On Monday Take Two covers a nurse working in the Ebola zone, hazing at universities and Carnegie libraries redefining themselves.
Disease detectives track Ebola in the US
The state of New Jersey says it's releasing a nurse who had been forced into quarantine under a new Ebola policy.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo have said such measures were necessary to help stop potential spread of the disease. Meanwhile, the nation's top disease experts argue quarantines are unnecessary and could discourage medical professionals from offering assistance in the places its needed most.
All of which points to the fact that there are no easy answers when it comes to controlling an infectious disease. That's why so-called "disease detectives" are hard at work behind the scenes, collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control, to stop the spread of Ebola and other infectious diseases.
Dr. Kavita Trivedi, an infection control consultant in Northern California and a former "disease detective" with the CDC, joins Take Two to explain how the process works.
Ebola: What it's like to be a nurse treating patients in Liberia
If you got an email asking if you would fly to West Africa to help treat Ebola patients, would you go?
Nurse Bridget Mulrooney did and then didn't think twice about committing to the mission. She packed her bag and travelled to Liberia to work with the International Medical Corps.
Ben Bergman talks to her about what it's like in the town of Suakoko, which is where he reached her, right before her shift at a medical camp there.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
I've done a lot of international travel nursing before and got the email from International Medical Corps and I couldn’t go at the time. I got it, put it aside, and then almost thought Ebola would be squashed before my four more weeks of work was over.
In my heart I just wanted to go. I needed to help. And I didn't know a lot of people who were going to help. I felt a drive.
Did your family try to stop you?
No, I've been doing this for years. They're always a little afraid. My mom was a little more afraid this time because of the high mortality rate but they knew I was going to go.
How does what you're seeing there compare with other places you’ve worked over the years like Haiti?
It's kind of like a cholera unit would be except for the nurses and medical healthcare workers wear a lot of PPE (personal protective equipment). We wear boots, gloves, a full-body zip-up suit, masks, hood, another pair of gloves on top of all that. A waterproof apron that ties all the way up to our neck and around our backs.
How long does it take to get ready to go to work?
About 8 or 9 minutes now. I've been doing it every day for a month.
You can take precautions but we did hear about this doctor Craig Spencer who was in Guinea and he was diagnosed with Ebola last week in New York and the Dallas nurse who got it as well. How safe do you feel you are?
I feel absolutely safe. The Dallas-ers got it because they were wearing improper PPE, as everybody knows. If you use things according to protocol and have proper PPEs and there's not a user mistake, you're not going to get contaminated with body fluids.
What is the condition of the patients that you are dealing with? What are you seeing in these clinics?
Our patients range. You can have very mild symptoms—a headache and be walking around. You can be super sick, basically in a coma. You can get Ebola encephalitis and you turn a bit crazy and don't know which end is up and nothing's quite right and those patients usually die. Run-of-the-mill Ebola patients are not like 'The Hot Zone'; people are not streaming blood out of their eyes. Not with this strain, anyways. We would see a fever, stomach aches, body pains, muscle aches, diarrhea. It's for the most part unremarkable. The amount of blood that's coming with this strain is not a lot unless it's poop or throw up. So when you walk through the ward, people that are sick just lay in bed.
How long do you plan to stay?
I'm extended so I'm here to the end of the year right now. If there's a need, which it seems likely there will be, I'll probably extend again. After that, hopefully Ebola will be at a calm or there will be enough national staff that are trained and ready and eager to sustain.
Second victim of Marysville High School shooting dies
A second victim has died after Friday's shooting at a Washington state high school.
Fourteen-year-old Gia Soriano was one of five students shot at Marysville Pilchuck High School. One student victim died on the scene, the others remain hospitalized.
The shooter, Jaylen Fryberg also died at the scene. Medical examiners say his death was a suicide.
The high school will remain closed this week, but on Sunday students, families and other members of the community gathered in the gym.
Deborah Wang of Seattle public station KUOW reports.
LA County Fire Department hiring questioned in probe
Nearly 95 percent of the applicants for jobs with the LA County Fire Department are turned away.
These are well-paid and highly-coveted positions. The department says they hire based purely on merit. But a new LA Times investigation reveals there may be some nepotism at play as well. For more, LA Times reporter Paul Pringle joins Take Two.
See the LA Times investigation: Relative Advantage
How widespread is hazing in American culture?
California State University Northridge has banned all of its 54 fraternities and sororities from recruitment and pledging activities for new members.
The move comes after the campus launched an investigation into the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity regarding a possible hazing incident.
CSUN has been very concerned about the practice of hazing lately.
Earlier this year, a 19-year-old student died during a hike with another fraternity. School administrators determined it was a hazing-related death.
For more on the current state of hazing and the role it plays at universities and other parts of society, documentary
joins Take Two.
His current project is called, Hazing: How Badly do you Want In?
Teaser: HAZING: How Badly Do You Want In? from Byron Hurt on Vimeo.
On The Lot: Harvey Weinstein wants to segregate and Disney builds new worlds
Harvey Weinstein wants to redefine how Hollywood thinks of producers.
San Francisco meets Tokyo in the new visually rich world of "Big Hero 6."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3biFxZIJOQ
And why has Stephen Hawking finally taken to Facebook?
https://www.facebook.com/stephenhawking/posts/719148378172262
All that and more in this edition of On The Lot, Take Two's weekly peek behind the scenes in Hollywood.
Rebecca Keegan, who covers the film business for the LA Times, weighs in.
How Andrew Carnegie's wealth helped build US modern library system
Andrew Carnegie once said: "The man who dies rich dies in disgrace." When Carnegie passed away in 1919, he managed to avoid that fate, having given away almost 90 percent of his fortune - worth more than $350 million at the time.
More than $50 million of that went to build hundreds of libraries--142 here in California alone. In today's dollars, that's $1.2 billion. If you go check out a book in Eagle Rock or Oakland, you're going to a library built with Carnegie's money, in a more accessible design made popular by his efforts. In fact, Carnegie helped build the modern library system in the U.S., writes Kriston Capps on the CityLab. Capps joins Take Two with more on the legacy of these places now.
Why an Inland Empire city became home to warehouses and $2.36 million bribes
Far east of Los Angeles is a place that most Americans don't know exists, and yet they're all connected to it.
Moreno Valley, located deep in the Inland Empire, is a major artery of commerce that's home to warehouse after warehouse. Goods from overseas make a layover here before they're shipped out to stores across the country or directly to your home.
But it's also a home to political corruption. Here, the FBI paid out the largest bribe ever in a sting to catch a public official: $2.36 million.
That person wasn't a senator or state lawmaker: he was a city councilman.
BuzzFeed reporter Jessica Garrison explains in her piece, "Warehouse Empire," that warehouses in the Inland Empire are an important part of the local economy but also a source of corruption and pollution that are eroding away at communities.
Gubernatorial race largely ignores issue of prisons
Amid the governor's race is an issue that hasn't come up much: prisons.
The criminal justice system has transformed in recent years, yet both candidates have let it go largely unnoticed.
The California Report's Scott Shafer has more.
Instagram artist under investigation for 'artistic' vandalism in national parks
Artist Casey Nocket recently traveled to several national parks on the west coast.
But while taking in the natural sights, she created her own: Nocket allegedly scrawled her own drawings and artwork onto the landscape.
She's now under investigation by the National Parks Service for vandalism.
The effort to track her down was fast because of the trail she left on Instagram under her handle Creepytings.
People online were able to use her pictures to deduce the locations of where she had left her mark in several parks: Crater Lake, Zion National Park and Yosemite National Park, to name a few.
Casey Schreiner from the blog Modern Hiker explains that while social media helped to document this one case, "artistic" vandalism is a common problem in state and national parks that often go unsolved.
Are LAUSD iPads out along with former superintendent?
This time last year, students in Los Angeles were squealing with delight as boxes of new iPads rolled into their schools.
It was the first phase of what was touted as the largest technology expansion in the country.
The program has run into a host of problems since then, leading to the resignation of its biggest advocate, former superintendent John Deasy. Does this mark the end of the effort?
Southern California Public Radio's Annie Gilbertson reports.
Latinos press for more representation in city council elections
Voters in Anaheim may decide next week to make a big change to how they elect city council members.
The city is the largest in the state that elects officials citywide - and Latinos there say that's keeping their voices from being heard.
Southern California Public Radio's Erika Aguilar reports the same question has been popping up in cities all over the area.
Brazil a welcome haven for international migrants
It's not uncommon to hear governments say their country has a problem with refugees or immigrants. And it's rare to come across positive stories about the thousands of people fleeing poverty or war in search of a better life.
As the BBC's Wyre Davies reports from northern Brazil, there is one country still prepared to treat migrants and refugees with respect and the promise of a future. But is it a policy that can last?
LA's Thai Town turns 15
Almost 80,000 immigrants from Thailand have settled in Los Angeles.
That's given the city the claim of having the only Thai Town in the U.S.
And Southern California's Public Radio's Josie Huang says the neighborhood is celebrating a milestone birthday on Monday.
'Listen Up Philip' a film about writers, told in chapters
Watching the new film "Listen up Philip" is a lot like reading a novel.
It's a film about writers, told in chapters. There's even a narrator who we hear in voiceover throughout the film.
"Listen up Philip" stars Jason Schwartzman as Philip and Elisabeth Moss as his current girlfriend Ashley.
The film was written and directed by Alex Ross Perry, who joins Take Two in studio.