A nearly 14-hour standoff on a ranch in North Dakota ended yesterday with the arrest of two men who escaped from an Alabama prison more than 1,200 miles away, a federal law enforcement official said.

Joshua Southwick, 26, and Ashton Mink, 22, were arrested after two shootouts with North Dakota law enforcement, nearly two weeks after their escape from the Perry County Detention Center in Uniontown, Ala.

Also arrested were two women who authorities said helped the men escape: Angela Diana Mink, 25, and Jacquelin Rae Kennamer Mink, 25, Mink's sister and wife, respectively.

MAN HELD IN ALLEGED THREAT ON OBAMA

SALT LAKE CITY — Authorities have arrested a man who allegedly told bank tellers while cleaning out his savings account in Utah that he was on a mission to kill President Obama.

The Secret Service said Daniel James Murray, 36, was arrested Friday outside a casino in Laughlin, Nev., 100 miles from Las Vegas on the Nevada-Arizona line.

He was charged Thursday in Salt Lake City with a federal count of conveying threats while talking to tellers last month at Zions First National Bank in St. George, Utah.

Neither federal prosecutors nor the Secret Service would discuss whether Murray was considered to be a serious threat.

FORESTRY NOMINEE WITHDRAWS NAME

WASHINGTON — President Obama's pick to oversee the nation's forests has withdrawn his nomination.

Homer Lee Wilkes was nominated May 5 as undersecretary of agriculture. A White House spokesman said yesterday that Wilkes has withdrawn his name for personal reasons.

CANADIAN BACKLASH TO 'BUY AMERICAN'

WHISTLER, British Columbia — Canadian mayors passed a resolution yesterday that would potentially shut out U.S. bidders from city contracts in response to the U.S. administration's "Buy American" policy.

The nonbinding resolution passed 189-175 at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference in Whistler, British Columbia.

Federation President Jean Perrault said the fair trade resolution was developed in reaction to protectionist provisions in President Obama's stimulus bill.