Malala Yousafzai awarded Liberty Medal

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Honoring the bravery of a girl who refused to be denied an education - and nearly paid for it with her life - 1,400 guests gathered Tuesday night under a white tent and tight security at the National Constitution Center to bestow the 2014 Liberty Medal on Malala Yousafzai, 17, the youngest recipient of the quarter-century-old prize.

Draped in a traditional Pashtun shawl of her native Pakistan, Yousafzai took the stage to wild applause.

"I thank the people, and especially the children of Philadelphia, for their warm welcome and their love and support," she said, draping the red, white, and blue ribbon of the gold medal around her neck.

Touching a hand to her heart, she smiled appreciatively on a stage that included Susan Corbett, wife of the governor; Mayor Nutter and his daughter, Olivia; Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania; and Jeffrey Rosen, Constitution Center chief executive.

Yousafzai called for spending money on books, not guns, and said she was speaking up for children caught in crises in such places as India, Syria, Nigeria, and Gaza. "We cannot become a generation lost," she said.

"I ask all countries all around the world: Let us say no to wars. Let us say no to conflicts."

She said she would donate the award's $100,000 prize to improving education and support for Pakistani children.

"Together we are stronger than fear, oppression, and terrorism," she said. "History does not descend from the sky; it is we who make history. One book, one pen, one child can change the world."

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Malala Yousafzai awarded Liberty Medal

Kathie Glass, Libertarian candidate for Texas governor, campaigns in El Paso

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Kathie Gass is the Libertarian Party candidate for Governor of Texas in the upcoming general election. (RUBEN R. RAMIREZEL PASO TIMES)

Kathie Glass, the Libertarian candidate for Texas governor, spent Tuesday in El Paso, the last stop of her statewide campaign bus tour.

Glass, a relative unknown, is running against Democrat Wendy Davis and Republican Greg Abbott. Early voting has started and the election is Nov. 4.

Glass, 61, said she is running for governor to fend off two threats to people's liberty: "An out of control tyrannical federal government and a state government that is corrupted by cronyism."

Glass said cronyism refers to the rich and powerful using government to get things done that they never could get done otherwise and the rest of the people have to pick up the tab for it.

She said Texas currently favors big businesses over small businesses and favors the political well-connected over just an ordinary person. She is running as a Libertarian because the two party systems is broken, she said.

"I'm the only one in this race that is not a crony," she said, referring to the fact that Davis and Abbott have been in politics for several years.

When asked if she thinks she has a chance to win the election, Glass. a Houston attorney, said she is not predicting anything, but she thinks she has an opportunity. Most of the state polls on the governor's are only asking voters about Davis and Abbott, excluding Glass who political experts say will get less than 4 percent of the vote,

For this election, Glass said she is not looking to get the majority of the votes, she said she only needs a little bit more than 33 percent of the votes to win because there are three candidates.

Glass ran for governor in 2010 and got 2.2 percent of the votes.

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Kathie Glass, Libertarian candidate for Texas governor, campaigns in El Paso

In Studio: Libertarian Lt. Gov. Candidate Chris Olson

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NORTHWEST ARKANSAS -- Libertarian Lieutenant Governor Candidate Christopher Olson stopped by our KNWA/FOX 24 studios Wednesday morning.

He weighed in on everything from marriage equality, to legalizing cannabis for medicinal purposes, to eliminating state income tax, to reducing the size of the Lieutenant Governor's office. Watch the video for the full interview or read below to see what Olson had to say.

Marissa Kargas: To start things off, some have said our state does not need a Lieutenant Governor and believe those tax dollars could be better spent elsewhere. You have said you want to eventually reduce the size of the office of Lieutenant Governor. What do you mean by that?

Christopher Olson: Well, my first preference would be to eliminate the office. Now I understand that the legislature only has three option for a constitutional amendment each year and it would take a constitutional amendment to abolish the office. If they were unwilling to use up one of their three to do this, I would like to reduce the size of the office by reducing the staff down to one part-time secretary to answer the phone and I myself would decline half the salary. As the office now, it's budgeted for four staff members and a $43,000 salary for the Lieutenant Governor. Doing that would reduce the size of the office and the budget.

Marissa Kargas: So you still think that there is a need for the position of Lieutenant Governor, but just diminishing the pay for Lieutenant Governor and the size of the office.

Christopher Olson: Yes. I don't know if we actually really need one, but if we're going to have one, it needs to be what it's supposed to be. A part-time job.

Marissa Kargas: Candidates often talk about their plans for jobs and our state's economy, but you have also come out expressing your support of initiatives to legalize cannabis for medicinal purposes and your support for marriage equality. Why is it important for you to take a strong, public stance on these more controversial issues?

Christopher Olson: I'm for these issues not because I'm running for Lieutenant Governor. I don't believe the Lieutenant Governor will have any role in those issues whatsoever. However, I am in favor of liberty and equal rights for people. I believe that cannabis has a legitimate medical use. There are numerous studies done that list the ability of it to treat epilepsy in children, for example, or help AIDS and cancer patients tolerate their medicines. As far as marriage equality, I really don't believe that the state has a role to play in marriage. If it does though, it needs to treat each of its citizens equally. If men and women have the right to engage in that contract and get married, then other legally consenting adults should have that same right.

Marissa Kargas: State income tax is a topic that draws debate from both sides. You have said you plan to reduce and eventually eliminate the state income tax. How do you plan to do that?

Christopher Olson: It's not necessarily my plan. It's the plan of my running mate, Frank Gilbert. He's running for Governor. As I said before, the Lieutenant Governor really has no part to play in this because it has little power whatsoever. If I was elected, I wouldn't be able to do anything for this. But, my vision for that was, over the course of several years to gradually reduce the amount of money that's taken out of people's paychecks. People work hard for their money and they deserve to have the right to spend it however they want, without the government getting its cut first.

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In Studio: Libertarian Lt. Gov. Candidate Chris Olson