10th Ebola patient arrives in U.S.
OMAHA, Neb. – A surgeon who contracted Ebola while working in Sierra Leone arrived in Nebraska on Saturday for treatment at a biocontainment unit where two other people with the disease have been successfully treated.
Dr. Martin Salia, who was diagnosed with Ebola on Monday, landed at Eppley Airfield in Omaha on Saturday afternoon and was being transported to the Nebraska Medical Center.
The hospital said the medical crew transporting Salia, 44, determined he was stable enough to fly, but that information from the team caring for him in Sierra Leone indicated he was critically ill and “possibly sicker than the first patients successfully treated in the United States.”
The disease has killed more than 5,000 people in West Africa, mostly in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leona. Of the 10 people treated for the disease in the U.S., all but one has recovered.
Salia was working as a general surgeon at Kissy United Methodist Hospital in the Sierra Leone capital of Freetown. Kissy is not an Ebola treatment unit, but Salia worked in at least three other facilities, United Methodist News said, citing health ministry sources.
Police preparing for Ferguson decision
BOSTON – From Boston to Los Angeles, police departments are bracing for large demonstrations when a grand jury decides whether to indict a white police officer who killed an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri.
The St. Louis County grand jury, which has been meeting since Aug. 20, is expected to decide this month whether Officer Darren Wilson is charged with a crime for killing 18-year-old Michael Brown after ordering him and a friend to stop walking in the street on Aug. 9.
The shooting has led to tension with police and a string of unruly protests there and brought worldwide attention to the formerly obscure St. Louis suburb, where more than half the population is black but few police officers are.
For some cities, a decision in the racially charged case will, inevitably, reignite long-simmering debates about local police relations with minority communities.
“It’s definitely on our radar,” said Lt. Michael McCarthy, police spokesman in Boston, where police leaders met privately Wednesday to discuss preparations. “Common sense tells you the timeline is getting close. We’re just trying to prepare in case something does step off, so we are ready to go with it.”
McConnell: ‘Bourbon summit’ will happen
FRANKFORT, Ky. – Newly elected Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky says he plans to drink some bourbon with Democratic President Barack Obama.
One day after his party lost control of the U.S. Senate, Obama told reporters he would like to share some Kentucky bourbon with McConnell. The invitation was quickly dubbed the bourbon summit and has received lots of attention as the two leaders prepare to either work with or against each other for the final two years of Obama’s presidency.
McConnell told state party leaders on Saturday the bourbon summit would happen, although he said picking the brand of bourbon would be like picking which daughter he loves the most. He said whether the summit is nothing more than a public relations gimmick remains to be seen.
Bill Clinton surprised by midterm losses
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Former President Bill Clinton says Democrats lacked a “national advertising campaign” in the recent midterm elections and was surprised that many Senate races were not closer.
Clinton says in an interview with Politico that voters who were opposed to Democrats felt more strongly about the election than those who supported his party. He says many people couldn’t hear what he called “a fairly coherent economic message.”
Clinton offered his first extensive comments on Democrats’ sweeping losses in the November elections. Republicans won control of the Senate, extended their control of the House and captured governor’s offices in several Democratic-leaning states.
The former president says a national advertising campaign stressing issues like student loans and equal pay for women might have helped Democrats in a number of close races.
Associated Press
