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Tuesday's Mini-Report, 9.30.14

Today's edition of quick hits.
Today's edition of quick hits:
 
* Ebola: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed the first patient to accidentally carry Ebola to the United States has been diagnosed at a hospital in Dallas. Four other people with Ebola -- all medical volunteers working in West Africa -- have been evacuated to the U.S. for treatment but this is the first case in a traveler. The patient's at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas."
 
* Nigeria: "With quick and coordinated action by some of its top doctors, Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, appears to have contained its first Ebola outbreak, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday."
 
* Hong Kong: "A midnight deadline imposed by pro-democracy protesters came and went Tuesday without Hong Kong's leader responding to their demands -- but members of the mostly student-led 'Umbrella Revolution' movement vowed to stay as long as it takes."
 
* ISIS, Part I: "Kurdish fighters opened offensives against Islamic State militants in several parts of northern Iraq on Tuesday, seizing control of a border crossing with Syria that has been a major conduit for the insurgents, officials said."
 
* ISIS, Part II: The White House has acknowledged for the first time that strict standards President Obama imposed last year to prevent civilian deaths from U.S. drone strikes will not apply to U.S. military operations in Syria and Iraq.
 
* Bipartisan dissatisfaction: "Secret Service Director Julia Pierson took a beating from nearly 20 House Oversight and Government Reform Committee lawmakers who traveled back to Washington for Tuesday's rare, three-and-a-half hour recess hearing."
 
* Learning more details: "The man who jumped over the White House fence and sprinted through the main floor of the mansion could have gotten even farther had it not been for an off-duty Secret Service agent who was coincidentally in the house and leaving for the night."
 
* Oklahoma: "An Oklahoma man was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder in the beheading of a co-worker, but federal officials said they had found no links between him and Islamic extremist groups that have beheaded several Western hostages in the Middle East and North Africa in recent weeks."
 
* This really is deeply crazy: "Much of the Affordable Care Act must be defunded and millions of Americans must lose their health insurance, according to an opinion issued Tuesday by Judge Ronald A. White, an Oklahoma federal judge appointed to the bench by George W. Bush.... To date, nine federal judges have considered this question of whether much of the law should be defunded. Only three -- all of whom are Republicans -- have agreed that it should be."
 
* Wow: "The new Living Planet Index report from the World Wildlife Fund opens with a jaw-dropping statistic: we've killed roughly half of the world's non-human vertebrate animal population since 1970."
 
* Plastic bags: "California has become the first state in the country to ban single-use plastic bags. Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed into law a bill banning plastic shopping bags at supermarkets, liquor stores and other retail locations where customers have long relied on them."
 
* He's correct: House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) on Monday said potential across-the-board spending cuts at the Pentagon next year could be problematic as the U.S. battles the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). 'I don't think sequestration and increased efforts in Syria, in Iraq are compatible,' Rogers said on WVLK 590's 'Kruser and Krew' radio program."
 
* Jonathan Cohn did a great job with the "seven charts that prove Obamacare is working."
 
* It would appear that John Cleese is not a fan of Fox News.
 
* Readers were a big help with our recent Whip Count project, and I hope you'll be equally eager to lend a hand with our new project. We're keeping a running tally of members of Congress who want to return to session -- cutting their vacation short -- in order to vote on authorizing military intervention against ISIS. I hope you'll take a look and keep us posted.
 
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.