobson said New Jersey could not skirt that by forbidding same sex couples to marry. Also Friday, Exxon Mobil announced that it will offer benefits to legally married same-sex couples.

Video Games: Video game maker Electronic Arts agreed to a $40 million settlement with up to 300,000 college football and basketball players who weren’t paid for the use of their likeness. EA said it will stop making its popular college football version. Although the video games made fortunes for EA and the NCAA, which is also being sued, players will get a maximum of only about $200 each from the settlement. The NCAA refuses to settle.

Kicked: USC fired its head football coach Lane Kiffin after yesterday’s 62-41 loss to Arizona. The once number-one ranked Trojans have lost 7 of their last 11 games.

Audience Chemistry: Millions of Americans will be glued to their televisions tonight for the final episode of AMC’s Breaking Bad. It’s been five years since the show’s nerdy anti-hero Walter White was diagnosed with cancer and left teaching high school chemistry to become a drug lord. The show grew from 1.2 million viewers in season one to 6.6 million last week. One more hour tonight and it’s over. In the words of Walter White, “We’re done when I say we’re done.”

-30-