Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan told his fiancee the day he was diagnosed last week that he regrets exposing her to the deadly virus and had he known he was carrying Ebola, he would have “preferred to stay in Liberia and died than bring this to you,” a family friend said.

 “He apologized to Louise the day they told him what he had,” said Saymendy Lloyd, a close friend of Louise Troh, the fiancee of Duncan, who is in critical condition and no longer responsive. “He told her, ‘I’m so sorry all of this is happening. . . . I would not put the love of my life in danger.’ ”

 Family members gathered in Dallas and were able to see Duncan on Monday at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital via a laptop camera in his hospital room. “He is not responsive at all. They said he was drugged and they put him in deep sleep,” said Lloyd, who was with the family.

 She said the family members were saddened by the sight of Duncan.

 Lloyd said this was the first time Duncan’s mother, who lives in North Carolina, saw her son since he came to the United States.

 1 of 46 Full Screen Autoplay Close Oct. 7, 2014 Oct. 6, 2014 Oct. 5, 2014 Oct. 4, 2014 Oct. 3, 2014 Oct. 2, 2014 Oct. 1, 2014 Skip Ad × Family of Ebola patient in Texas mourns View Photos The family of Thomas Eric Duncan was devastated by the news of his death. Caption The family of Thomas Eric Duncan was devastated by the news of his death. Oct. 8, 2014 Eric Williams, a Texas congressional candidate, speaks to reporters outside Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas about the death of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan at the hospital. Williams is calling on Gov. Rick Perry (R) to begin an investigation into the treatment of Duncan and the care he received at the hospital. LM Otero/AP Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.

 “She has not seen him for 12 years, and the first time she saw him was through a monitor,” said Lloyd. “She was very, very emotional. She told him to be strong, that she is praying for him, that she loves him and God is able to do all things.”

 Troh, who is in mandated isolation in Dallas with her 13-year-old son and two other people, spoke by phone to Lloyd.

 Duncan and Troh’s 19-year-old son, Eric Karsiah Duncan, tried to visit his father at the hospital Tuesday evening.

 Speaking later at a news conference at Wilshire Baptist Church, the Angelo State University student thanked his mother’s church members.

 “I’m praying for my family to be okay and my dad makes it out safely,” said Eric Duncan, who had not seen his father since he was 3 in Liberia. “I hope they find a cure for it.”

 As Thomas Duncan fights for his life, Texas health officials are bracing for a critical week in Dallas, where they are watching for any signs that as many as 48 people who had contact with Duncan may develop symptoms of Ebola. Health officials say the incubation period for the disease is 21 days, but it could appear eight to 10 days after exposure.

 Duncan began showing symptoms Sept. 24, when he first sought medical treatment at Texas Presbyterian, three blocks from the home of Troh. Duncan was sent home but was taken back to the hospital by ambulance Sept. 28. Two days later, last Tuesday, a blood test confirmed that he had Ebola. Health officials say the “10-day threshold” for the disease will fall within the next few days.

 View Graphic More than a dozen drugs are being studied for treating Ebola and other filoviruses.

 “This is a critical week. We need to be prepared in Dallas for what could happen if family members become ill,” said David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of Health Services. “We are doing contingency planning and praying for what if. I have been concentrating on what we need to do now to protect Dallas.”

 None of the 10 “high risk” people — including four people who lived in the apartment where Duncan stayed and six health-care workers — have developed symptoms, health officials said. Troh, who was moved to an undisclosed location with the three people who were in the apartment with Duncan, is still well, family members say. On Sunday, members of the Liberian community association were able to take her traditional Liberian food, including jollof rice, foo foo, cassava leaves and plantains. “She called me, ‘I’m eating some traditional Liberian food,’ ” Lloyd said. “She was very happy about that.”

 Health officials say they are continuing to watch 38 other people who had “possible contact” with Duncan and were considered to be at lower risk. Twice a day, health officials are checking the temperature of the 48 people — of whom six are in mandated isolation.

 “They receive one call a day [to ask for a temperature reading] and one visit per day,” said Sana Sayed, a spokeswoman for the city of Dallas. “A health worker makes a physical contact with the 48 people being monitored every single day, seeing them and checking their temperature.”

 Lakey would not discuss why hospital protocols failed to detect Duncan the first time he visited Texas Health Presbyterian with a 101.1 fever, complaining of abdominal pains. The hospital’s decision to send him home put other people at risk.

 “A lot of evaluations will take place to find out what happened on the first presentation to find out why wasn’t a diagnosis made,” Lakey said.

 Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price criticized the hospital for failing to heed warnings sent in July about what protocols hospitals should follow to treat infectious diseases.

 “I said at the outset, Presbyterian is a boutique hospital next to a little Ellis Island,” Price said, referring to the neighborhood where many residents are immigrants. “If you don’t have insurance, you’re not going to get treated. That’s the elephant in the room.”

 Texas Health Resources, the hospital network that includes Texas Health Presbyterian, responded to criticism Tuesday by saying, “He was treated the way any other patient would have been treated, regardless of nationality or ability to pay for care. We have a long history of treating a multicultural community in this area.”

 Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that the agency was exploring ways to increase the screening of passengers on both sides of the Atlantic.

 “We’re working very intensively on the screening process,” Frieden said in a conference call with reporters Tuesday. “We’re looking at that entire process to see what more can be done.”

 While he promised that “additional steps” were coming, Frieden did not elaborate on what that would include. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in an interview Tuesday that Frieden told him that the plan is to have “tougher types of screening on U.S. soil.”

 Still, Frieden said the CDC has had teams on the ground working to strengthen the screening of passengers leaving West Africa. The screening has included taking temperatures, keeping an eye out for other symptoms and having travelers fill out questionnaires.

 He said the CDC methods have been used to screen more than 36,000 people over two months. And of those travelers, a small portion of whom were coming to the United States, only 77 people had a fever or other symptoms that caused them to be taken out of line, he said. “As far as we know, none of those 77 people had Ebola,” Frieden noted.

 Of course, these methods are not perfect, as was made clear when Duncan filled out a questionnaire, had his temperature taken by a person trained by the CDC and boarded multiple flights on his way to Dallas.

 President Obama’s promise of stepped-up screening for Ebola at U.S. airports that handle international flights will fall on the shoulders of the Customs and Border Protection officers who greet passengers arriving from abroad.

 Though they often seem preoccupied with scrutinizing passports and luggage, customs officers are trained to detect signs of illness, and they routinely do just that, officials said.

 “CBP personnel review all travelers entering the United States for general overt signs of illnesses,” the agency said in a statement.

 In addition to visual observations, CBP officers question passengers about their health and are instructed to alert the CDC if a passenger appears to be seriously ill. If a person is believed to have “a possible communicable disease,” they are isolated while the CDC and local authorities conduct the evaluation.

 Federal law requires pilots to radio ahead if a passenger dies or falls ill with certain symptoms.

 “If somebody comes in on a flight that has a fever or any one of those triggers, CDC can insert themselves at any point in the process,” said Rob Yingling, spokesman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which runs Dulles International and Reagan National airports. “They can say [to the pilot], ‘Tell us more about this case,’ or they can actually physically go to the plane.”

 The CDC maintains an office at Dulles and other major airports that handle international flights.

 Meanwhile, up to 4,000 service members are expected to head to West African countries ravaged by the Ebola epidemic. They will be monitored several times a day and, if any of them contract Ebola, they will be flown back to the United States aboard a specially designed plane for treatment.

 Among the tasks laid out for the military is the construction of 17 treatment centers for people with the disease. This will take until the middle of next month, according to Gen. David Rodriguez, chief of U.S. Africa Command.

 Mark Berman, Ashley Halsey III, Dan Lamonthe and Amy Ellis Nutt contributed to this report from Washington. ||||| DALLAS (AP) — The family of a man diagnosed with the first U.S. case of Ebola again visited him at the hospital Tuesday but declined to view him via video the last time had been too upsetting.

 Nowai Korkoya, mother of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, center, walks with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, right, and Josephus Weeks, Duncan's nephew after they spoke to reporters Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014, in... (Associated Press)

 Nowai Korkoya, center, mother of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, is wheeled by the Rev. Jesse Jackson after her family visited her son at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014, in... (Associated Press)

 FILE - This 2011 photo provided by Wilmot Chayee shows Thomas Eric Duncan at a wedding in Ghana. In September 2014, Duncan became the first patient in the U.S. diagnosed with Ebola. (AP Photo/Wilmot Chayee) (Associated Press)

 Nowai Korkoya, mother of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, walks with the Rev. Jesse Jackson after they spoke to reporters, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014, in Dallas. Duncan's family has gathered in Dallas to... (Associated Press)

 Josephus Weeks, left, nephew of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, stands next to the Rev. Jesse Jackson as he finishes up speaking to reporters Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014, in Dallas. Duncan's family has gathered... (Associated Press)

 Josephus Weeks, left, and his son Josephus Weeks, Jr., nephews of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, visit with a reporter after seeing their uncle at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Tuesday, Oct. 7,... (Associated Press)

 Relatives of Thomas Eric Duncan glimpsed him using a video system at Dallas' Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on Monday. But when they returned anew, this time with Rev. Jesse Jackson, they decided such images were too much.

 "What we saw was very painful. It didn't look good," said Duncan's nephew, Josephus Weeks.

 Weeks said he and Duncan's mother were unable to sleep after seeing Duncan's face.

 The hospital says Duncan is in critical condition and is sedated but stable. He is on a breathing machine and kidney dialysis. Duncan's liver function, which declined over the weekend, has improved, though doctors say it may it may not stay that way.

 David Lakey, commissioner of Texas' Department of State Health Services, walked the hospital ward housing Duncan, which is otherwise vacant. He said security and medical officials wear gowns, double gloves and masks, and are following protocols on removing them and showering when they leave the ward.

 "They are doing their work very safely," Lakey said.

 ___

 Eds: Associated Press Writer Will Weissert contributed to this report from Austin. ||||| Photo

 DALLAS — The Liberian man battling the Ebola virus is on a ventilator and receiving kidney dialysis, health officials said Tuesday, but for the first time doctors had some positive news to report about his condition. Family members who were briefed by doctors said they were told Mr. Duncan’s temperature and blood pressure are back to normal and the debilitating diarrhea Ebola brings had slowed.

 A little more than a week after testing positive for the virus, the patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, 42, remained in critical condition on Tuesday, while getting an experimental antiviral drug that doctors hope will help him recover.

 But his family, who gathered here today and held a vigil with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, said they had some reasons to be optimistic.

 “We are happy Eric is doing better. If all goes well we will be able to see him,” his nephew, Josephus Weeks, said.

 Photo

 It is a critical week not just for Mr. Duncan but for the 48 people who had some contact with him after he showed signs of the disease. In this city, on edge over fears that Ebola could spread, officials have urged calm, saying those potentially exposed to the virus are being tracked and none have showed symptoms.

 Dr. David Lakey, the Texas health commissioner, said Tuesday that the next few days could be decisive in determining whether any of the 48 people who came in contact with Mr. Duncan develop the virus.

 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the maximum incubation period for the virus is 21 days, but symptoms typically appear in eight to 10. Mr. Duncan, who apparently contracted the virus before flying to the United States, began complaining of symptoms on Sept. 24 and was hospitalized in isolation on Sept. 28. The 10-day threshold will pass by the middle of this week.

 Of the 48 people under observation, 10 are deemed to be at high risk, officials said. Three of those people shared an apartment with Mr. Duncan and seven are health care workers. The other 38 people are considered to be at lower risk.

 “None of them are sick, none of them have a fever,” Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the director of the C.D.C., said Tuesday.

 Dr. Frieden said Mr. Duncan’s condition and the lack of new cases were positive signs with implications for what he said will be a long fight against the disease.

 “Globally, this is going to be a long hard fight,” he said. “We can never forget that the enemy here is a virus, the enemy is Ebola, not people, not countries, not communities, a virus. And it’s a virus that doesn’t spread through the air, that we do know how to control. We do know how to stop it by isolating patients, doing contact tracing and breaking the chains of transmission. I can say one week in that there are real signs of progress not only in Dallas but also around the world.”

 Since Saturday, Mr. Duncan has been receiving brincidofovir — an experimental drug developed to fight smallpox and other highly infectious viruses. The C.D.C. said there are no more doses of ZMapp, another experimental drug used on two American aid workers who later recovered from Ebola.

 Mr. Duncan’s nephew said that despite signs of improvement, the virus has given his uncle serious infections in his lungs and kidneys, and Mr. Duncan has not yet turned a corner toward recovery.

 Mr. Duncan came to Dallas a few weeks ago from Liberia to reunite with Louise Troh, with whom he has a son. Now Ms. Troh, one of her other sons and two men who were staying with them are quarantined until late October. Local officials moved them a few days ago from a small apartment, which had towels and bedding contaminated with Ebola, to a modest four-bedroom ranch house that was donated by a church after officials were unable to find a house for the potentially infected family through traditional landlords.

 More Ebola Coverage

 “They are doing very well,” said the Rev. George Mason of Wilshire Baptist Church, which Ms. Troh attends. “They are counting the days until they can come out.”

 At the church on Tuesday night, Karsiah Duncan, Mr. Duncan’s 19-year-old son with Ms. Troh, spoke publicly about his father for the first time. The younger Mr. Duncan had not seen his father since he was 3, when his parents separated in an Ivory Coast refugee camp and Ms. Troh left for the United States. He is a freshman at Angelo State University, west of Dallas, where he plays on the football team.

 A reunion was to be one of the highlights of Mr. Duncan’s visit. Instead, Karsiah visited his father at the hospital on Tuesday evening.

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 “I just came down here because I thought God was calling me to see my dad,” he said. He thanked the doctors caring for his father, and paid tribute to the strength of his mother, who has been quarantined since Mr. Duncan was hospitalized on Sept. 28. “Keep praying and let God do what he got to do.”

 Mr. Mason, the pastor, said he had visited the family to bring a Bible and letters from his congregation. Liberians in the area have come to bring traditional foods such as potato greens, cassava leaves and pepper sauce, not supplied by aid agencies. A number of local officials coordinating the response, including Mayor Mike Rawlings of Dallas and Judge Clay Jenkins of Dallas County, have also stopped by.

 While they are careful to avoid contact, Mr. Mason said, they wear no protective clothing.

 “The science is clear,” he said. “If they don’t have symptoms, they are not contagious. We had a choice to act out of fear or out of love. We chose to act out of love.” ||||| A member of the Cleaning Guys Haz Mat clean up company removes items from the apartment where Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan was staying before being admitted to a hospital on October 6, 2014 in Dallas, Texas.

 A member of the Cleaning Guys Haz Mat clean up company removes items from the apartment... Read More

 A member of the Cleaning Guys Haz Mat clean up company removes items from the apartment where Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan was staying before being admitted to a hospital on October 6, 2014 in Dallas, Texas. Close

 The care provided Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan may have cost as much as half a million dollars, a bill Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas is unlikely to ever collect.

 Duncan died today at the hospital, where he had been isolated since Sept. 28. He had been on a ventilator, was given an experimental medicine and began receiving dialysis when his kidney’s failed Oct. 4, the hospital has said. His treatment included fluids replacement, blood transfusions and drugs to maintain blood pressure. There’s also the cost of security, disposing of Ebola-contaminated trash and equipment to protect caregivers.

 “It is with profound sadness and heartfelt disappointment that we must inform you of the death of Thomas Eric Duncan this morning at 7:51 a.m.,” Texas Health Presbyterian said today in a statement.

 The Ebola Scourge

 The bill for Duncan’s care may eventually total $500,000 including indirect costs such as the disruption to other areas of the hospital, said Dan Mendelson, chief executive officer of Avalere Health, a Washington consulting firm. Duncan’s care probably cost $18,000 to $24,000 a day, said Gerard Anderson, a health policy professor at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health.

 Photographer: Mike Stone/Getty Images Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas on Sept. 30 in Dallas. Close Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas on Sept. 30 in Dallas. Close Open Photographer: Mike Stone/Getty Images Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas on Sept. 30 in Dallas.

 Duncan had been in isolation in the hospital for nine days. “If they recognize that he has no money they will clearly just write it off as charity care,” Anderson said in a telephone interview yesterday before Duncan’s death was announced.

 No Insurance

 Duncan came to the U.S. from Liberia on Sept. 20 on a tourist visa. He had no health insurance to pay for his care, said the Reverend Jesse Jackson, the civil rights advocate, who traveled to Dallas at the request of Duncan’s mother.

 Spokesmen for Texas Health Presbyterian and for the Liberian embassy in Washington declined to discuss who would pay for Duncan’s care.

 Related:

 Duncan is the first case of Ebola diagnosed in the U.S. Emory University Hospital in Atlanta and Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha have also treated Ebola patients, three of whom have been released after recovering. A fourth patient is under care in Omaha and a fifth in Atlanta.

 Neither of the hospitals would comment on the cost of treating those patients. Kent Brantly, the first person to be transported from Liberia to the U.S. for care, was covered under health insurance provided by his charity, Samaritan’s Purse, said Todd Shearer, a spokesman for the group.

 Photographer: Joe Raedle/Getty Images Civil rights advocate Reverend Jesse Jackson, right, walks with Nowai korkoyah, the mother of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, after speaking to the media at the South Dallas Cafe on October 7, 2014 in Dallas, Texas. Close Civil rights advocate Reverend Jesse Jackson, right, walks with Nowai korkoyah, the... Read More Close Open Photographer: Joe Raedle/Getty Images Civil rights advocate Reverend Jesse Jackson, right, walks with Nowai korkoyah, the mother of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, after speaking to the media at the South Dallas Cafe on October 7, 2014 in Dallas, Texas.

 SIM’s Coverage

 Two other aid workers, Nancy Writebol and Rick Sacra, went to Liberia with the Charlotte, North Carolina-based missionary group SIM. They are covered by the group’s health and workers’ compensation insurance plans, and SIM plans to pay their $25,000 deductibles, said George Salloum, the group’s vice president for finance and operations. Writebol’s evacuation from Liberia was covered in full by one of SIM’s insurance carriers, Aetna Inc. (AET), he said. He’s still waiting for bills from other carriers, whom he declined to name, and said he didn’t know what the hospital care cost.

 “The hospitals have not disclosed that information to us,” Salloum said in a phone interview. “I’m very anxious to find out, personally, just wondering what they’re charging for that kind of care.”

 Emory and Nebraska are known for their expertise in exotic diseases and careful isolation of infectious patients. Texas Health Presbyterian has no such pedigree.

 Hospital Rank

 It is ranked the fifth-best hospital in the Dallas-Fort Worth region and 15th-best in Texas by U.S. News and World Report. Duncan arrived there in an ambulance on Sept. 28, after being initially sent home two days earlier from the emergency room with antibiotics. The hospital has blamed a communication failure in its electronic record system for Duncan’s initial release.

 “They have an excellent reputation in the community” and “very good infectious disease physicians,” Stephen Love, president and CEO of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council, a trade group, said in a phone interview.

 Anderson, who is a former federal health official, said that as a foreign citizen Duncan wouldn’t have been eligible for any U.S. health programs such as Medicaid, for low income people. Texas hospitals charge $8,176 per day on average for treatment of viral illnesses, including exotic diseases such as West Nile virus and Dengue fever, said Andrew Fitch, a health-care pricing expert at NerdWallet, a San Francisco-based company that provides consumer finance and health data.

 That figure “is actually probably on the low end” for Ebola, Fitch said in a phone interview. “The isolation ward would bump up the charge a lot.”

 Area Costs

 Health care generally is more costly in Dallas than in the rest of the country, according to the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care, a project of Dartmouth University that tracks regional variation in spending by Medicare, the U.S. health insurance program for the elderly and disabled. Medicare beneficiaries in Dallas cost about $11,484 on average in 2012, placing the area within the 90th percentile for the U.S.

 Isolation procedures can include placing patients by themselves in rooms capable of negative air pressure, to prevent microorganisms from escaping, said Pritish Tosh, an infectious diseases physician and researcher at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Physicians and nurses treating the patients must don gloves, gowns and masks with eye protection before entering the room and dispose of the gear afterward, he said.

 Intensive Care

 That can roughly double the cost of standard treatment in an intensive care unit, Anderson said. If a U.S. outbreak occurs, something federal health officials say is unlikely, the cost of care may fall as hospitals gain experience and streamline procedures, said Jeffrey Rice, CEO of Healthcare BlueBook Inc., a Brentwood, Tennessee, company that calculates health-care prices for consumers.

 There is no approved cure for Ebola, though some patients have received experimental medications. Standard treatment includes supportive care to maintain body fluids, replace blood and fight off opportunistic infections.

 The Ebola outbreak originated in West Africa, where it has infected 8,033 people, killing 3,879, primarily in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, according to a report today from the World Health Organization.

 To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Wayne in Washington at awayne3@bloomberg.net

 To contact the editors responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net Andrew Pollack ||||| DALLAS (AP) — The Fort Worth, Texas, company Cleaning Guys has dealt with hazardous spills. It has cleared bloody crime scenes, including some that involved HIV.

 File - In the Oct. 3, 2014 file photo, hazardous material cleaners prepare to hang black plastic outside The Ivy Apartments in Dallas. A 15-member crew from the Cleaning Guys of Fort Worth labored for... (Associated Press)

 File - In the Oct. 2, 2014, file photo, a hazardous materials cleaning company truck sits parked outside The Ivy Apartments in Dallas. A 15-member crew from the Cleaning Guys of Fort Worth labored for... (Associated Press)

 In this photo made Monday, Oct. 6, 2014, Brad Smith, a hazardous material cleaner speaks to reporters staking out an apartment in Dallas. A 15-member crew that labored for four days at the apartment... (Associated Press)

 In this photo made Monday, Oct. 6, 2014, a hazardous material cleaner removes an item from an apartment in Dallas. A 15-member crew that labored for four days at the apartment where Thomas Eric Duncan... (Associated Press)

 FILE - In this Oct. 3, 2014, file photo, a hazardous material cleaner removes an item from an apartment in Dallas. A 15-member crew that labored for four days at the apartment where Thomas Eric Duncan... (Associated Press)

 But Garrett Eison, the company's operations manager, said he was initially anxious when the company agreed to take on a job others were hesitant to do: cleaning up the Dallas apartment where an Ebola patient stayed.

 "This is definitely something that would make you a little more nervous," Eison said, though he added that because he knew his company was prepared, "I don't feel worried about it."

 Eison was part of a 15-member crew that spent four days at the apartment where Thomas Eric Duncan stayed when he began showing Ebola-related symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea. They wore protective suits with gas masks as they filled about 140 barrels with items from the home for incineration, including mattresses, the patient's sheets and the entire apartment's carpet.

 By the end, logos on the company's black and green trailers — televised nationwide by media camped outside the home — became a recognizable brand across Dallas, where Eison's colleagues have been approached in public and thanked.

 The job wasn't easy to fill. At a briefing last week, Texas Health Commissioner David Lakey said that "there's been a little bit of hesitancy for entities to want to do that." A Dallas County spokeswoman said Tuesday that the county contacted seven vendors for the task and that "the only vendor that was responsive and met the guidelines" for that kind of waste disposal was the Cleaning Guys.

 Duncan arrived in Dallas last month from Ebola-ravaged Liberia and stayed in the apartment with Louise Troh, her 13-year-old son and two nephews until he developed symptoms several days later and was eventually hospitalized. The family was moved to an undisclosed location on Friday, the day the cleanup started. They have not yet shown symptoms.

 For the next several days, the crew cleared out the place, including a 26-hour final stretch lasting into Monday. The job required rotating two-person teams after they'd worked for 40 minutes to avoid exhaustion. They disposed of most of the family's belongings but were able to set aside items such as passports, a laptop, a family Bible, trophies, photographs and other keepsakes.

 Company owner Erick McCallum said that for the job they set up a "little city" outside the apartment that included food, portable toilets and a place for workers to rest. They also made sure workers were properly hydrated and had their blood pressure under control.

 McCallum said his crew didn't have any specific training for Ebola, which is spread by contact with bodily fluids and has killed more than 3,400 people in West Africa. But he noted his company's previous work prepared them for what he calls his business' most high-profile job.

 The workers consulted with Dallas County and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to ensure everyone was safe.

 "It comes down to biohazard training," he said. "The steps and precautions taken are basically the same."

 ___

 Associated Press writers Diana Heidgerd and Emily Schmall contributed to this report. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– Ebola doesn't just cause a horrific death: It'll leave you with a massive hospital bill if you survive, reports Bloomberg. Care for Liberian national Thomas Duncan, who is in critical condition at a Dallas hospital, is costing up to $1,000 an hour, and analysts believe the bill could total more than $500,000, including costs like security and decontamination. Duncan—who will also face criminal charges if he pulls through—has no health insurance, and it's not clear if the bill will ever be paid. "It's too early to make a decision about payment of bills; he is in critical condition," a Liberian Embassy spokesman says. "The focus is on his health." More: Duncan, 42, is receiving an experimental drug, and health officials say there have been a few positive signs: He's still on dialysis, but his blood pressure and temperature are now normal, reports the New York Times. None of the 48 people under observation who came into contact with him are showing Ebola symptoms. But with the incubation deadline days away, Dallas is on edge, reports the AP. "This is a very critical week," says Texas Health Commissioner David Lakey. "We're at a very sensitive period when a contact could develop symptoms. We're monitoring with extreme vigilance." Before he became unresponsive, Duncan apologized to his fiancee and told her he would have "preferred to stay in Liberia and died than bring this to you," a family friend tells the Washington Post. The friend says he told her, "I'm so sorry all of this is happening ... I would not put the love of my life in danger." Duncan's relatives have been able to view him via a video system, but they decided not to during a hospital visit yesterday because earlier images had been too disturbing. "What we saw was very painful. It didn't look good," a nephew tells the AP. A fascinating read: How Firestone shut down Ebola.


Russia's Alexander Tretiakov won gold in the men's skeleton at Sochi - before being banned for life by the IOC

 XXIII Olympic Winter Games Venue: Pyeongchang, South Korea Dates: 9-25 February Coverage: Watch live on BBC TV, Red Button, Connected TVs, BBC Sport website and mobile app.

 A decision to overturn the Olympic life bans of 28 Russian athletes "may have a serious impact on the future fight against doping", says the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

 The Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) overturned the IOC suspensions - for doping at the 2014 Winter Olympics - partially upholding 11 other appeals.

 Cas said that in 28 cases evidence was "insufficient" to prove doping.

 The IOC said it would consider its own appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal.

 Cas said that for the 11 athletes whose appeals had been partially upheld, evidence "was sufficient to establish an anti-doping rule violation" had taken place.

 It said they would be "declared ineligible" for this month's Games "instead of a life ban from all Olympic Games".

 The IOC said that the Cas ruling "does not mean that athletes from the group of 28 will be invited" to this month's Games in Pyeongchang.

 It expressed its "satisfaction on one hand and disappointment on the other" at Thursday's decision, made eight days before the 2018 Winter Olympics begin in South Korea.

 "On the one hand, the confirmation of the anti-doping rule violations for 11 athletes because of the manipulation of their samples clearly demonstrates once more the existence of the systemic manipulation of the anti-doping system at Sochi 2014," a statement added.

 "On the other hand, the IOC regrets very much that - according to the Cas press release - the panels did not take this proven existence of the systemic manipulation of the anti-doping system into consideration for the other 28 cases.

 "This may have a serious impact on the future fight against doping.

 "Therefore, the IOC will analyse the reasoned decisions very carefully once they are available and consider consequences, including an appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal."

 Britain in line for another bronze?

 The Cas decision makes it likely that Britain's four-man bobsleigh team from Sochi will be upgraded to a bronze medal.

 John James Jackson, Bruce Tasker, Stuart Benson and Joel Fearon finished fifth, but the IOC disqualified two Russian sleds who finished first and fourth following re-examination of the doping tests conducted at the time.

 Athletes from both Russian sleds were included in the 11 whose doping violations were confirmed by Cas.

 The IOC is yet to officially reallocate the medals from that event, but if confirmed it would raise Britain's medal count to five and make Sochi 2014 their most successful Winter Olympics.

 Jackson told BBC Sport: "Do I feel like an Olympic bronze medallist? I think it's starting to sink in, but I think once we have the medal it will feel more real.

 "It's been a long waiting game since the McLaren report came out to get to a decision. I wasn't expecting the final outcome of the 28 appeals being upheld, but always thought a life-time ban wouldn't be upheld either way."

 Analysis

 BBC sports editor Dan Roan

 Once again, just as in Rio two years ago, the Olympic movement is in chaos on the eve of its showpiece event.

 The IOC had already received huge criticism for banning Russia, but then allowing as many as 169 athletes to compete as neutrals, but with the word 'Russia' emblazoned on their kit.

 The Cas decision now means that the 28 Russian athletes who have had their bans overturned could take legal action against the IOC and fight to be allowed to join their compatriots in Pyeongchang, along with many others excluded from the Olympics, causing last-minute havoc.

 At a time when there are fresh concerns that the new-generation bottles used to collect samples could be tampered with, this will be seen as yet another blow for anti-doping, undermining the entire case built against Russia for state-sponsored doping, and fuelling those who portray the scandal as a Western conspiracy.

 However, many will wonder why the IOC issued these lifetime bans in the first place when legal precedent shows that such sanctions are always doomed to fail once appealed.

 'A get out of jail free card'

 Cas said it considered testimony from experts including former Russian anti-doping official and whistleblower Dr Grigory Rodchenkov and Canadian lawyer Professor Richard McLaren, who authored a damning 2016 report into doping in Russia.

 A statement from Dr Rodchenkov's lawyers said: "This panel's unfortunate decision provides a very small measure of punishment for some athletes but a complete 'get out of jail free card' for most.

 "The Cas decision only emboldens cheaters, makes it harder for clean athletes to win, and provides yet another ill-gotten gain for the corrupt Russian doping system generally, and [President Vladimir] Putin specifically.

 "Clean sport is dead. The Cas decision proves that certain countries can get away with anything and everything. Today's decision will forever stand as the low point in sports integrity."

 How many Russians were banned and why?

 Media playback is not supported on this device IOC president: An 'unprecedented attack on the integrity of the Olympics'

 In total 43 Russians were banned for life from the Olympics following the conclusion of an IOC investigation into evidence of state-sponsored Russian doping at their home Games in Sochi in 2014.

 Bobsleigher Maxim Belugin was the only athlete not to lodge an appeal with Cas, while three other cases - biathletes Olga Zaytseva, Olga Vilukhina and Yana Romanova - have been "suspended".

 The IOC investigation - known as the Oswald Commission, tasked with looking into individual cases of doping - was opened following the findings of the McLaren report.

 The McLaren report said Russian athletes benefited from a state-sponsored doping programme between 2011 and 2015, speaking of "a cover-up that evolved from uncontrolled chaos to an institutionalised and disciplined medal-winning conspiracy".

 The IOC also set up another investigative body - the Schmid Commission - to investigate this wider evidence of institutional doping.

 As a result it banned Russia from competing in Pyeongchang, but 169 Russians have since been invited to take part as neutrals.

 'A puzzle' and 'circumstantial evidence'

 In November, the IOC described the "puzzle" of investigating something that was "by nature and purpose elusive" as it published decisions explaining its first wave of Russian bans.

 With reference to Alexander Legkov, one of two Russian skiers banned on 1 November, the IOC said the athlete had "sought to argue that no evidence could be drawn from the McLaren report" but it had "come to a different conclusion".

 It said that the authority of the report's findings was "unquestionable" and it "can and will rely" on its findings.

 Legkov is one of the 28 athletes whose suspensions were overturned by Cas on Thursday.

 In the statement explaining its decision, Cas said its mandate "was not to determine generally whether there was an organised scheme allowing the manipulation of doping control samples in the Sochi laboratory".

 It said it was "strictly limited to dealing with 39 individual cases and to assess the evidence applicable to each athlete on an individual basis".

 Cas secretary general Matthieu Reeb said there was only "circumstantial evidence" that supported individual claims of doping.

 He added: "It is a matter where there is no direct evidence, such as positive test or a voluntary admission.

 "This does not mean that the 28 athletes are declared innocent, but due to insufficient evidence the appeals are upheld, the sanctions annulled and their results in Sochi are reinstated."

 'We expect to compete' - reaction in Russia

 By BBC Monitoring

 Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov said: "Our guys and all of us are happy that justice has finally triumphed. Today's rulings confirm that many of those who were accused are clean athletes."

 The Interfax news agency quoted Russian Olympic Committee head Alexander Zhukov as saying: "We are simply happy now that the court has restored the athletes' good name and returned their awards."

 Interfax also quoted Kolobkov as saying: "The athletes who fought for their rights have finally won, and are, naturally, happy and looking forward to continuing their careers.

 "They expect the International Olympics Committee to accept the Cas ruling and allow them unconditional rights to take part in the upcoming Olympic games."

 Alexander Zubkov, president of the Russian bobsleigh federation, Sochi gold medallist and one of 11 athletes confirmed to have committed a doping offence, told Reuters he was "partly satisfied" with the decision as "a large number of athletes were exonerated".

 But he was puzzled as to why he was not among them, adding: "I have said many times that I have never doped and do not dope now. What am I being accused of? What anti-doping rule violation do they want to slap against me?" ||||| The International Olympic Committee has reacted with dismay after 28 Russian athletes had their lifetime bans from the Olympics dramatically overturned by the court of arbitration for sport and warned that the ruling could have serious consequences for the fight against doping.

 As Russia’s sports ministry celebrated the decision, saying that “justice had finally triumphed”, the IOC was bracing itself for a fresh legal challenge from some of the athletes who now want to compete in the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang which begin next Friday.

 Russians hail 'triumph of justice' as IOC doping bans are overturned Read more

 Cas’s ruling also means the 28 will have their results reinstated from the 2014 Winter Olympics, returning Russia to the top of the medal table. They include the skeleton medallists Alexander Tretyakov and Elena Nikitina, who have already indicated they want to compete in Pyeongchang.

 British IOC member Adam Pengilly said he was “appalled and angry” at the decision, adding that it was “a desperate and dark day for sport, with cheats and thieves allowed to triumph.”

 “We need to take a long, hard look at sport’s leading administrators and sport’s legal system when we see the greatest fraud at an Olympic Games and years of institutional doping conspiracy pass by with only minor punishment,” he said.

 “Today I have found myself apologising to individual athletes who have had dreams, medals, money and most importantly, faith in sport, stolen from them. They now think that you are better off cheating or getting your nation to establish a doping system because even if it is discovered, the consequences are minimal. Or, if you don’t want to cheat, avoid elite sport like the plague.”

 The ROC remains suspended from Pyeongchang because of state-sponsored doping in Sochi. However, as things stand, around 160 Russians have been granted permission to compete as “neutral” athletes under the banner of Olympic Athlete from Russia after being cleared of doping by an IOC anti-doping panel.

 That figure could yet rise, although for now the IOC is insisting it will not automatically allow any of the Russians cleared by Cas late entry into the Games. “The result of the Cas decision does not mean that athletes from the group of 28 will be invited,” it said in a statement. “Not being sanctioned does not automatically confer the privilege of an invitation.”

 The IOC was also unusually critical of Cas’s ruling, suggesting the court had not taken enough account of evidence of “the proven existence of the systematic manipulation of the anti-doping system” at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

 Quick guide Why were the Russia doping bans overturned? Show Hide Why did Cas overturn the lifetime Olympics bans on 28 Russians? It says there was “insufficient” evidence to establish that an anti-doping rule violation had been committed in 28 of the 39 cases it investigated. But haven’t the IOC banned the Russian Olympic Committee from the Winter Olympics for state sponsored doping in Sochi? Indeed. The Russian whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov provided testimony and thousands of documents to support his claims, which were accepted by the IOC and the World Anti-Doping Agency. However Cas says it did not look at systematic doping – just the 39 appeals against lifetime bans from Russian athletes. What is the International Olympic Committee’s reaction? It expressed surprise that Cas had used a higher standard of proof than in previous doping cases, and said the rulings damaged the fight against doping. What are the immediate consequences? The Sochi medal winners among the 28 “cleared” Russians get their medals back - returning Russia on top of the medal table. And in the longer term? As things stand, around 160 Russians have been granted permission to compete as neutral athletes under the banner of Olympic Athlete from Russia after being cleared of doping by an IOC anti-doping panel last week. However some of the 28 “cleared” athletes are preparing an appeal so that figure could rise. What is the IOC’s response? Resistance - for now. The result of the Cas decision does not mean that athletes from the group of 28 will be invited,” it said. Russia’s lawyers may be able to barge the door open regardless.

 Much of the evidence was provided by Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of Russian anti-doping, who detailed how he gave cocktails of banned steroids to athletes and then swapped tainted samples for clean urine on orders from Russian officials.

 His testimony – along with thousands of supporting documents and statements from other whistleblowers – led to the Russian Olympic Committee being suspended in December and 43 Russians being given life bans from the Olympics after an IOC investigation led by Denis Oswald. At the time the IOC president, Thomas Bach, called it an “unprecedented attack on the integrity of the Olympic Games and sport”.

 However, on Thursday Cas ruled there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond doubt the 28 Russians had each committed an anti-doping rule violation.

 “The Cas required an even higher threshold on the necessary evidence than the Oswald Commission and former Cas decisions,” the IOC said in a statement. “This may have a serious impact on the future fight against doping.”

 The news was also greeted with frustration by Jim Walden, the lawyer for Rodchenkov, who remains in hiding after fleeing Russia in 2015.

 “Dr Rodchenkov testified fully and credibly at Cas,” he said. “His truth has been verified by forensic evidence, other whistleblowers and, more recently, recovery of the Moscow lab’s secret database, showing thousands of dirty tests that were covered up.

 “This panel’s unfortunate decision provides a very small measure of punishment for some athletes but a complete ‘get out of jail free card’ for most. Thus, the Cas decision only emboldens cheaters, makes it harder for clean athletes to win, and provides yet another ill-gotten gain for the corrupt Russian doping system generally, and [Vladimir] Putin specifically.”

 Another 11 Russians were convicted of having committed anti-doping rule violations in Sochi by Cas but had their life bans cut to a ban from the Pyeongchang Games alone. Among them were members of the Russian four-man bobsleigh team that won medals in Sochi – meaning the GB team, which originally finished fifth, will be promoted into the bronze-medal position.

 Philippe Bärtsch, a lawyer for Russian athletes, said the high salt levels in the 11 athletes’ samples were accepted as evidence of tampering.

 Of the 43 Russian athletes banned by the IOC Maxim Belugin, a bobsleigher, was the only one not to lodge an appeal with Cas. Three other cases – biathletes Olga Zaytseva, Olga Vilukhina and Yana Romanova – have yet to be heard.

 IOC accused of 'backroom deals' with Russia over doping scandal Read more

 Match TV, a Kremlin-funded sport channel, celebrated the court’s decision by broadcasting in full the almost two-hour-long men’s 50km freestyle cross-country skiing competition from the Sochi Olympics, in which Russia swept the podium. The TV channel also described the ruling as a “bang on the nose” for the IOC.

 In a statement explaining its decision Cas said its panels had looked at individual cases and not whether state-sponsored doping had taken place. ||||| Matthieu Reeb, CAS Secretary General, speaks during a press conference about Russian athletes who are challenging the decisions taken by the Disciplinary Commission of the International Olympic Committee... (Associated Press)

 Matthieu Reeb, CAS Secretary General, speaks during a press conference about Russian athletes who are challenging the decisions taken by the Disciplinary Commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC DC) ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018.... (Associated Press)

 MOSCOW (AP) — The Latest on Russian doping (all times local):

 ___

 2:15 p.m.

 The head coach of the Swedish ski team says the decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to overturn the disqualifications of 28 Russians who competed at the 2014 Sochi Olympics was "very messy."

 Rikard Grip told Sweden's tabloid Expressen the ruling was "very surprising (and) the process long and strange."

 Two Swedish cross-country skiers, Emil Jonsson and Teodor Peterson, had moved up on the podium after some Russians were banned from the team sprint.

 Peterson told Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter that "it does not matter if we are back as bronze medalists."

 ___

 1:30 p.m.

 U.S. skeleton veteran Katie Uhlaender says she is "heartbroken" by the Court of Arbitration for Sport's decision to overturn the disqualifications of 28 Russians who competed at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

 Uhlaender finished fourth in Sochi, one spot behind Elena Nikitina of Russia. Nikitina had been one of the athletes who had her results from Sochi stripped, which would have meant Uhlaender would be in line to move up to bronze and claim her first Olympic medal.

 Nikitina is one of the 28 who had bans overturned and results reinstated by CAS. It's still unclear if Nikitina will be allowed to compete in Pyeongchang.

 Uhlaender says what will happen next is bigger than a medal. She says "the integrity of sport is on the line, and I'm looking to the leaders of a movement to do something to save it."

 ___

 1:25 p.m.

 Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko says the country plans to file more legal action to ensure athletes who won their doping appeals can compete at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

 Speaking at a televised cabinet meeting, Mutko says "the athletes have been given back their good names. We never had any doubt in them."

 The Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned bans on 28 Russians, citing insufficient evidence. Eleven more remain disqualified from the 2014 Sochi Games but had their lifetime Olympic bans cut to a ban only from the Pyeongchang Games.

 Mutko called on the IOC to allow them to enter, saying "we assume that those athletes who are ready, who have qualified, who have quotas in their sport, will all be entered for the Olympics," and that "if the IOC does not accept them, then we will support them in cases which could be filed at CAS and other legal instances."

 ___

 1:20 p.m.

 Russian skeleton competitor Elena Nikitina says she wants to compete at the Pyeongchang Olympics after the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned her doping ban.

 Nikitina tells The Associated Press "we were hoping for justice and it has prevailed," adding "now everything has returned to normal and I hope we can compete at the Olympic Games."

 The International Olympic Committee has been ordered to reinstate Nikitina as a bronze medalist from the 2014 Sochi Games. Had she remained banned, the medal was due to pass to American slider Katie Uhlaender.

 However, the IOC is resisting calls to allow Nikitina and the other Russians entry to the Pyeongchang Olympics, which start next week.

 Nikitina says "now I'm going to train in a different mood today, because ... you would think, what should I be preparing for, the Russian national championships which is two months away, or the Olympic Games? Now we have the purpose to train for the Olympic Games."

 ___

 12:45 p.m.

 The IOC says it will not necessarily invite the 28 Russian athletes who won their Sochi Olympic doping case appeals to compete at the Pyeongchang Games.

 The International Olympic Committee says "not being sanctioned does not automatically confer the privilege of an invitation" to the games, which open in South Korea next week.

 The statement was issued soon after the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the disqualifications and Olympic life bans of 28 Russians from the 2014 Sochi Games.

 The IOC notes that CAS said the urgent ruling "does not mean that these 28 athletes are declared innocent."

 A further 11 Russians lost their appeals, which the IOC says "clearly demonstrates once more the existence of the systemic manipulation" of the Sochi anti-doping system.

 The IOC says it could challenge the CAS rulings at Switzerland's supreme court.

 ___

 12:30 p.m.

 Twenty-eight Russian athletes have had their Olympic doping bans overturned, throwing the International Olympic Committee's policy on the country into turmoil.

 The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling was set to reinstate seven Russian medals from the 2014 Sochi Olympics, including gold in men's skeleton and men's 50-kilometer cross-country skiing.

 Eleven more Russians were ruled to have been guilty of doping but had lifetime bans imposed by an IOC disciplinary panel two months ago cut to a ban only from the Pyeongchang Games, which open next week.

 CAS secretary general Matthieu Reeb says "this does not mean that these 28 athletes are declared innocent, but in their case, due to insufficient evidence, the appeals are upheld, the sanctions annulled and their individual results achieved in Sochi are reinstated."

 The IOC says it has taken note of the CAS decision "with satisfaction on the one hand and disappointment on the other," adding the decision "may have a serious impact on the future fight against doping." |||||

Write a summary.

– In a bombshell ruling just a week before the Winter Olympics open in Pyeongchang, the Court of Arbitration for Sport has overturned the lifetime Olympic bans of 28 out of 43 Russian athletes accused of doping at the Sochi Games in 2014. The athletes can now keep medals they won in Sochi and could theoretically compete in Pyeongchang—though the International Olympic Committee says the ruling doesn't mean they are automatically invited, the Guardian reports. The CAS also reduced the bans of 11 Russians found guilty of doping from lifetime to this Olympics only. The IOC banned Russia for sanctioning doping, but at least 164 Russian athletes will compete in the "Olympic Athlete of Russia" team. In a ruling that the IOC warned "could have a serious impact on the future fight against doping," the CAS said the bans were being overturned not because the athletes were being "declared innocent, but in their case, due to insufficient evidence," the BBC reports. The IOC also said the upholding of sanctions against some athletes "clearly demonstrates once more the existence of the systemic manipulation of the anti-doping system at Sochi 2014." Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko says Moscow plans to file legal action to allow the athletes involved to compete in Pyeongchang, the AP reports. Veteran American skeleton athlete Katie Uhlaender, meanwhile, says she is "heartbroken" by the decision, which means she will lose the bronze medal she was awarded after the Russian who finished third in Sochi was disqualified.


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A town in Italy has outlawed wood burning pizza stoves over high air pollution levels. Photo: Basheer Tome/Flickr

 The Local · 21 Dec 2015, 16:33

 Published: 21 Dec 2015 16:33 GMT+01:00

 A town in the southern Italian region of Campania has issued an edict that could stop its pizzerias from operating in a bid to put paid to a mysterious smog hanging over the city.

 San Vitaliano, a town of 6,000 inhabitants north of Naples, has one of the highest rates of air pollution in Italy. Last year residents spent a whopping 114 days breathing air that contained levels of polluting particulates above safe levels.

 To put that into perspective, the citizens of Milan, Lombardy's industrial capital, spent 86 days breathing unsafe air. So what's polluting San Vitaliano? A new ordinance from the mayor's office blames its innumerable pizzerias.

 Convinced that the traditional wood-burning pizza stoves are clogging up the lungs of his citizens, Mayor Antonio Falcone has decided to outlaw them as a precautionary measure.

 SEE ALSO: Ten bizarre but tempting non-Italian pizzas

 “As of today, in spite of several tests carried out by the environment agency, Arpac, we are still unsure of the cause of the pollution,” wrote the mayor. “But the situation has got worse during the winter and we need to take maximum precautions to ensure the problem doesn't deteriorate.

 “Agricultural, artisanal, industrial and commercial producers are hereby forbidden from burning solid biomass such as wood, woodchips, coal and charcoal. The only exceptions are for those which have filter systems in place that will guarantee the elimination of 80 percent of all polluting Pm10 particulates.”

 Story continues below…

 The new legislation came into force on December 17th and will apply until June 30th next year. The measures will cease to be active over the summer months but will come into force again in October 2016.

 The move will cause the town's many pizzerias and artisanal bakeries to change their fuel sources or install costly filters to reduce pollution – a fact which has angered local business owners.

 Those caught breaking the ban will face fines of between €200 and €1,032.

 “Shocking, it's so ridiculous. They don't want us to make pizza?” Massimilliano Arichello of the locally famous pizzeria Taverna 191 told local paper Il Mattino.

 “We make about 34 pizzas a day, how do they think we are responsible for the pollution problems around here?” ||||| Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Pizza-making is one of the factors that have made St Vitaliano one of the worst-polluted towns in Italy

 A town in Italy has imposed a temporary ban on the traditional way of pizza-making as a measure to curb soaring pollution.

 An edict issued by the mayor of San Vitaliano, just outside of Naples, bans the use of wood-fired stoves in bakeries and eateries including pizzerias unless their owners install special filters to reduce air pollution.

 The measure has been prompted by "utmost concern" over worsening air quality, and will stay in place until 31 March. It can be reintroduced later if the new filtering systems prove ineffective.

 The ban will be enforced by police checks, and those found in breach of the mayor's order will face fines of up to 1,032 euros (£760, $1,130).

 Bad air quality is a longstanding problem for San Vitaliano. According to Il Mattino newspaper, it is more polluted than Beijing, while nearby Naples - usually seen as one of Italy's worst offenders in terms of air quality - seems like "a perfumed garden" in comparison. In 2015, San Vitaliano exceeded the threshold for emissions 114 times, compared to 86 times in Milan, another badly polluted Italian city, the paper says.

 But not everyone is convinced that pizza-making is the true culprit. Local residents and pizza makers held a protest on Sunday in front of the town hall against the mayor's order. "We can't be the cause of the smog," said one, according a report in Corriere della Sera. "Naples has many more pizzerias than San Vitaliano but doesn't have the same pollution levels. It's clear that they don't want to pinpoint the real cause. This order is a very costly mistake for us."

 Next story: 'Memory park' pays tribute to Sweden's relocating town

 Use #NewsfromElsewhere to stay up-to-date with our reports via Twitter. |||||

– Few things are more Italian than baking pizza in a perfectly smoldering wood-fired stove, so San Vitaliano's move to ban the beloved practice comes as a surprise. The town of 6,000 north of Naples has some of the worst air pollution in Italy—Il Mattino says its air quality is worse than Beijing's, while Naples is "a perfumed garden" in comparison—but environmental tests have failed to identify the source. In an effort to "take maximum precautions to ensure the problem doesn't deteriorate," Mayor Antonio Falcone has banned "agricultural, artisanal, industrial, and commercial producers … from burning solid biomass such as wood, woodchips, coal, and charcoal," unless filter systems are in place to eliminate 80% of pollutants, reports the Local. The rule will be in place until at least the end of March, reports the BBC. The Local reports the plan is to relieve the rule in July, August, and September—the situation is poorest in winter, Falcone says—but most pizzerias and bakeries will be forced to change their fuel sources, buy expensive filters, or face fines up to $1,100. "Shocking, it's so ridiculous," a rep from a local pizzeria tells Il Mattino. "We make about 34 pizzas a day, how do they think we are responsible for the pollution problems around here?" "We can't be the cause of the smog," a local who protested outside San Vitaliano's town hall on Sunday adds, per Corriere della Sera. "Naples has many more pizzerias than San Vitaliano but doesn't have the same pollution levels. It's clear that they don't want to pinpoint the real cause. This order is a very costly mistake for us." The BBC reports San Vitaliano residents saw 114 days of unsafe air levels in 2015, compared to Naples' 86.


A man has been arrested after a recent photo from a College at Brockport: State University of New York off-campus party went viral.

 The picture showed a dog doing a keg stand, being held by an unidentified male with a SUNY Brockport sweatshirt on. It was shared on Twitter Sunday by @SUNYPartyStory with the caption "Keg stands n Bits!"

 The account, unaffiliated with the State University of New York system, shares photos from recent parties at SUNY schools with its 68,000-plus followers. Recent posts show college students drinking alcohol, passed out, playing flip cup, dancing in various states of undress or simply vomiting.

 But the image of a black Labrador Retriever, being held by its hind legs with the beer keg's nozzle in its mouth, prompted an investigation into concerns of animal abuse.

 "We were alarmed to learn of this disturbing photo," the College at Brockport told Time Warner Cable News in a statement. "The College will investigate this matter and take appropriate action once the details surrounding the photo are learned."

 Brockport Police arrested Robert Yates of Brockport over the incident, TWC News reported Monday. Yates was charged with torturing and injuring animals, and issued a ticket for an April 2 appearance in court.

 It's unclear if Yates is a student and whether he was in the photo or affiliated with the SUNY Party Stories Twitter account.

 Police told TWC News that the black lab is not owned by Yates, and appeared to have been stolen from its owner. The dog has been taken into protective custody and is said to be in good condition.

 The original tweet depicting the photo has since been deleted, but it continues to be shared on social media with strong reactions.

 "Don't get me wrong. I love the nightlife in Brockport, but making a dog do a keg stand is ridiculous," one SUNY Brockport student tweeted.

 "The guy who runs @SUNYPartyStory and the jerk who submitted the picture of the dog doing a keg stand should be locked up for animal cruelty," another added on Twitter.

 "It was a joke," student Allyson Delany said. "I know the puppy and the owner....they don't abuse him. They didn't actually give the dog beer."

 "Stay classy Brockport for putting that picture of a dog doing a keg stand on @SUNYPartyStory. Makes me sad to say I go to college here," Sage Hallenbeck tweeted.

 Brockport is located near Rochester, approximately 100 miles west of Syracuse. ||||| CLOSE 'Mya', a black lab, was held above beer keg and forced to drink from a tap, according to officials. Neeti Upadhye

 This photo posted online led police to arrest two College at Brockport students, one accused of taking the photo and the other of holding the dog. (Photo: Photo provided by Brockport Police Department )

 Two College at Brockport students have been charged with torturing and injuring an animal after a photo was posted online of a dog being held upside down above a beer keg, appearing to drink from the tap.

 Shane Oliver of Bergen and Robert Yates of West Seneca, both 20 were issued appearance tickets and will be back in Sweden Town Court at noon on April 2.

 Brockport police said Oliver is the person pictured holding the dog, a black Labrador Retriever named Mya; Yates is the person who took the photo and posted it.

 The event occurred off the Brockport campus.

 "Through a joint investigation between the SUNY Brockport Police, the Brockport Police Department and the Sweden Dog Warden, it was learned that a dog was held upside down, and apparently forced to consume beer from a keg during a party that occurred on Saturday March 8, 2014 at a house located on Monroe Avenue in the village of Brockport," according to the news release.

 School officials did confirm they have a student named Robert Yates and plan to have a conversation with him. Police confirmed Oliver is also a student.

 Speculation that the people responsible for the photo were Brockport students began immediately because the person in the photo was wearing a college t-shirt and the photo was posted on a Twitter account called the SUNY Party Stories page. The photo spread quickly online, and by Monday afternoon was being featured on national news websites.

 Mya's owner was not home when the photo was taken, police said. The dog has been taken by the local dog warden and is in good physical condition.

 Oliver and Yates were each charged with a misdemeanor under Agriculture and Marketing Law for torturing/injuring an animal.

 A spokesman for the college said school officials "were alarmed to see the photos and will investigate it and take appropriate action."

 "But other than that it's pretty difficult to comment because the student privacy laws really tie our hands in terms of what we can say as it relates to specific student discipline," said spokesman John Follaco.

 Instead, Follaco provided excerpts from the Student Code of Conduct which states "a student who is off campus and charged with a civil or criminal offense where there is a nexus to the College may be subject to College disciplinary action. The student conduct coordinator shall use discretion on whether the Code of Student Conduct shall be applied to conduct occurring off campus."

 Follaco said school officials were meeting with students today to learn more.

 JHAND@DemocratandChronicle.com

 Twitter.com/jonhand1

 Read or Share this story: http://on.rocne.ws/1irFXSE ||||| Tweet with a location

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Write a summary.

– A Twitter photo of a dog held upside-down over a beer keg has a pair of college students in Western New York facing animal cruelty charges. The young Labrador retriever, Mya, was apparently being forced to drink, officials say (though another Twitter user says the dog didn't actually have any beer). Shane Oliver and Robert Yates, both 20-year-olds at SUNY Brockport, have been charged with torturing and injuring an animal. Oliver held the dog while Yates took and posted the picture, police say, per the Democrat and Chronicle. The picture, which featured a person wearing a college T-shirt, was posted on a Twitter account called SUNYPartyStories before making the rounds online. It was captioned "Keg stands n Bits," Syracuse.com reports. Mya, whose owner wasn't home during the incident, is in good condition with the local dog warden.


Article:

CLOSE Greenpeace International released this submarine video of life along the Antarctic seafloor, which previously had never been visited by humans. Greenpeace is campaigning to protect the area with the world's largest ocean sanctuary. USA TODAY

 The international team of researchers will spend 3 weeks on board the research ship RRS James Clark Ross. (Photo: British Antarctic Survey)

 Scientists are about to explore a part of the world that's been hidden for 120,000 years.

 A team of researchers, led by the British Antarctic Survey, is heading to Antarctica this week to investigate a mysterious marine ecosystem that’s been hidden underneath an Antarctic ice shelf for tens of thousands of years.

 The ecosystem was suddenly uncovered when a massive iceberg sheared off from the Larsen Ice Shelf last July. The 1 trillion-ton iceberg, known as A-68, was twice of the volume of Lake Erie when it broke off.

 The scientists will travel by ship to collect animal and plant samples from the newly exposed seabed, which covers an area of around 2,200 square miles. They will be in the area about three weeks.

 “The calving of A-68 provides us with a unique opportunity to study marine life as it responds to a dramatic environmental change," said expedition leader Katrin Linse from the British Antarctic Survey

 They need to get there in a hurry: "It’s important we get there quickly before the undersea environment changes as sunlight enters the water and new species begin to colonize," she said.

 More: Massive iceberg nearly the size of Delaware breaks off Antarctica

 "We’ve put together a team with a wide range of scientific skills so that we can collect as much information as possible in a short time," Linse added. "It’s very exciting.”

 The team will investigate the area previously under the ice shelf by collecting seafloor animals, microbes, plankton, sediments and water samples. Their findings will provide a snapshot of what life under the ice shelf was like, so that changes to the ecosystem can be tracked.

 When the iceberg calved off last year, it fundamentally changed the landscape of the Antarctic Peninsula. The calving reduced the size of the ice shelf by some 12%.

 The Antarctic seafloor is like a visit to an alien world: A recent visit from a Greenpeace submarine to the seafloor of the Antarctic Ocean revealed a stunning underwater world that was "carpeted with life."

 More: Undersea cruise: Humanity's first visit to the Antarctic seafloor finds it 'carpeted with life'

 David Vaughan, science director of the survey, said “the calving of A-68 offers a new and unprecedented opportunity to establish an interdisciplinary scientific research program in this climate sensitive region. Now is the time to address fundamental questions about the sustainability of polar continental shelves under climate change."

 “We need to be bold on this one," Vaughan said. "Larsen C is a long way south and there’s lots of sea ice in the area, but this is important science, so we will try our best to get the team where they need to be.”

 Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2nWXoFT ||||| When A-68, a trillion-ton iceberg the size of Delaware (or ten Madrids or two Luxembourgs, whatever you want to call it), parted ways with the Antarctic Larsen-C ice shelf in the summer of 2017, it was the largest recorded calving in history.

 The break reduced Larsen-C to its smallest size in recorded history. Though the event can’t be directly attributed to climate change, it is suspicious that the ice receded the fastest it had in years in the months preceding the final break during the dead of winter, when temperatures would normally be their lowest.

 Without the protection of the A-68’s ice, almost 3,600 sq miles (6,000 km) of Antarctic ocean water are now exposed to sunlight and accessible for the first time in more than 120,000 years. Today (Feb. 14), a team of researchers led by the British Antarctic Survey will head down to Antarctica to prepare for a three-week mission starting Feb. 21 to explore a 2,200 sq mile portion of the newly accessible region.

 The team plans to make observations at all levels, taking notes on the marine mammals and birds that have started swimming near the surface, and the microbes and other lifeforms lurking on the seafloor. Cameras and sleds will collect deep-water video footage and scoop up samples of other tiny animals that have made their homes in frigid waters.

 Any ocean research is difficult because of the logistics required getting personnel and gear out on the water. Getting to this region of Antarctica will be particularly treacherous. Temperatures average around 15°F (-9°C), and the water is filled with huge chunks of ice. But it’s necessary work. “It’s important we get there quickly before the undersea environment changes as sunlight enters the water and new species begin to colonize,” Katrin Linse, the marine biologist leading the expedition, said in a British Antarctic Survey press release.

 USA Today compares these waters to exploring an alien world, and for good reason—scientists have no idea what kinds of creatures can survive under the protection of an ice shelf, because the depths have been impossible to reach. The only clues they have to go on are from a recent Greenpeace submarine mission that showed the sea floor was “carpeted with life.” This research saw rare squid, starfish, and more that probably won’t survive when the waters change with their new exposure to surface light and different species that may settle into the new marine real estate.

 The team has 21 days on the research ship before the need to return home. This area is protected under an international agreement called the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which allows researchers to visit to collect information about newly exposed ocean from calved icebergs.

 The hope is the team will gain deeper insight into the life that lives in frigid Antarctic waters—and how to protect it if it become threatened by further ice breaks and melting sea ice. ||||| British Antarctic Survey is trying to reach a newly revealed ecosystem that had been hidden for 120,000 years below the Larsen C ice shelf

 A team of international scientists is due to set off for the world’s biggest iceberg on Wednesday, fighting huge waves and the encroaching Antarctic winter, in a mission aiming to answer fundamental questions about the impact of climate change in the polar regions.

 The scientists, led by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), are trying to reach a newly revealed ecosystem that had been hidden for 120,000 years below the Larsen C ice shelf on the Antarctic peninsula.

 In July last year, part of the Larsen C ice shelf calved away, forming a huge iceberg - A68 - which is four times bigger than London, and revealing life beneath for the first time.

 Now scientists say it is a race against time to explore these new ecosystems before they are transformed by exposure to the light.

 Marine biologist Dr Katrin Linse from the BAS is leading the mission which sets off on a voyage across the Southern Ocean from the Falklands Islands on Wednesday. They expect to reach the iceberg within a week.

 “The calving of A68 provides us with a unique opportunity to study marine life as it responds to a dramatic environmental change,” she said. “It’s important we get there quickly before the undersea environment changes as sunlight enters the water and new species begin to colonise … It’s very exciting.”

 Prof David Vaughan, science director at BAS, said: “We need to be bold on this one. Larsen C is a long way south and there’s lots of sea ice in the area, but this is important science, so we will try our best to get the team where they need to be.”

 He said climate change had already affected the seas around Antarctica and is warming some coastal waters.

 “Future warming may make some habitats warm. Where these habitats support unique species that are adapted to love the cold and not the warm, those species are going to either move or die. How fast species can disperse, and how fast ecosystems can colonise new areas, is key to understanding where the Antarctic is likely to be resilient, and where it is vulnerable.”

 Last week the Guardian printed the first images of creatures found in a previously unexplored region of the Antarctic seabed, taken during a Greenpeace research expedition to the Antarctic which is part of a wider campaign to turn a huge section of the region into the world’s biggest ocean sanctuary.

 Share your questions for scientists aboard an Antarctic expedition Read more

 Speaking onboard the Greenpeaceship Arctic Sunrise, the group’s head of oceans, Will McCallum, said there was “still so much left to learn about ocean life here in the Antarctic”.

 “From hidden ecosystems revealed by calving icebergs, to our research missions to the seafloor which have found an abundance of rare and vulnerable species - this place is bursting with life and a vast Antarctic Ocean sanctuary would help us protect it in all its forms.”

 There is growing concern about the possible impact of climate change in the Antarctic.

 Earlier this month, a report revealed that melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are speeding up the already fast pace of sea level rise.

 The research published by the National Academies of Sciences said, at the current rate, the world’s oceans will be on average at least 60cm (2ft) higher by the end of the century.

 However it found that the process is accelerating, and more than three-quarters of the acceleration since 1993 is due to melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, the study shows.

 Experts say the area around the Antarctic peninsula has seen widespread ice shelf decay and collapse in recent decades, leading to “glacier acceleration” and increased discharge of ice from the Antarctic continent into the sea.

 However scientists are wary of attributing the calving of the Larsen C iceberg directly to global warming.

 Adrian Luckman, professor of glaciology at Swansea University and leader of a project studying the state of the ice shelf, said: “Whilst the Larsen C ice shelf has reduced in area since records began, suggesting that over the long-term the environment of the Antarctic peninsula is becoming less able to support ice shelves, we have no evidence to link this particular calving event to changing conditions. Iceberg calving is a natural part of the ice shelf cycle and, whilst large, the calving of A68 is not unprecedented.” |||||
What is a summary?

– When an iceberg the size of Delaware separated from the Larsen C ice shelf last July, it uncovered an Antarctic marine habitat that had been hidden from the rest of the world for over 120,000 years, Quartz reports. Now scientists are racing to study the 3,600-square-mile ecosystem before it's forever changed by its sudden exposure to sunlight. "The calving of A-68 provides us with a unique opportunity to study marine life as it responds to a dramatic environmental change," marine biologist Dr. Katrin Linse tells the Guardian. A-68 is the trillion-ton iceberg—the largest in the world—that broke away from the ice shelf last summer. Linse says it's a "very exciting" opportunity for scientists, but they have to hurry because new species will quickly enter the ecosystem now that it has been exposed to sunlight, USA Today reports. British Antarctic Survey scientists led by Linse were scheduled to arrive in Antarctica on Wednesday. Over the next three weeks they'll explore 2,200 square miles of the newly exposed area while observing marine mammals and birds near the surface and taking samples of microbes and other life at the seafloor. It won't be easy. The average temperature in the area is 15 degrees, and it's full of large hunks of sea ice. But David Vaughan, science director at the British Antarctic Survey, says studying the area is important for learning about the potential impacts of climate change on Antarctica. "How fast species can disperse, and how fast ecosystems can colonize new areas, is key to understanding where the Antarctic is likely to be resilient, and where it is vulnerable," he tells the Guardian. (This Antarctic explorer turned back, but his decision came too late.)


A pregnant woman in Delaware became a hero to two Maine families after her Facebook search helped find their missing teenage girls.

 Lisa Stephenson, a server at the Blue Crab Grill in Newark, Del., became suspicious on Nov. 2 when two teenaged girls walked in and applied for jobs. Both seemed too young to be looking for work, they weren’t in school, and neither included home addresses or cellphone numbers on their job applications.

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 “It seemed odd for teen girls not to have cellphones, nowadays,” Stephenson, 26, who is six months pregnant, tells Yahoo Parenting.

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 The girls claimed that their phones and money had been stolen in New York, and they had somehow ended up in Delaware.

 Stephenson worried what could happen to the girls at the two truck stops or no-questions-asked motels only minutes from the restaurant. “They were in sweats and it looked like they hadn’t touched their hair in a while,” said Stephenson. “I immediately had a feeling they were runaways.”

 If her daughter-to-be were ever missing, she thought, she would want someone to help.

 That evening after work, Stephenson did a Facebook search for the girls’ names and landed on the page of a 16-year-old girl from Brunswick, Maine. Her mother had posted a missing persons notice about her daughter and a 14-year-old friend from Bath, Maine, who had vanished together on October 25 after failing to show up for a babysitting job.

 Stephenson sent the mom a friend request and shared that she had met the girls and then enlisted the help of her cousins — police deputies in a nearby county — who tracked them down after they were seen panhandling in front of a clothing store on Nov. 3. The girls had stolen one of their mother’s cars and had driven “straight through Boston, New York, and some of the most scary places they could have been,” the mom of the older girl told the Bangor Daily News.

 On the way home, the trio stopped at the Blue Crab Grill to thank Stephenson, who explained to the girls how close they came to real danger. The teens are now safe at home in Maine (although both are grounded and the older girl is banned from using social media) and Stephenson has been dubbed a hero by the older girl’s mom.

 “I don’t feel like a hero,” insists Stephenson. “I just feel like a normal person who needed to speak up and did. Hopefully more people will speak up when something seems off.”

 Photo: Courtesy of Lisa Stephenson

 Please follow @YahooParenting on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. Have an interesting story to share about your family? Email us at YParenting (at) Yahoo.com. ||||| Courtesy of Lisa Stephenson Courtesy of Lisa Stephenson

 By Beth Brogan , BDN Staff • November 9, 2015 1:58 pm

 Updated: November 9, 2015 5:07 pm

 BRUNSWICK, Maine — Lisa Stephenson knew something wasn’t quite right when two young girls walked into the Blue Crab Grill late last month and filled out job applications.

 “They said they were traveling and their phones and wallets were stolen in New York,” Stephenson told the Bangor Daily News. “I guess that was their story — they were trying to get money.”

 The manager of the Newark, Delaware, restaurant wouldn’t give them cash, but took their applications and told them to return the next day.

 Throughout the day, though, as Stephenson waited tables, she thought about the girls, who looked so young and showed up at the restaurant alone during the school day.

 “Of course, it didn’t add up,” said Stephenson, who lives just over the state line in Elkton, Maryland. So she glanced at the applications and discovered neither teen had listed an address or a phone number, and neither had completed high school.

 Concerned that the two girls were alone in an area just down the road from a truck stop that is “not a really good place to be around,” Stephenson wrote down their names.

 A quick search of Facebook when she got home that night confirmed her instincts: A Brunswick woman was frantically searching for her 16-year-old Brunswick daughter, who, along with a 14-year-old Bath girl, had disappeared in the early morning hours of Oct. 25.

 The girls were supposed to babysit together early Sunday morning, the older girl’s mom told the Bangor Daily News, but they never showed up. Before long, the younger girl’s mom realized her Toyota Camry was missing.

 Both mothers spent Sunday in a fog, mystified at their daughters’ disappearance and terrified for their safety. They posted “Missing” notices on Facebook, and contacted the Bath teen’s family in South Carolina, where she was born and previously lived, thinking the girls might be headed to see a friend there.

 After Bath police had listed the girls with the National Crime Information Center, alerting police across the country to stop them, police in Cambridge, Massachusetts, called later Sunday morning to report the car had been involved in a minor crash before driving away from the scene, Bath Police Lt. Robert Savary said at the time. Neither teen has a license to drive, according to the older girl’s mom.

 Then there was no news until the next night, when the older teen’s mother opened Facebook to find a message from Stephenson. The 26-year-old woman had searched Facebook as soon as she got home from work that night and discovered one of the notices about the missing teens. She messaged the girl’s mother “and then sat by my computer waiting for her to [respond],” Stephenson said. “The minute she did, she was like, ‘Oh my gosh, are you serious?’”

 The two continued talking by phone, and Stephenson notified local police, as well as her cousins, who are deputies in nearby Cecil County. But the police found no sign of the girls that night, and they didn’t return to the restaurant Tuesday morning.

 Then on Tuesday afternoon, the Charles County Sheriff’s Office received several calls about two young girls panhandling in front of a strip mall on Crain Highway in Waldorf, according to sheriff’s spokeswoman Diane Richardson.

 “They appeared to be young and were asking for money,” Richardson told the Bangor Daily News. “It was odd that there would be two young girls outside this clothing store holding up signs asking for money. A lot of people were actually concerned.”

 An officer picked up the two girls and took them to a district station, where he stayed with them until a social worker picked them up at about 10 p.m.

 The younger girl’s mother flew to Maryland to drive her car home, and the older girl’s mom rented a car and left at 2 a.m. Wednesday to retrieve the girls.

 What she discovered, the older girl’s mother said, was the girls’ “Thelma and Louise” plan. She learned that the girls had traveled south, without their phones, “straight through Boston, New York and some of the most scary places they could have been.”

 They told sheriff’s deputies that they stopped in Washington, D.C., looking for a gas station, but someone told them to “get out of the city” and they decided Waldorf “looked like a nice place to stop and ask for money.”

 “One of the scariest parts for me was that the social worker who found them a place to stay for the night said they were just south of Washington, D.C., and in that area [human] trafficking is huge,” the older girl’s mother said.

 The drive back to Maine was quiet at first, she said. Their first stop was the Blue Crab Grill, to see the waitress who may have saved their lives. She worried, at first, that the girls would be angry.

 Stephenson, who is six months pregnant with her first daughter, said she told the girls, “All I could think about was that in the future, if something were to happen with my daughter, I would want someone to get in contact with me to tell me she was all right, that she was alive and OK.”

 Both girls eventually thanked her, Stephenson said.

 “I said, ‘Do you understand why that was putting a target on you? At your age?’ I told them how serious it was and it seemed to dawn on them the things that could have gone wrong in that scenario.”

 When they arrived back in Maine, the girls were grounded and the older girl, at least, is prohibited from using social media, including Facebook.

 But her mom, and the rest of the family, spent much of the next few days on Facebook, praising and “friending” the Delaware woman who found their girl.

 “This is a hero,” the mom wrote on Facebook. “A person who trusted her gut when she saw two young girls all alone and helped. A person who spent her own time calling authorities in multiple states to let them know the girls could be headed their way and a person who let a scared mom message her for hours trying to make sense of a terrifying situation. This is a hero.”

 Because no charges were filed against the girls, the Bangor Daily News agreed not to identify them or their families. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– A waitress is being called a hero after helping point parents and police to two girls who vanished in Maine last month. Lisa Stephenson was waiting tables at the Blue Crab Grill in Newark, Del., when two young girls came in asking for jobs. "They said they were traveling and their phones and wallets were stolen in New York," she tells the Bangor Daily News. They left job applications noting neither had finished high school, but no address or phone number. "It didn't add up," says Stephenson, 26. “It seemed odd for teen girls not to have cellphones, nowadays,” she tells Yahoo. When Stephenson got home, she searched their names on Facebook and found the girls, 14 and 16, had disappeared in Maine a day earlier on Oct. 25, along with a car belonging to the younger girl's mother, and may have been heading for South Carolina. Stephenson reached out to the older girl's mother and then to local police. The next day, after receiving other concerned calls, authorities found the girls panhandling in front of a strip mall about 100 miles away in Waldorf, Md. An officer took them to a district station where a social worker picked them up. They were reunited with their mothers on Oct. 28. While the younger's girl's mother drove her car back home, the other woman took the girls to the Blue Crab Grill, where they thanked Stephenson in person. On Facebook, the mother praised Stephenson as "a hero—a person who trusted her gut when she saw two young girls all alone and helped." But Stephenson is rejecting the title. “I don’t feel like a hero,” she tells Yahoo. “I just feel like a normal person who needed to speak up and did." (This teen just discovered that he'd been "missing" for 13 years.)