THOMAS DUNCAN ‘FIGHTING FOR LIFE’ The first U.S Ebola patient, who was coming to Dallas to marry his girlfriend, is currently “fighting for his life,” according to the Director of the Centers for Disease Control. His family says they are being “ostracized”. Ebola screenings at airports are likely to increase. Here’s how U.S. survivalists are preparing for what they fear will be a mass outbreak. And this graphic details how Ebola ravages the body. [NYT]
As Hong Kong heads back to work today after the end of the holiday celebrating China’s communist government, the tide of unrest seems to have dissipated as the number of protesters has decreased sharply. Protesters are “running on fumes and instant noodles.” Here’s how China’s President Xi Jinping can spin the protests. [WSJ]
“U.S.-led airstrikes designed to serve notice on Islamist extremists in Iraq and Syria have also delivered a sobering message to Washington and its allies: Breaking the militants’ grip will be every bit as difficult as they feared. As the U.S. prepares to launch a ground war by proxy forces in Syria and Iraq, there are signs that the air campaign is disrupting militant group Islamic State … However, Islamic State appears to have largely withstood the airstrikes so far and with scant pressure on the ground in Iraq and Syria, the militants have given up little of the territory they captured before the campaign began.” ISIS publically executed six Iraqi soldiers Sunday. And Peter Kassig’s family released a statement pleading for his release, as many fear ISIS will behead the U.S. aid worker next. [WSJ]
Hewlett-Packard Co. will “divide itself into a company aimed at business technology, including computer servers and data storage equipment, software and services, and a company that sells personal computers and printers.” [NYT]
“Ammunition transferred into Syria and Iraq to help stabilize governments has instead passed from the governments to the jihadists, helping to fuel the Islamic State’s rise and persistent combat power. Rifle cartridges from the United States, the sample shows, have played a significant role. ‘The lesson learned here is that the defense and security forces that have been supplied ammunition by external nations really don’t have the capacity to maintain custody of that ammunition,’ said James Bevan, director of Conflict Armament Research, the organization that is gathering and analyzing weapons used by the Islamic State.” [Story, Image via NYT]
Here are the cases the high court will be hearing this term. [AP]
“Twenty years ago, amid a national panic over crime, California voters adopted the country’s most stringent three-strikes law, sentencing repeat felons to 25 years to life, even if the third offense was a minor theft. The law epitomized the tough-on-crime policies that produced overflowing prisons and soaring costs. Now California voters appear poised to scale back the heavy reliance on incarceration they once embraced, with a measure that would transform several lower-level, nonviolent felonies into misdemeanors punishable by brief jail stays, if that, rather than time in a state penitentiary.” [Story, Image via NYT]
WHAT’S BREWING 
After a three-game sweep, the team that just can’t lose in extra innings is headed to the American League Championship Series to face the Baltimore Orioles. [AP]
The Olympian is voluntarily taking a break from swimming and checking himself into rehab in order to “attend a program that will provide the help I need to better understand myself.” [Page Six]
Flower crown included. [HuffPost]
Here are the retailers hiring the most seasonal workers. [HuffPost]
David Fincher’s thriller “Gone Girl” and horror movie “Annabelle” swept the box office with $38 and $37.2 million apiece this weekend. [Variety]
“Most restaurant owners want the best-possible rating on Yelp, but Davide Cerretini is very happy to report that, based on more than 1,200 reviews, his Italian eatery has a dismal one-star score. Cerretini lost his taste for Yelp when his own Botto Bistro in Richmond, California, began attracting reviews that were more negative than usual after he stopped advertising on the site. To combat the problem, Cerretini got creative. He started offering a discount in exchange for giving Botto Bistro a one-star Yelp review, and customers complied en masse.” [HuffPost]
Just like carrots, apparently. Watch out for those Starbucks PSLs. [HuffPost]
Really, you have no excuse after that weekend of debauchery. [HuffPost]
ON THE BLOG
“The second week of early voting has ended and 88,371 people have voted in all reporting states, with 31 days to go until Election Day on Nov. 4 … The majority of these voters reside in Iowa, where an intense ground game is underway. As of Thursday, 61,741 Iowans had returned mail ballots, representing 5.4 percent of the total votes cast in 2010 … As of Thursday, Democrats enjoy a 31,437 (51 percent) to 20,732 (33 percent) lead in returned ballots, a lead in percentage terms that has remained fairly steady during the course of the week.” [HuffPost]
BEFORE YOU GO
~ Scientists have discovered the origin of the AIDS pandemic.
~ Want your kid to be a snowflake? Here are 100 unique baby names.
~ Meet the three scientists who won the 2014 Nobel Prize in medicine.
~ Miss USA will soon be Mrs. USA!
~ Did you know who has Elvis Presley beat for the most “Hot 100” songs?
~ Don’t make the Coast Guard rescue you in a floating bubble off the coast.
~ Orlando Bloom has the hots for Margot Robbie.
~ Check out the top ten workout songs for October.
~ Pearls can be edgy.
~ James Franco and Seth Rogen got very naked and afraid.
~ And here are the top pumpkin-flavored beers.