Ebola Doctor Dies, Homeless Children Rising

Ebola: The surgeon who caught the Ebola virus treating patients in Sierra Leone has died, according to doctors at Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. Martin Salia, 44, arrived Saturday in critical condition. Salia was a permanent U.S. resident, who caught Ebola working in a Freetown hospital.

Homeless: The number of homeless children in America has reached an all-time high, according to a report released today by the National Center on Family Homelessness. The study estimates that nearly 2.5 million children, about 1 in 30, were homeless at some point during 2013. California accounts for about one-fifth of homeless children.

World: The White House says the video showing the aftermath of the beheading of American aid worker Peter Kassig is authentic. The 16-minute video showing Kassig’s severed head also features a mass beheading of Syrian soldiers.

Kassig was reported to have converted to Islam while in captivity and changed his name to Abdul-Rahman. President Obama said the murder was “an act of pure evil.” He said, “While ISIL revels in the slaughter of innocents, including Muslims, and is bent only on sowing death and destruction, Abdul-Rahman was a humanitarian who worked to save the lives of Syrians injured and dispossessed by the Syrian conflict.”

Postgame: Agents of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration investigating potential drug abuse queried the medical staffs of the visiting team after three National Football League games yesterday. No one was arrested. The feds visited the San Francisco 49ers after the Giants game in New Jersey, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the airport after playing the Redskins, and the Seattle Seahawks in Kansas City. Agents were checking the legality of drugs carried by visiting team doctors, and whether the doctors were licensed to practice in the home team’s state.

Nap Time: Russian President Vladimir Putin left the G-20 Summit in Australia early saying he was tired, but what he really was tired of was taking jabs from other national leaders. The US, Japan, and Australia issued a joint statement denouncing “Russia’s purported annexation of Crimea and its actions to destabilize eastern Ukraine.” A direct poke came from Canadian Prime Minister Ben Harper. “I guess I’ll shake your hand,” he said to Putin, adding, “You need to get out of Ukraine.”

Gotta Yen: Japan’s economy shrank for the second quarter in a row, putting the country into a technical recession. Japan raised its sales tax from 5 to 8 percent, which seems to have put the brakes on the world’s third largest economy. The sales tax is scheduled to go up to 10 percent next spring.

The Obit Page: Tomas Young, a soldier paralyzed by a sniper’s bullet in Iraq, whose suffering became the focus of the documentary “Body of War,” has died. Young, 34, was paralyzed from the chest down. In the documentary, produced by TV host Phil Donohue in hopes of showing the human cost of war, Young was bluntly honest about his pain and depression. No distributor would put it in movie theaters. Young’s mother said, “His body just wore out.”

Still Not Winter: Heavy snow could fall today from the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes states all the way to the Northeast. Heavy rain and thunderstorms could hit the East Coast.

So Suit Me: An Australian morning television host wore the same suit every day for a year, and no one noticed. Karl Stefanovic was trying to make the point that female television hosts are frequently criticized for their hair and clothing, but never the men. The day Stefanovic revealed his experiment and discussed it on air with co-host Lisa Wilkinson, the dress she was wearing was simply hideous.

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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Page Two

The Most Corrupt Justice

Monday, October 2, 2023

Democracy and Video in the Dark

Sunday, February 26, 2023

Page Two: Do the Right Thing

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Page Two: Sound Recall

Monday, September 13, 2021

Page Two: Cuomo Must Go

Friday, August 13, 2021

Trump and the Truth

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

The “Great” President

Monday, March 30, 2020

The Wright Stuff

Saturday, February 29, 2020

It's Been Said

"In my mind, I’ve never crossed the line with anyone, but I didn’t realize the extent to which the line has been redrawn. There are generational and cultural shifts that I just didn’t fully appreciate, and I should have, no excuses."

-Andrew Cuomo, resigning as governor of New York after accusations of sexual harassment

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