Free Republic

Hospitals across the country are isolating and testing potential Ebola patients, erring on the side of caution as the largest Ebola outbreak to date rages in West Africa. A 46-year-old Columbus, Ohio, woman who recently traveled to one of the three countries affected by the outbreak is being held in isolation at a local hospital, the Columbus health department said today. She was hospitalized several days ago but is “doing well” as she awaits Ebola test results from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which are expected today or Wednesday, the health department said.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Columbus Public Health confirms a person is undergoing testing and has been quarantined for the deadly Ebola virus. A spokesperson says they’re working with the CDC to learn the preliminary results of those tests. CPH says the person recently traveled to West Africa, where an outbreak has left nearly 900 people dead. The virus can be transmitted through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals. According to the CDC, symptoms include sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhea, rash,...

Natural gas production in the Marcellus Region exceeded 15 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) through July, the first time ever recorded, according to EIA's latest Drilling Productivity Report. The Marcellus Region, mostly located in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, is the largest producing shale gas basin in the United States, accounting for almost 40% of U.S. shale gas production. Marcellus Region production has increased dramatically over the past four years, increasing from 2 Bcf/d in 2010 to its current level. The rig count in the Marcellus Region has remained steady at around 100 rigs over the past 10 months. Given...

A massive effort to get fresh water samples flown to a highly specialized U.S. Environmental Protection Agency laboratory in Cincinnati became an unexpected all-night ordeal, delaying any announcement about test results early today, but the plane carrying the ice-downed samples is expected to arrive at its destination about 10 a.m. It remains unclear how many hours it will take before that laboratory generates test results, data that is expected to be the most important to date in the second day of the Toledo metro area's unprecedented water crisis that affects 500,000 people.

Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald's campaign to unseat Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) hasn't been going very well; ... FitzGerald spent Friday having to answer questions about a 2012 incident in which he and a woman who was not his wife were found in a car in a parking lot at 4:30 a.m. ... In the Friday afternoon press conference, he became angry when a reporter asked if everyone in the car was fully clothed. "I'm not even going to answer that," FitzGerald said. "It's disgusting."

Governor John Kasich has issued a state of emergency for Lucas County and surrounding communities due to algae toxins detected in the water during routine testing. Do not drink the water. Alternative water should be used for drinking, making infant formula, making ice, brushing teeth and preparing food. Pets should not drink the water. Do not boil the water.. Boiling the water will not destroy the toxins. It will increase the concentration of the toxins. Consuming water containing algal toxins may result in abnormal liver function, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, numbness or dizziness. Seek medical attention if you feel you have...

The Post articles on the House Republican revolt over the border bill and and the role Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) played in making it happen have nuggets of information that show why I’ve been harping about the possibility of  impeachment since June.As the article on the revolt notes, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his allies said they had the votes to pass a border bill that not only speeded up deportations but also had a $659 million price tag, which was considerably less than the $3.7 billion President Obama asked for. And then the bill was pulled from the floor...

Twelve states filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration on Friday seeking to block an Environmental Protection Agency proposal to regulate coal-fired power plants in an effort to stem climate change. The plaintiffs are led by West Virginia and include states that are home to some of the largest producers of coal and consumers of coal-fired electricity. The suit was filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The other plaintiffs are Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming. The E.P.A. rule, announced by President Obama on June...

After conservative icon and talk radio host Rush Limbaugh blasted House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) for declaring that impeaching Obama was off the table, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin praised Limbaugh for understanding the importance of not emboldening Obama to act even more lawlessly. "Rush is right," she wrote in a Wednesday Facebook post. "The GOP wants to take impeachment off the table? When will you learn liberals won't hate you less if you play nice in these tumultuous times? No matter how polite, complacent, and complicit you are, Obama will continue to harm our Republic and make you impotent....

The Justice Department on Wednesday sided with challengers of voting laws in Wisconsin and Ohio, saying in court filings that measures in those states unfairly affect minority voters. The department criticized a Wisconsin law that requires voters to present photo identification at the polls and an Ohio law that limits when voters can cast an early ballot. The court papers from the federal government are aimed at persuading judges that the laws, which are being challenged in court, are discriminatory and block access to the ballot box. […] The Justice Department has warned of legal actions against states after the...

A feud is unfolding over whether Dayton should take in immigrant children from Central America who have been crossing the border by the tens of thousands in recent months. Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley is facing off against Congressman Mike Turner and local politicians. The Democratic Whaley says the numbers of young children coming into the U.S. alone from central America constitute a humanitarian crisis. When the federal government contacted her in early July about potentially housing some of them temporarily, she said—of course. “These are children, and they need to be treated humanely while they’re on American soil and while...

An Ohio State University (OSU) class has apparently determined another fundamental difference between Christians and atheists: their IQ points. An online quiz from the school’s Psychology 1100 class, provided to Campus Reform via tip, asked students to pick which scenario they found most likely given that “Theo has an IQ of 100 and Aine has an IQ of 125.” The correct answer? “Aine is an atheist, while Theo is a Christian.” According to a student in the class who wished to remain anonymous, the question was a part of an online homework quiz. Students were required to complete a certain...

A letter sent to Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto by Ohio Sheriff Richard Jones of Butler County charging him for all the undocumented immigrants in his jail has caused more trouble than expected. Following the letter being sent, Sheriff Jones received correspondence from the federal government. “The federal government sends me a letter and said I violated a treaty of like, 1790,” Jones told Dana Loesch of The Blaze. What Jones shared next in the interview is even more startling. “I sent him a bill for the prisoners that are in my jail,” Jones said. “They came here illegally. I’ve...

Imagine the outrage if this lesson pitted men against women or straight people against gay people. Kaitlyn Schallhorn of Campus Reform reported. Exclusive: Ohio State core class teaches Christians are dumber than atheists An Ohio State University (OSU) class has apparently determined another fundamental difference between Christians and atheists: their IQ points.

Sunwing Flight 772 took off for Panama City on this morning, but was turned around after 45 minutes in the air for an emergency landing at Toronto's Pearson International Airport because of an "unruly passenger." Sunwing officials say a passenger was making threats, some of which concerned the security of the plane. Pilots activated their emergency response plan and returned to Toronto. Two U.S. F-16 fighter jets from Toledo, Ohio, were dispatched to escort the plane back to Toronto, North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) confirmed. The F-16s flew with the commercial plane out of U.S. airspace to Toronto as...

The White House pretended to champion American workers this week with gimmicky initiatives on federal job training and "workplace innovation." But far from the Beltway dog-and-pony show, a group of American workers ruthlessly shafted by the Obama administration was finally getting some real support -- and inching toward justice. It was five years ago this summer that 20,000 white-collar nonunion workers from Delphi (a leading auto parts company spun off from GM in 1999) had their pensions sabotaged as part of a rotten White House deal with Big Labor. Two court rulings this summer have given the victims hope. Their...

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) indicated Thursday that the House will not be considering legislative language to defund President Barack Obama’s deferred deportation policy, which some Republicans want to see as a condition of approving new funding to ease the crisis at the southern U.S. border.Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has said he wants to see Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy defunded, and says that policy is precisely why about 60,000 illegal immigrant children have tried to cross into the U.S. this year.Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is pushing to end President Barack Obama’s deferred deportation policy, but House GOP...

Ohio State University has fired the director of its marching band and is expanding an internal investigation that uncovered a deep culture of sexual harassment among students that reportedly has existed for years. The two-month investigation, triggered by the complaint of a parent, revealed a cascade of evidence that students routinely harassed one another –– often directed at new band members by older students –– and that director Jonathan Waters knew about it or should have known. Waters, 38, was ousted from his post effective today, OSU President Michael V. Drake said. Details of the investigation are laid out in...

(CNSNews.com) - Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Wednesday called out the IRS on holding back information regarding lost emails from former IRS official Lois Lerner, telling the IRS Commissioner John Koskinen at a House Subcommittee for Economic Growth, Job Creation, and Regulatory Affairs on Capitol Hill, “You guys were never going to tell us until we caught you.” At the hearing titled, “An Update on the IRS Response to its Targeting Scandal,” Jordan explained the timeline of events in the ongoing IRS investigation, citing how Koskinen knew about the missing emails in April yet waited until June 13, 2014 to...

Jim Jordan EXPLODES On Irs Commissioner John Koskinen. Commissioner John Koskinen testified at a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee hearing on the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) response to congressional oversight and investigation into alleged targeting of conservative groups.