BY MELISSA SIEGLER
STAFF WRITER
Supreme Court denies appeals to ban gay marriage in several states
On Monday, October 6, appeals from five states looking to ban gay marriage were denied by the Supreme Court, therefore legalizing it in those states. The appeals came from Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin. This decision by the Supreme Court immediately ends all suspensions on gay marriage in these states and North Carolina, Kansas, Colorado, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming, which are bound by the same appellate rulings. With this ruling, 30 states and the District of Columbia have now legalized gay marriage, but the controversial issue remains unresolved nationally.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/10/06/supreme-court-denies-gay-marriage-appeals/
Another black teen shot by police officer in St. Louis area
A black teen was shot and killed by an off duty, white police officer on October 8, in a St. Louis neighborhood. Tensions were still running high in this area due to the death of unarmed black teen, Michael Brown, at the hands of a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri in August. Ferguson is just 16 miles outside of where this recent shooting took place. The family of the victim, 18-year-old Vonderrit Myers Jr., claimed that Myers was unarmed and shot by an officer who assumed Myers was a criminal because he was black. However, the police issued a statement that said Myers shot three rounds before the officer returned fire with 17 rounds. This shooting raises concerns that the extreme protests and violent riots that took place against the police in the streets of Ferguson will begin again.
First US Ebola patient dies
The first patient diagnosed with Ebola in the United States died in a Dallas hospital on October 8. Thomas Eric Duncan was diagnosed with Ebola in late September after he arrived back in the United States from Liberia, where the illness is running rampant and has killed nearly 4,000 people. Duncan had been heavily medicated and in a partially comatose state for ten days prior to his death. His body was cremated to reduce the risk of spreading the disease further.
“His suffering is over,” said Louise Troh, Duncan’s fiancée. “My family is in deep sadness and grief, but we leave him in the hands of God. Our deepest sympathies go out to his father and family in Liberia and here in America. Eric was a wonderful man who showed compassion toward all.”
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/08/dallas-ebola-patient-dies/16786011/