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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The weeklong odyssey of a registered sex offender traveling with a missing teenage girl from Florida ended after a sighting by a Louisiana truck stop cashier triggered a lengthy police chase, authorities say.

Officers pursued a pickup truck driven by 41-year-old Steven Myers for miles, throwing down spike strips that blew out most of the pickup's tires, law enforcement agents said, adding Myers allegedly stabbed the 16-year-old girl and then himself before being subdued.

The 28-year-old cashier at the Tiger Truck Stop in Grosse Tete, Louisiana, said security footage later showed the two were in the store 75 seconds. But she said she recognized the two from video she had chanced upon while scrolling through Facebook before being called to work an unscheduled shift Wednesday night.

"My stomach dropped," said cashier Fawn Lasseigne Domingue.

The girl's family and neighbors had begun social media campaigns since the girl had gone missing June 11 in the Tampa, Florida, area — about a 10-hour drive from Grosse Tete.

Wanting to be certain, Domingue went to the office and pulled up the video segment on her phone. When she returned, Myers and the girl were already outside the store. Manager Scott Holbrook said Domingue told him, "Call the police. It's a kidnapped girl," and followed them into the parking lot.

Domingue said Myers was about to pull out of the lot in a pickup truck when the first deputy arrived and she pointed out the truck, which authorities later said was stolen in the Florida Panhandle. Two more police cars showed up almost immediately, the cashier said.

Authorities said the chase lasted for miles through truck and car traffic.

Cpl. Paul Mouton of the Lafayette Police Department said the man got out of the truck with a knife at the end, and officers subdued him with a stun gun and a police dog. Officers then got the girl out of the truck. Myers allegedly stabbed the girl, then himself, and was bitten by the police dog that helped subdue him, authorities said.

The Plant City, Florida, man and the 16-year-old girl, from Valrico, Florida, were hospitalized Thursday in serious but stable condition with knife wounds, according to police.

Myers, who registered in Plant City as a sex offender, will face charges including attempted murder and unlawful sexual activity, officials in the two states said. He has served two Georgia prison sentences, the first for a 1999 conviction on child molestation charges and the second for a parole violation. He was released in February 2012.

"To hear that your daughter, your baby, has been stabbed ... I wouldn't wish that on anyone," the girl's father said Thursday at a news conference in Tampa. But he said, "I know my daughter's strong. I know she'll pull through this."

The Associated Press is not identifying the girl or her family because of allegations that she was sexually assaulted.

The teen, who had missing since June 11, is bipolar and had left her medications behind, officials said. The girl wasn't kidnapped, but Myers had manipulated her to go with him, Hillsborough sheriff's Col. Donna Lusczynski said in the Tampa area.

Lusczynski and Sheriff Brett Stassi of Iberville Parish both said Myers stabbed himself after getting out of the truck, and told police to shoot him. Mouton would not confirm or deny that scenario.

Myers fled, repeatedly swerving at cars and tractor-trailers he was passing in an effort to cause crashes that would stop or slow the police cars behind him, Stassi also said.

"He never stopped. The truck gave out on him," said Stassi, who said his deputies chased Myers from start to finish.

Mouton said spike strips thrown down by state police blew out five of the six tires on the truck, a work pickup with a welding rig on the back.

"He was running with no rubber at all," Stassi said.

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Associated Press writers Kate Brumback in Atlanta; Jared Leone in Valrico, Florida; and Bill Fuller in New Orleans contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Not so long ago Kevin McCarthy was working as an aide to his local congressman in hot, dusty Bakersfield, California. Now the genial 49-year-old is a new face of the GOP, selected by House Republicans as their majority leader after a whirlwind round of politicking prompted by last week's primary election upset of Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia.

McCarthy's lightning-fast ascent to the No. 2 House job in just his fourth term is a testament to his political skills and talent for forming and maintaining relationships. Now he has the daunting challenge of working to unite a fractious House Republican caucus that's still in upheaval after Cantor's loss, with the most conservative lawmakers smarting over McCarthy's quick rise.

"I'll make one promise: I will work every single day to make sure this conference has the courage to lead with the wisdom to listen," McCarthy said Thursday after his victory in the secret ballot elections.

McCarthy has served as majority whip, the No. 3 job, and will be replaced in that post by Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the chairman of a caucus of conservatives in the House. Scalise adds a Southern, red state voice to a GOP leadership team otherwise populated by establishment-aligned Republicans from the West Coast and Midwest.

"I'm looking forward to bringing a fresh new voice to our leadership table," Scalise said.

But some of the most conservative lawmakers questioned Scalise's bona fides and groused that the new team is much like the old one. That could spell troubles ahead in a caucus where conservative rebellions have become routine and McCarthy and other leaders are sometimes at a loss to quell them.

"People told us they wanted a significant change in our leadership team, they wanted us to pursue a more conservative agenda, and I don't think grass-roots Republicans are going to be satisfied," said Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., who supported McCarthy's opponent, tea party Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho.

Conservatives could mount a new challenge after the November midterm elections, including taking aim at Speaker John Boehner, but Amash said that would be a tough climb.

Thursday's changes were set in motion by Cantor's surprise defeat last week at the hands of Dave Brat, a little known college economics professor. Brat's victory registered with a jolt of excitement to conservatives, yet the purists didn't have the organization to capitalize on their success, and McCarthy moved quickly.

Deploying an organization developed since he became whip more than three years ago when Republicans took control of the House, he swiftly contacted lawmakers over the phone and on the House floor, locking in their support and scaring off the competition.

One potential rival, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, decided against joining the race, while another, Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, deferred to a second Texan, Rep. Pete Sessions. Sessions quickly dropped out, saying it was obvious that a successful campaign would have created painful divisions within the party.

By the time Labrador jumped in, the California front-runner had amassed support from across the rank and file. He was aided by the fundraising prowess he has displayed since joining the leadership, doling out hundreds of thousands of dollars through his PAC to Republican House candidates and organizations.

McCarthy also drew on strong personal ties to lawmakers that he cultivates daily, from early morning workouts and bike rides to bowling or movie nights with fellow lawmakers. At dinners he'll go around the table drawing out new members of Congress by asking them to share the first concert they ever attended, or their most embarrassing moment.

"He's a hard guy not to like," Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said.

McCarthy, who sleeps in his Capitol office when in Washington, is known as a storehouse of political information, on voting patterns and district makeup, and of personal tidbits on lawmakers, like kids' names and alma maters.

He's also organized in his personal habits, according to Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif., who shared a group house with McCarthy in Sacramento when both were California lawmakers. Once there was a break-in and McCarthy was the one to notice it, Denham said — others were too messy to tell.

McCarthy was first elected to Congress in 2006, after serving in the California Assembly — where he was chosen minority leader in his first term — and as an aide to Rep. Bill Thomas of his hometown of Bakersfield, who became his political mentor.

McCarthy was named chief deputy whip by Cantor in 2009 and became whip after Republicans won control of the House in the 2010 elections. He now becomes a contender to replace Boehner once the speaker steps aside.

McCarthy is the first House member to become majority or minority leader after serving fewer than five full terms in the chamber, said Eric Ostermeier, research associate at the University of Minnesota's Center for the Study of Politics and Governance.

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Associated Press writers David Espo and Alan Fram contributed to this report.

The season finale of the FX TV series Fargo airs Tuesday. The series is an "original adaptation" of Joel and Ethan Coen's 1996 film, a dark comedy set in the wintry landscape of rural Minnesota. Nearly 20 years ago, the film won Oscars for best screenplay and best actress.

The 10-episode TV series has a different story and characters, but critics agree that it captured the look and tone of the film, mixing eccentric characters and deadpan humor with sudden and savage violence.

"I sold the show to FX as, 'It's the best of America versus the worst of America,'" series creator and writer Noah Hawley tells Fresh Air's Dave Davies. "And I think what people like is this romantic idea that you go off and you face evil and you come back and your reward is to lead a simple life. And you don't have to go on this dark journey where you're some demon-hunter who is haunted."

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