The Supreme Court is allowing the different States to pass and uphold gun ban laws.
Supreme Court refuses to hear challenge to Connecticut, New York weapons ban
Washington Post Report
The Supreme Court declined to take up the case to elaborate on individual gun ownership, but across the street from the building, the question embroils Congress. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)
The Supreme Court declined Monday to review bans on a lengthy list of firearms that New York and Connecticut have classified as “assault weapons,” the latest example of the justices turning down an opportunity to elaborate on an individual’s right to gun ownership.
With an emotional debate about gun control reigniting across the street at the Capitol, the justices without comment said they would not review lower-court decisions upholding the laws.
Connecticut’s ban was expanded shortly after a gunman used one of the military-style semiautomatic weapons on the list to kill 20 students and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown in 2012.
The decision Monday was not a surprise, as the justices have previously declined to review other lower-court decisions that uphold bans passed by cities and states. Maryland, California, Hawaii, Massachusetts and New, Jersey as well as many cities and towns, have similar laws. None of the legal challenges to them have been successful in lower courts.
These prohibitions were enacted after a federal ban expired in 2004. Attempts to revive the federal ban have failed, although advocates are trying in the wake of the massacre at an Orlando nightclub that left 49 victims dead.
What to know about assault-style rifles
The Supreme Court declined Monday to review bans on a lengthy list of firearms that New York and Connecticut have classified as “assault weapons,” the latest example of the justices turning down an opportunity to elaborate on an individual’s right to gun ownership.
With an emotional debate about gun control reigniting across the street at the Capitol, the justices without comment said they would not review lower-court decisions upholding the laws.
Connecticut’s ban was expanded shortly after a gunman used one of the military-style semiautomatic weapons on the list to kill 20 students and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown in 2012.
The decision Monday was not a surprise, as the justices have previously declined to review other lower-court decisions that uphold bans passed by cities and states. Maryland, California, Hawaii, Massachusetts and New, Jersey as well as many cities and towns, have similar laws. None of the legal challenges to them have been successful in lower courts.
These prohibitions were enacted after a federal ban expired in 2004. Attempts to revive the federal ban have failed, although advocates are trying in the wake of the massacre at an Orlando nightclub that left 49 victims dead.
What to know about assault-style rifles
Play Video2:21
Orlando shooter Omar Mateen used the assault-style rifle Sig Sauer MCX to kill at least 49 people, authorities say. Here’s what you need to know about the guns some are calling “the gold standard for mass murder.” (Editor’s note: This video has been updated with more specific information.) (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post)
Like other laws, Connecticut’s ban includes semiautomatic guns and high-capacity magazines, covers popular weapons such as AR-15s and AK-47s, and names more than 180 weapons that cannot be sold.
But the individuals and organizations challenging the law said the state is an “outlier” in banning weapons that are popular and protected in the rest of the country.
“In truth, the odd assortment of firearms Connecticut calls ‘assault weapons’ are mechanically identical to any other semiautomatic firearm — arms that, as no one disputes, are exceedingly common and fully protected by the Second Amendment,” the challengers said in their petition to the court.
Gun rights advocates have urged the court to review such bans, saying that they violate the court’s 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, which said individuals have a right to gun ownership for self-protection.
After recognizing the individual right for the first time in Heller, which covered the federal enclave of the District, the court made clear in a subsequent case that state and local governments, like Congress, could not prohibit individual gun ownership.
But the court has not shown any interest since then in elaborating on what exactly that right covers. And in the process, the justices have passed up the chance to scrutinize lower-court decisions that have upheld the laws banning certain weapons as well as laws requiring tight restrictions on those who can legally carry guns outside their homes.
When the Supreme Court declined last December to review a lower-court decision upholding such a ban, Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia wrote that a similar law flouts the court’s Second Amendment jurisprudence. Scalia died in February.
So, what it boils down to, is we all just sit on our happy little asses, and let them continue to do this, because some of us are ignorant enough not to realize that any and every semi-automatic, will soon fit into the category of “assault weapons”, the country is lost.
Has anyone actually heard what the govt. considers an assault weapon? I know, that every time I hear reference to it, in the same sentence, the speaker references “semi-automatic”. In reality, an assault weapon, is one used by our military. It is an automatic weapon, not a semi-automatic weapon. I could be wrong, but don’t think so.
If I hear one more idiot reference assault weapon and deer hunting, I will scream! They have already decided that any semi-automatic is an assault weapon. So what the hell do you plan to kill a deer with? A 22 rifle? Anything and everything that has a magazine, a drum, or any other device to feed the weapon, is an assault weapon. Before you know it, the good ole reliable six shooter will be an assault weapon.
It is now time to really think about it. The US Supreme Court has bailed on the United States Constitution. That is reality. Just like the reality about the Orlando shooter, was being played with by the FBI for more than a year. Finally, the guy went for it. Whose idea was it, FBI’s or the shooters?
Atlanta Attorney Robert Thompson Jr.John Disney/Staff
Two Georgia attorneys—both under suspension by the State Bar of Georgia—have defaulted on a 2013 suit filed by a Douglas County couple who say they paid the lawyers thousands of dollars to forestall foreclosure proceedings only to lose their home when neither lawyer performed any services.
One of the defendants is attorney Robert Thompson Jr., who was suspended earlier this year after failing to respond to an ongoing investigation by the bar’s disciplinary committee. Thompson also was arrested in February and charged with misappropriating $37,440 of a client’s funds; his then-attorney told the Daily Report he had paid back more than $30,000 of the money.
A criminal charge of theft by conversion is pending against Thompson in Fulton County Superior Court. The phone number for his firm, the Thompson Law Group, has been disconnected.
The other attorney, Rodd Walton, has no disciplinary record with the bar but is under suspension for nonpayment of dues. Walton was arrested in 2009 when he attempted to enter the Cobb County Courthouse with a loaded handgun on the day he was to attend a hearing concerning a motion for reconsideration after being ordered to pay a former client $43,000 in restitution and attorney fees.
When his 2009 arrest was reported in this newspaper, a website for Walton’s Legacy Law Group said he was a former deputy counsel for Glock Inc., the maker of the gun he was carrying when he was arrested. On Thursday there was no immediate response to a message left on Legacy’s phone system, and no email is listed for Walton with the bar.
In the Fulton County suit, Michael and Cindy Bentley’s pro se complaint said they fell behind on their mortgage and in October 2011 paid Walton $3,000 to fight foreclosure proceedings. Walton “did absolutely nothing” on their behalf, it said, and when they requested information on their case he demanded another $3,500.
The Bentleys refused and demanded their $3,000 back. Walton first agreed, then told them he would refund nothing, it said.
In March 2012, they retained Thompson for $5,750. He “did nothing for a full year,” then demanded $500 to file a complaint. Thompson filed the complaint but failed to respond to the mortgage bank’s motion to dismiss or to inform the Bentleys that it had been filed, according to their complaint.
The bank’s motion went unanswered, and the court granted it by default. The Bentleys’ house was foreclosed.
Neither lawyer responded to the Bentleys’ suit, and they too moved for a default judgment. According to an order entered Thursday by State Court Judge Patsy Porter, Thompson appeared at an Oct. 15 hearing on the default motion and said that he had filed an answer with the clerk but that it had not been uploaded to the court’s e-filing system.
Porter instructed Thompson to upload a copy of his answer, but he failed to do so, she wrote.
With TEPCO having finally given up fighting the onslaught of radiation pouring into the Pacific Ocean, and considering the breeder reactors were creating weapons grade plutonium, it ain’t over, and may never be over. Our govt. don’t care enough to be honest with us. Down the road, several years from now, when all of us, lying there dying from cancer, think back on it, we will put two and two together. Some of us will anyway, and will know that the horrible death we are being put through, was the Japanese’s way of payback for nuking them!
Fukushima fallout on vegetation in South Florida exceeded gov’t notification limit by over 1,000% — Nearly triple the highest level reported anywhere on West Coast
Florida Power & Light Company, St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 & 2 (St. Lucie, FL) — 2011 Annual Radiological Environmental Operating Report, submitted to U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission:
BROADLEAF VEGETATION: Brazilian Pepper from location H59 — 10-20 miles S/SSE of reactors on south end of Hutchinson Island, [30 miles north of Palm Beach]
Iodine-131 on 22-Mar: 1,220 pCi/kg (wet weight)
Iodine-131 on 29-Mar: 605 pCi/kg
Iodine-131 on 06-Apr: 242 pCi/kg
Iodine-131 on 13-Apr: 136 pCi/kg
Iodine-131 on 20-Apr: 79 pCi/kg
Iodine-131 on 26-Apr: 45 pCi/kg
Iodine-131 on 03-May: 21 pCi/kg
Iodine-131 is “attributed to the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plants event. Elevated levels of radioiodine were measured through-out the U.S.”
NRC Reporting Level for Vegetation = 100 pCi/kg (wet weight)
NRC Reporting Level: “The concentration value in an environmental sample, if exceeded, which must be reported to the NRC.”
The highest I-131 level reported in vegetation from the West Coast is 462 pCi/kg in Central California. The March 22 South Florida sample is nearly triple that amount.
See also: Emergency radiation testing used at Democrat and Republican conventions after Fukushima; Also for Obama Inauguration — Seafood, meat, vegetables, milk, water checked for nuclear waste, while top officials agree to publicly downplay crisis — 80% of milk samples by Orlando, FL had ‘significant’ Cs-137
Published: November 27th, 2014 at 8:39 am ET
By ENENews
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Newly released data shows Florida hit with highest level of radioactive material from Fukushima measured anywhere in world outside Japan — #1 out of more than 1,500 test results — Total radioactive iodine was up to 500% of amount reported September 26, 2014
Fukushima nuclear material reported in West Coast groundwater; It’s discharging into Pacific Ocean — Fallout also found in meat and fish from same area — “Routinely detected’ in plant life long after March 2011 September 4, 2014
Twice as much Fukushima radiation near California coast than originally reported; Highest levels found anywhere in Eastern Pacific — Scientist: Very little we can do… It’s unprecedented… God forbid anything else happens — Gundersen: Multiple plumes now along west coast… Will be coming “for century or more” (AUDIO) November 20, 2014
Officials by West Coast Speak Out on Fukushima: Concerns about cancer, illness from contaminated food — ‘Low-level’ radiation being reported in fish — “We cannot sit by and watch and wait” — National gov’t appears to not be taking it seriously January 20, 2014
Levels of Iodine-131 spike to highest levels yet in Philadelphia water supply — Almost double permissible limit December 7, 2012
OCCUPY.COM EXPOSES GEORGIA’S COURTS DENYING THE PUBLIC ACCESS TO COURT PROCEEDINGS!
I am quite pleased that someone took notice. The Judges in Georgia are akin to little despots. No doubt, a Judge is God in their Courtroom, but they don’t have the right to Deny the public access, so that they can violate one’s Civil and Constitutional Rights while they sneakily do it.
EXPOSED: GEORGIA’S COURTS ARE BREAKING THE LAW BY DENYING PUBLIC ACCESS
TUE, 9/24/2013 – BY TANYA GLOVER
Courtrooms aren’t just a place where justice is served and legal decisions are made. They are also a place for the public to go and see how the justice system works: people enjoy viewing trials and hearings, even if they have no personal stake in them. Viewing public trials is the public’s legal right.
However, revelations by a judicial oversight commission in Georgia show that numerous judges in the state, including some in Atlanta, are violating the law by denying public access to courtrooms in cases ranging from bail hearings to standard trials.
There are some cases in which closing courtrooms to the public is legal, and the circumstances for this are carefully outlined in official Georgia State documents that make the points for legality clear. But according to a recent report in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, investigations by the state’s judicial oversight commission found the practice of sealing off courtroom access widespread across Georgia — and in most cases, illegally.
Instead of typical open courts, there are now signs posted on courtroom doors stating access is denied to either the general public or specific groups of people, including kids. Bailiffs sometimes stand in place of the signs, blocking entry to the court despite people’s legal right to go in, said Robert Ingram, an attorney from Marietta, Ga., and chairman of the state’s Judicial Qualifications Commission.
“We’ve had our own investigators and commissioners go out and visit a courtroom and they have been greeted by a bailiff or a deputy sheriff and been told to state their business or otherwise they don’t need to be there,” Ingram said.
But why the closed rooms and bans on view judicial proceedings in the first place? Under Georgia’s law, closing off or banning someone from the courtroom can be done at a judge’s discretion. For instance, an unruly or disruptive person, whether child or adult, can be removed. Or there may be a case not considered proper for people under the age of 18 to attend.
More often, however, judges these days claim they are keeping out the public because of lack of space in the courtroom. One instance that put this closed court behavior in the spotlight was the jury selection for Andrea Sneiderman, in which DeKalb Superior Court Judge Gregory Adams lifted the public ban stating that people who wished to be present for the selection had the right to do so.
Seemingly arbitrary court closures by judges in the Peach State are nothing new. Back in 2011, Barbra Mobley, a DeKalb County State Court Judge, resigned after investigations were launched by the Judicial Qualifications Commission alleging that her court featured bailiffs questioning people illegally about why they wanted to observe the cases on the docket.
The phenomenon is occurring statewide. In both Crisp and Ben Hill counties, the Southern Center for Human Rights (SCHR) filed suit against the practice of closing courts to the public. In those counties, it’s been common that courts remain closed off even to the family members of both victims and the accused, other than their attendance at guilt pleas during the trials’ conclusions.
Further investigations have showed that closed courts are more common than first thought. According Gerry Weber of SCHR, this is causing a major problem with transparency. “A closed courtroom is one that is less accountable to the public. What is done behind closed doors can be different to what is done in the cold light of day,” he said.
Many judges are following the closed court lead, including Judge T. Jackson Bedford of the Fulton County Superior Court, Judge Clarence Seeliger of the DeKalb County Superior Court, and Judge Patsy Porter of Fulton State Court. Attempts by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution to contact these servants of the people were unsuccessful, as were the attempts made by Occupy.com.
There are some positive signs as well, however. Judge Christopher Brasher of Fulton Superior Court says he was unaware that the practice of closing courts was occurring in his courtroom, and quickly put a stop to it. Brasher attributed the action to “overzealous deputies, who provide security and order.” He has since ordered that no one be keep out of the court, and that no signs excluding any specific group be put up without his written consent.
Judges Todd Markle and Robert McBurney, both of Fulton Superior Court, say they were not aware the public was being deterred with signs from entering their courts, and that this step was taken without their permission. However, there is debate about the judges’ knowledge of the situation. Each county sheriff’s department is responsible for court security, and Fulton County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Tracy Flanagan says they do not make or affix signs nor are signs permitted without the consent of the presiding judge.
The Judicial Qualifications Commission issued an opinion on the matter, from the commission’s director Jeff Davis who said massive amounts of complaints have come from the public about access to courtrooms. “Our efforts to educate judges about these issues have resulted in the type of response we would have anticipated,” said Davis.
“Judges are complying with the opinion and modifying practices accordingly. Since the issuance of our Opinion, we have been encouraged by the response of judges and the willingness to bring their courts into full compliance with the law.”
Earlier today we were contacted by a customer asking if we had received a tap on the shoulder by the CDC telling us to stop reporting on developments concerning Ebola. This individual’s motivation was the sudden drop off in message traffic from our service over the past 10 days.
For the record, NO, we have not received such a request, nor would we comply.
But the inquiry raises important questions:
Why has the overall tempo of Ebola stories slowed to a trickle?
Why has the overall tempo of suspected case reports from hospitals and health departments dropped off?
You may recall that on 10/21 AlertsUSA sent the following SMS message to subscriber mobile devices:
“FLASH: CDC insider tells AlertsUSA that U.S. hospitals being advised to NOT publicly report suspected / confirmed Ebola cases using privacy laws as shield.”
This evening we were informed that Obama Administration efforts to squash reporting on suspected or confirmed cases of Ebola in the U.S. goes much further. Then consider the following single sentence from a Forbes news story published late on 11/2:
“The Associated Press and other press outlets have agreed not to report on suspected cases of Ebola in the United States until a positive viral RNA test is completed.”
1. Control the source of the news (hospitals and health departments).
2. Control the propagation of the news (mainstream news outlets and wire services).
It would seem that our new Ebola Czar has been hard at work behind the curtain.
The takeaway here is concerning on multiple levels and should serve to highlight, yet again, that mainstream reporting and information sharing by public agencies is not quite as free and independent as the public may think.
Despite this blackout of sorts,receives a steady stream of information from other sources nationally and globally. Before anything is reported to you, we always seek secondary and tertiary confirmation so as to maintain accuracy. This directly translates into trust in the service.
We deal in black and white facts. No grey matter. No rumors.
That said, healthcare workers, public health professionals and members of the armed services have privately have informed us of the details of numerous additional CONFIRMED cases of Ebola quietly being treated at medical facilities in multiple locations across the U.S.. Many of these have been transported to CONUS from abroad. But without solid confirmation upon which we can stake the reputation of the company, the blowback could be significant.
MOSCOW, November 4 (RIA Novosti) – America’s largest banking company JPMorgan Chase said the US Department of Justice was probing its foreign exchange operations, with legal procedures expected to cost it up to $5.9 billion, Reuters said on Tuesday.
The agency cited JPMorgan as saying in its regulatory filing that US criminal investigators were looking into its spot foreign-exchange trading business and associated controls.
It added the bank has been in talks with the Justice Department but noted there was “no assurance” that these negotiations would eventually lead to a settlement.
JPMorgan Chase is a multinational banking and financial services holding company with assets estimated at a total of $2.5 trillion.
Throughout its 14-year-long history, the company has stood accused of mortgage overcharging, alleged manipulations of the energy market, sanctions violations and obstruction of justice by its employees.
FLASH: Dallas healthcare worker who cared for US Ebola index patient T.
Duncan reportedly ill w Ebola symptoms on cruise ship off coast of Belize.
Developing…
We said it here first (July 2014) that the Ebola Virus would strike the USA and Europe, reports of at least 18 potential cases in Dallas,TX after healthcare workers (Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas) forget to correctly diagnose man who traveled from Liberia and is now infected with Ebola Virus, and has been in contact with others including school children.
July 30, 2014 another impressive crop circle appeared in Devizes, Roundway Hill, Wiltshire UK. This circle reminds us of the Ebola Virus strains which seems to be spreading from its border in three West African countries: Liberia,Guinea and Sierra Leone.
The Ebola virus may have been contracted in the US, and Europe is also very concerned.
The crop circle has signatures of not being man-made but there have been reports that Ebola Virus could be.
AIDS and Ebola Viruses Were “Man-Made:”Expert Shocks National Radio Audience
San Francisco – AIDS and Ebola viruses did not originate from monkeys left alone in the wild – they were bio engineered in American laboratories. So says an internationally known public health authority with Harvard credentials, Dr. Leonard G. Horowitz, based on a review of more than 2,500 government documents and scientific reports, some gained through the Freedom of Information Act and never before revealed to the general public. “The Gary Null” show, originating in New York on WBAI radio, syndicated in 20 cities and heard by more than a million people, will air this information, and more, during a one hour interview with Dr. Horowitz beginning on Tuesday, April 23, from 12:00 to 1:00 PM e.s.t., and later in the week throughout the country. Listeners will learn that HIV-1, and its parent, HIV-2, have been traced to National Cancer Institute (NCI) and military funded cancer virus experiments which used infected African green monkeys to produce vaccines intended to prevent hepatitis, leukemia, and other cancers.
The documented evidence revealed in Dr. Horowitz’s new book, Emerging Viruses: AIDS and Ebola – Nature, Accident or Genocide? (Tetrahedron Publishing Group, 1996), shows that NCI researchers, during the 1960’s, mixed viral genes from different animals to produce leukemia, sarcoma, general wasting, and death. This provided the “cancer models” used to study human cancer and begin human vaccine trials. The book, described as the first in-depth exploration into the origins of AIDS and Ebola, and its controversial conclusions, have offended many top AIDS researchers, and been hailed by numerous others who have long questioned the green monkey theory, or feared disease outbreaks from viral vaccine experiments.
Reconciling the origin of AIDS and Ebola, as Dr. Horowitz has now done, is important for several reasons: First, many feel that victims of AIDS should not be blamed for starting the epidemic. With this evidence, those living with HIV/AIDS may now be freed from the stigma, shame, and guilt associated with the infection – a boost to their natural immunity. Second, new therapies might be developed from a better understanding of HIV’s origin. third, the events precipitating such epidemics should never be allowed to happen again. It is ethically important to understand, and therefore prevent, future outbreaks. Finally, those directly implicated in HIV’s development and transmission are the same individuals and institutions capitalizing on the epidemic and humanity’s suffering. Though many might consider this preposterous, as one Emerging Viruses review recently cautioned, “withhold any out-of-hand dismissal until you read this book,” or tune into Dr. Null’s extraordinary program.
The first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States flew from Liberia, federal health officials said. The unidentified man, who traveled to Dallas to visit family, is being treated at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.
DALLAS — The number of possible contacts with the Ebola patient in Dallas has risen to 80, said Zachary Thompson, Dallas County Health and Human Services director Thursday.
He also said a control order has been issued to the family of Thomas Eric Duncan, the man identified by The Associated Press as the victim of the often-fatal virus. Thompson said that means the family members are confined to their apartment and the front and back areas, such as the patio.
Original story
Parents rushed to get their children from school Wednesday after learning that five students may have had contact with the Ebola patient in a Dallas hospital, as Gov. Rick Perry and other leaders reassured the public that there is no cause for alarm.
The patient, identified by The Associated Press as Thomas Eric Duncan of Liberia, arrived in the U.S. on Sept. 20 to visit family. Dallas County Health and Human Services Director Zachary Thompson said county officials suspect that 12 to 18 people may have had contact with Duncan.
“Right now, the base number is 18 people, and that could increase,” he said. Thompson said more details are expected by Thursday afternoon. The number includes five students at four schools, Dallas school district Superintendent Mike Miles said.
“This case is serious,” Perry said during a news conference at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, where Duncan is being treated. “Rest assured that our system is working as it should. Professionals on every level on the chain of command know what to do to minimize this potential risk to the people of Texas and of this country.”
Miles said Dallas school officials learned Wednesday morning that five students at four schools — Tasby Middle, L.L. Hotchkiss Elementary, Dan D. Rogers Elementary and Conrad High — had come in contact with Duncan. Lowe Elementary is also being watched because it connects to Tasby.
“Since none of the students had symptoms, I’m pretty confident that none of the kids were exposed,” Miles said.
At L.L. Hotchkiss, parents pulled their children out of school early.
“I’m scared,” said parent Kia Collins, who has four children at the school ages 5 to 11. “I may keep them home all week.”
District officials said they plan to have counselors and translators reach out to parents: 32 languages are spoken just at Conrad High.
“That’s one of the reasons we’re here is we don’t want misinformation getting out there,” Miles said. “We found out this morning, and then we had a press conference.”
He urged parents to keep their children in school, but some were wary. Marcie Pardo said she picked up her 8-year-old daughter, Soriah, within minutes of being notified by school officials.
“To find out this is a school where it is happening, what are the odds?” Pardo said. “I’m sure there could have been some kind of contact somewhere.”
A letter to parents of children at Hotchkiss, 6929 Town North Drive, said the school was notified Wednesday that “one of our students may have had contact with an individual who was recently diagnosed with the Ebola virus.”
The letter goes on to say that the student has no symptoms, has been told to stay home and is under observation by the Dallas County Health and Human Services Department.
“… There is nothing to suggest that the disease was spread to others, including students and staff,” the letter says.
The Ebola virus is not spread through the air but through contact with bodily fluids — sweat, blood, saliva and other secretions.
Dallas victim carried Ebola patient in Liberia
When Duncan arrived in the U.S., he was not showing any symptoms, officials said.
But The New York Times reported Wednesday that he had contact with an Ebola patient Sept. 15, four days before he left Liberia for the United States, according to the parents of the woman who had Ebola and Duncan’s neighbors in Liberia.
Marthalene Williams, 19, was taken by taxi to a hospital with Duncan’s help Sept. 15 after failing to get an ambulance, her parents, Emmanuel and Amie Williams, told The Times. She was convulsing and seven months pregnant.
Duncan was a family friend and a tenant in a house owned by the Williams family. He rode in the taxi in the front passenger seat while Marthalene Williams, her father and her brother, Sonny Boy, shared the back, her parents said. Duncan helped carry Marthalene Williams, who was no longer able to walk, back to the family home that evening, neighbors said.
“He was holding her by the legs, the pa was holding her arms, and Sonny Boy was holding her back,” said Arren Seyou, 31, who witnessed the scene and occupies the room next to Duncan’s in Monrovia.
Just like Duncan, Sonny Boy, 21, became ill about a week ago, his family said.
An ambulance came to their house Wednesday to pick up Sonny Boy. A woman and her daughter from the same area were also picked up by an ambulance while a team came to retrieve the body of yet another woman. The Times reported that all four appeared to have been infected from a chain reaction that began with Marthalene Williams.
Reuters and other media outlets reported that Duncan traveled through Brussels on his way to the U.S.
A Belgian official told the news service that Duncan left Monrovia on Sept. 19 aboard a Brussels Airlines jet to the Belgian capital. After a layover of nearly seven hours, he boarded United Airlines Flight 951 to Dulles Airport near Washington, D.C. After another layover of nearly three hours, he flew on Flight 822 from Dulles to Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, the airline confirmed.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention typically notify an airline when they learn that an infectious person traveled on that carrier. The airline then turns over the flight manifest to the CDC, and health officials notify other passengers while the airline deals with crew members.
In this case, the CDC told United but not the public what flights the man took. In an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press, Dr. Thomas Frieden, the CDC director, suggested that doing so would divert public health resources away from controlling an outbreak.
He said the CDC was focused on finding anyone who came in contact with Duncan after he began showing symptoms.
The AP reported that Duncan’s sister, Mai Wureh, said her brother went to the Dallas emergency room Friday and was sent home with antibiotics. He told her that hospital officials asked for his Social Security number and that he said he didn’t have one because he was visiting from Liberia.
Texas Health Presbyterian representatives maintained Wednesday that the hospital acted appropriately.
“He was not exhibiting symptoms consistent with keeping him. If the person is not exhibiting the symptoms, there would be no reason to keep them,” Texas Health Resources spokesman Wendell Watson said. “That’s a judgment call one of the carriers would have to make. We are following up as well as the CDC and Texas Department of State Health Services.”
Another Texas Health Resources representative, Candace White, released a statement Wednesday afternoon saying, in part, that when Duncan arrived Friday, “the patient presented with low grade fever and abdominal pain. His condition did not warrant admission.”
Duncan was listed in serious condition Wednesday, White said in a statement.
The Dallas Fire-Rescue ambulance crew that transported the patient has been quarantined and the ambulance taken out of service, according to a statement from Dallas. But the children and others who came in contact with Duncan have not been quarantined. None of the paramedics in the ambulance tested positive for Ebola, Thompson said.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said county officials are following the CDC’s lead. If the people who came in contact with Duncan did not isolate themselves, more serious steps could be taken, Jenkins said.
Jenkins said county health officials would be “the boots on the ground” to get out the message to residents of the neighborhood where Duncan had been. But many people in that neighborhood, Vickery Meadow in northeast Dallas, said they had learned about the Ebola case from the hordes of reporters combing through the area.
Statewide health alert issued to providers
Dallas County officials, who have not identified the patient as Duncan, said the case is the only known occurrence of the deadly virus.
Tarrant County Public Health said Wednesday that there were no confirmed cases in Tarrant County.
“We are closely monitoring the Ebola case in Dallas. There are no cases or known contacts in Tarrant County at this time,” said Vinny Taneja, the agency’s director. “We feel confident that residents in our community are safe.”
The Texas Department of State Health Services issued an alert Wednesday outlining what providers should watch for as they evaluate patients.
Doctors and nurses should look for fever higher than 101.5 degrees, coupled with severe headache, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain or unexplained hemorrhaging, the alert says.
Patients who have those symptoms and who have been in contact with someone believed to have Ebola or who have been in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea or Nigeria in the past 21 days should be considered a person under investigation and should be tested, the alert says.
The alert notes that the virus does not generally spread through air, water or food, except in Africa, where handling or eating raw bushmeat can spread it.
The CDC said Wednesday that a team of 10 experts had arrived in Dallas to assist local officials — three senior scientists with expertise in public health investigations and infection control, five epidemic intelligence service officers, a public health adviser and a communications officer.
“We are stopping Ebola in its tracks in this country,” Frieden said in a news release. “We can do that because of two things: strong infection control that stops the spread of Ebola in health care; and strong core public health functions to trace contacts, track contacts, isolate them if they have any symptoms and stop the chain of transmission. I am certain we will control this.”
Ebola has infected a few Americans who traveled to West Africa, including Dr. Kent Brantly, who did his residency at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth. Brantly, who survived, was doing missionary work in Liberia when he was infected.
A spokesman at Samaritan’s Purse, for whom Brantly was working, said Wednesday that he is not releasing any statement about the Dallas case.
Staff writers Elizabeth Findell, Monica S. Nagy, Susan Schrock and Judy Wiley contributed to this report, which includes material from The Associated Press.
Because you signed up on my website and asked to be notified, I’m sending you this special recall alert.
On August 26, 2014, Mars Petcare US announced it is recalling specific lots of its Pedigree Dry Dog Food due to the possible presence of small metal fragments.
To learn which products are affected, please visit the following link:
Georgia's Corrupt Judicial System 