Troopers were assisted by the state Environmental Police, the Washington Fire Department and Becket Emergency Medical Services.

LEE – A lost hiker was located uninjured and rescued Friday night using a high technology device attached to the Massachusetts State Police helicopter.

The woman had been hiking on October Mountain, the largest state forest in Massachusetts. Her husband reported her missing at about 7:30 p.m. and said she had entered the forest from Becket, State Police officials said.

Troopers from the Lee and Chesire barracks, the state Environmental Police, officers for the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Washington Fire Department and Becket Emergency Medical Services all responded and assisted with the rescue.

A State Police helicopter spotted the missing 53-year-old woman while using the FLIR system, an integrated electronic tracking system, and was able to guide in rescue crews to help her find her way out of the woods, police said.

All proceedes will be used to fund library programs.

CHICOPEE – The Friends of the Chicopee Public Library will hold a benefit concert with fiddler Sarah Michel, polka band Lenny Gomulka and the Chicago Push and the Chicopee High and Comprehensive High School bands.

All proceeds from the concert will be used to fund special library programs and to pay for extras needed by the library but not included in the budget.

The concert is scheduled for 7 p.m., Nov. 15 in the Chicopee High School auditorium. Tickets are $15 in advance or $18 at the door. They can be purchased at the circulation desk of the main library on 449 Front St. For more information people can call the Friends of the Chicopee Public library at 594-1800 ext. 116 or email freindsofcpl@hotmail.com.

HOLYOKE - Next Stop: Holyoke, a three-day event in the Paper City continued on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2014. The event features food, live music, crafts for children, and cultural and historical events at various locations in the city.

HOLYOKE - Next Stop: Holyoke, a three-day event in the Paper City continued on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2014.

The event features food, live music, crafts for children, and cultural and historical events at various locations in the city.

US Airways spokesman Matt Miller told The Associated Press by telephone that none of the 146 passengers and five crew aboard US Airways flight 745 from LaGuardia airport in New York was hurt.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A US Airways flight from New York safely made an emergency landing Saturday evening at its destination in Charlotte after oxygen masks deployed in the final minutes amid indications of a pressurization issue, a spokesman said, adding one of its regional flights also made a safe emergency landing in Charlotte soon afterward.

US Airways spokesman Matt Miller told The Associated Press by telephone that none of the 146 passengers and five crew aboard US Airways flight 745 from LaGuardia airport in New York was hurt. He said the crew of the Airbus A320 was already below cruising altitude and "well into" its descent into Charlotte Douglas International Airport when the issue arose before 7 p.m. Saturday.

"The masks were deployed. I don't know how many passengers used them," Miller said, adding a handful of passengers requested medical checks at the gate as a precaution upon arrival.

He added that the flight, which left New York shortly before 5 p.m., taxied to the gate under its own power and was being checked by maintenance crews. He had no immediate information whether an actual problem was detected.

"A bus met the aircraft on the taxiway and brought the passengers in because the plane had to be towed," Miller said. "It had to be towed because the steering wasn't operating properly." He added that the flight was operated by Republic Airways, one of the regional partners conducting flights on behalf of the airline group.

He said US Airways Express flight had originally been scheduled to arrive in Charlotte about 3:30 p.m. Saturday but it was primarily delayed due to weather. He said it finally left Charlotte around 6:30 p.m. He had no further details on the hydraulic issue involved.

The armed robber fled in a gun that had been stolen in East Longmeadow.

SPRINGFIELD – A man armed with what employees believed was a fake gun tried to rob the Racing Mart on Sumner Avenue Saturday night.

The man entered the store at 685 Sumner Ave. shortly after 8 p.m. and demanded money, Police Lt. Thomas Zarelli said.

“Employees did not believe the gun was real and refused to give him money and he fled the store,” Zarelli said.

The man drove away in a brown sedan which had earlier reported stolen from East Longmeadow, he said.

The accident happened Saturday night at Harvest Hill Farms in Mechanic Falls, which offers a Halloween-themed hayride called The Gauntlet Haunted Night Ride.

MECHANIC FALLS, Maine -- A trailer carrying people on a Halloween-themed hayride overturned on a steep dirt road in the Maine woods, injuring 23 people, several of them seriously, authorities said.

 

The accident happened Saturday night at Harvest Hill Farms in Mechanic Falls, which offers a Halloween-themed hayride called The Gauntlet Haunted Night Ride.

The driver of a small jeep pulling the flatbed trailer near a haunted house missed a turn at the top of a hill, Androscoggin County Sheriff Guy Desjardins said.

"The trailer jackknifed and the jeep went off the road," Desjardins told the Portland Press Herald. "We're talking about a very narrow dirt road, but extremely steep."

He said the trailer struck a tree, throwing its passengers to the ground.

Authorities said 22 people -- ages 15 and older -- were on the trailer at the time of the accident. Sgt. Joel Davis of the state fire marshal's office said every passenger on the hayride was injured in some way.

"I've never witnessed a single incident that resulted in so many injuries," said Desjardins, who told the newspaper he has been with the sheriff's department for 19 years.

He said some of the victims had minor injuries but others' were more serious, including injuries to their backs, necks and limbs. The two most seriously injured were flown to the hospital by helicopter, while ambulances transported the rest to several area hospitals. The driver of the jeep also was injured, Desjardin said.

Seventeen people were brought to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, including one in critical condition, Chuck Gill, vice president for public affairs, told The Sun Journal. He said some needed surgery.

Davis said investigators would return to the scene in the daylight on Sunday to reconstruct the accident and check if the hayride was mechanically sound.

Harvest Hills Farm said on its Facebook page that the site would be closed Sunday while authorities investigate. In addition to the Gauntlet Haunted Night Ride, the farm also is home to Pumpkin Land, a daytime attraction.

This is a video clip from the Portland Press Herald:

Heavy traffic is expected on Baystate highways for the Columbus Day weekend

SPRINGFIELD— The heaviest traffic day of the year on the Mass Pike is the Friday lead-off day of the Columbus Day weekend. According to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, more cars use the Massachusetts Turnpike on that one day than any other.

There is a corollary to the Friday out-bound traffic scenario: It all comes back Monday. MassDOT is urging all motorists to allow extra time for the return trip home, especially at those areas with routine bottlenecks. Traffic back-ups can be expected on highways leading to and from Cape Cod, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Maine.

Free coffee will be available from 10 p.m. Monday to 5 a.m. Tuesday at the 18 service plazas along the Mass Pike for those traveling late.

Shots were fried at a home in the Six Corners neighborhood.

Dave Canton | dcanton@repub.com 

Authorities were called to the area of 93 Ashley St. after the city's acoustic gunfire location system, Shotspotter, indicated shots being fired at 4:08 a.m. Immediately afterward citizens called to report the shots as well.

Witnesses told police that two men were seen shooting at the first floor of the home at 93 Ashley St. then running toward Pine Street. They were both described as wearing dark colored hooded sweatshirts. One of the assailants wore red pants, the other black.

Springfield police searched the area and found three spent shell casings nearby.

A Connecticut state trooper was injured when her car crashed into a tree as she responded to a domestic violence call.

Robert Rizzuto | rrizzuto@repub.com 

A police report released Saturday shows that trooper Stacy Clark suffered injuries to the left arm. She was taken by medical helicopter to Hartford Hospital. There were no immediate details on her condition.

The police report shows that Clark, who lives in Middletown, went off the road and shoulder before her vehicle struck a tree with its left side in the town of Columbia late Friday night.

State police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance said on Saturday that the police cruiser suffered heavy damage on the entire left side.

A state police sergeant based in Colchester is investigating the incident.

The 30-second spot was purchased state-wide, according to McCormick's campaign, and includes more than 40 placements at a cost of roughly $80,000.

As some media outlets across Massachusetts continue to snub the independent candidates running to be the next governor, Jeff McCormick is taking his message straight to the voters with a new TV ad.

The 30-second spot was purchased state-wide, according to McCormick's campaign, and includes more than 40 placements at a cost of roughly $80,000.

The ad opens with a narrator saying "Two political insiders. Two career politicians beholden to special interests," as an image of Democrat Martha Coakley and Republican Charlie Baker is shown.

It then turns to focus on McCormick, highlighting his experience in the private sector and the fact that he's not associated with either major political party.

"From humble beginnings, a self made leader, Jeff has helped build successful companies like Boston Duck Tours, and Constant Contact," the narrator says as the video montage shows McCormick on campaign stops across the state, including a visit to the Indian Orchard Mills business and arts complex in Springfield. "Jeff knows how to solve problems and create jobs, because he's done it."

McCormick has cultivated a socially liberal and fiscally moderate platform that includes supporting the casino repeal effort, and backing incentives and tax breaks to spur economic development in Gateway Cities like Springfield and Holyoke.

McCormick has contributed to politicians of both major parties, including Democrats like President Barack Obama and U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III and Republicans such as Mitt Romney and one-time Senate hopeful Gabriel Gomez. He founded Saturn Partners in 1994 to finance early-stage growth companies, and has said that the successes and failures he's experienced have prepared him for public service.

"With no ties to special interests, Jeff McCormick will put people before politics," the ad says in closing.

Evan Falchuk and Scott Lively are also running for governor as independents.

The T needs at least 226 cars: 152 would be Orange Line cars replacing the entire fleet of 120 and 74 Red Line cars with an option to increase the order to 132. The 43-year-old Red Line cars and 31-year-old Orange Line cars are due for replacement.

This story follows: Hyundai Rotem proposes subway car plant on Progress Avenue in Springfield if it wins MBTA bid

Springfield and communities in the Berkshires are competing along with other sites across Massachusetts for $1.5 billion in work making new subway cars for the MBTA Orange and Red lines, part of Boston's subway system.

But Corydon L. Thurston, executive director of the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority, sees both Springfield and the Berkshires winning in the end.

"We are very optimistic that it will be in Western Massachusetts, which means it will be very good for all of us," Thurston said Friday. "It is always very good to bring a manufacturer into your community."

Both China's CNR Changchun Railway Vehicles and Hyundai Rotem of South Korea have selected sites in Springfield.

In the Berkshires, economic development officials are pitching several sites: the William Stanley Business Park, which was once part of the mammoth General Electric complex in Pittsfield; a former Crane Paper Co. plant in neighboring Dalton and another former paper mill in Lee.

Bidders besides Chanchun and Hyundai include CAF or Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles of Spain; Kawasaki Rail Car. of Japan; Alstom Transport of France; and Bombardier of Canada.

Thurston couldn't say Friday which bidders are interested in which sites.

The T needs at least 226 cars: 152 would be Orange Line cars replacing the entire fleet of 120, and 74 would be Red Line cars, with an option to increase that order to 132. The 43-year-old Red Line cars and 31-year-old Orange Line cars are due for replacement.

Thurston said Western Massachusetts is the best place to build the cars because both the large industrial sites with rail connections and the ready work force are available.

And once a manufacturer is here, that manufacturer will need local suppliers and subcontractors, Thurston said. He predicts that if a Springfield site is chosen, some of those suppliers would be in the Berkshires.

For example, he said Pittsfield's Sabic Innovative Plastics does work for railroad car makers all over the world.

"We introduced these manufacturers to fabricators, machine shops, makers of wire harnesses," Thurston said.

A health worker at Hospital in Dallas is apparently the first case of Ebola contracted in the United States

DALLAS (AP) — A health care worker at a Texas hospital who provided care for the Ebola patient who was hospitalized there, and later died, tested positive for Ebola in a preliminary test at the state public health laboratory in Austin, officials said Sunday in a statement.

If confirmed, it would be the first known case of the disease being contracted or transmitted in the U.S.

A statement posted on the Texas Department of State Health Service's website said "confirmatory testing will be conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta."

Officials said the health care worker reported a low grade fever Friday night and was isolated and referred for testing. Preliminary test results were received late Saturday.

"We knew a second case could be a reality, and we've been preparing for this possibility," said Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services. "We are broadening our team in Dallas and working with extreme diligence to prevent further spread."

Health officials have interviewed the patient and are identifying any contacts or potential exposures. They said people who had contact with the health care worker after symptoms emerged will be monitored based on the nature of their interactions and the potential they were exposed to the virus.

Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S., died Wednesday in Dallas. Duncan, 42, grew up next to a leper colony in Liberia and fled years of war before later returning to his country to find it ravaged by the disease that ultimately took his life.

Duncan arrived in Dallas in late September, realizing a long-held ambition to join relatives. He came to attend the high-school graduation of his son, who was born in a refugee camp in Ivory Coast and was brought to the U.S. as a toddler when the boy's mother successfully applied for resettlement.

The trip was the culmination of decades of effort, friends and family members said. But when Duncan arrived in Dallas, though he showed no symptoms, he had already been exposed to Ebola. His neighbors in Liberia believe Duncan become infected when he helped a pregnant neighbor who later died from it. It was unclear if he knew about her diagnosis before traveling.

Duncan had arrived at a friend's Dallas apartment on Sept. 20 — less than a week after helping his sick neighbor. For the nine days before he was taken to a hospital in an ambulance, Duncan shared the apartment with several people.

This is the second of three segments of a video of the Massachusetts state Senate debate with Debra Boronski, Mike Franco and Eric Lesser.

State Senate candidates Debra Boronski, Mike Franco and Eric Lesser gave their two cents and more recently when asked for their views on two hotly debated issues in the 2014 campaign season – political fundraising and casino gambling.

Their full answers can be seen in the video above, showing a segment of a debate sponsored by The Republican / MassLive, CBS 3 Springfield, and New England Public Radio, and taped last week at the CBS 3 studio in downtown Springfield. The Republican’s political reporter Robert Rizzuto served as the moderator.

Political fundraising

Boronski: In reference to Eric Lesser raising more than $300,000 in campaign contributions, Boronski raised the issue of the impact of money and influence.

Lesser: He said he is proud of the support he received, and said he raised more inside the Senate district than any other candidate.

Franco: He also raised concerns about influence coming from money, but said the current rules do require rigorous reporting.

Casino repeal

Franco: He said he supports the repeal of the casino law and believes large casinos do not integrate well and do not work well with local businesses.

Boronski: She said she supports MGM Springfield and jobs it will bring. She does have concerns about traffic and crime.

Lesser: He said he supports MGM Springfield, as approved by Springfield voters, and believes a statewide repeal would be unfair due to concentration of voters in Eastern Massachusetts.

The two men will be arraigned in Northampton District Court Tuesday.

NORTHAMPTON – Two men accused of breaking into a Huntington home were arrested Saturday afternoon after state police chased them on foot and by helicopter.

Angel V. Villanueva, 37, and Gamaliel Nazario, 33, both of Springfield, were arrested Sunday and charged with breaking and entering in the daytime, larceny from a building, possession of burglary tools and malicious destruction of property. They will be arraigned in Northampton District Court Tuesday, Massachusetts State Police officials said.

State police from the Russell barracks were alerted to a breaking and entering in a home on Norwich Lake in Huntington, by a witness who reported a vehicle was seen leaving with what appeared to be stolen items, police officials said.

Soon after, Northampton Police spotted a car matching the description the witness gave and stopped the red Geo Tracker on Route 66 in Northampton. The suspects then ran on foot from the police.

One man was immediately caught. The State Police Air Wing was dispatch to the scene and quickly spotted the second and he was apprehended and arrested, state police officials said.

Route 141 that connects Easthampton and Holyoke was closed for two days.

EASTHAMPTON - A microburst that brought winds of more than 100 mph early Wednesday morning heavily damaged three homes, felled or damaged thousands of trees and brought down power lines.

The microburst started on the west side of Mount Tom and moved south-southwest to north-northeast along the edge of the range. The path of damage was about a mile long and a quarter-mile wide, according the the National Weather Service.

No serious injuries were reported but the microburst, which happened just before 5 a.m., trapped two motorists in a tangle of power lines and debris.

Much of the damage was along Mountain Road, also known as Route 141. The road was closed for two days and reopened Friday afternoon.

Here are some of the things people were saying about the microburst and the damage it left behind.

The fire was caused by a charcoal grill that was placed in the garage without being properly extinguished.

EASTHAMPTON – A fire in a detached garage caused about $75,000 in damage to the building and three cars parked in front of it.

The blaze also destroyed two motorcycles parked inside the garage. The value of the motorcycles was not immediately available, according to a written statement from Fire Chief David A. Mottor.

The fire was reported just after 6:30 p.m. in the garage at 11 Princeton Ave. Fire crews responded quickly and were able to extinguish the blaze by 7:10 p.m., he said.

“Prior to the Fire Department’s arrival, police officers on scene reported heavy fire conditions and small explosions,” Mottor said.

“Upon arrival crews reported heavy fire coming from the garage and one vehicle with fire under the hood and in the passenger compartment,” he said.

The damage to the three cars was estimated at $35,000 total, while the damage to the building was about $40,000, he said.

An investigation determined the blaze was caused by a charcoal grill that had been placed in the garage without being properly extinguished, Mottor said.

A total of 10 firefighters responded to extinguish the fire. The Holyoke Fire Department manned the fire station for Easthampton, he said.

The property is owned by Tracy L. Wilkinson.

One person has died in the roll-over crash of a horror-themed hayride in Maine.

MECHANIC FALLS, Maine (AP) — A Halloween-themed hayride loaded with passengers crashed down a hill in the Maine woods and slammed into a tree, fatally injuring a teenage girl and leaving more than 20 other people hurt, police said Sunday.

Seventeen-year-old Cassidy Charette of Oakland died from her injuries after the Gauntlet Haunted Night Ride wagon overturned Saturday night at a rural farm in Mechanic Falls, authorities said.

The crash "threw everyone off the trailer and into each other and into trees," said Sgt. Joel Davis of the state fire marshal's office. He said a mechanical problem prevented the SUV pulling the wagon from stopping.

Several actors participating in the ride's scenes assisted the injured riders — including some performing CPR — and likely helped prevent the accident from being even worse, Davis said.

About a half-dozen of those hurt remained hospitalized Sunday afternoon but their injuries did not appear life-threatening, Davis said.

Charette was among a group of friends who visit Harvest Hills Farm every fall, Davis said. One of her fellow students at Messalonskee High School, 16-year-old Connor Garland of Belgrade, was being treated at Boston Children's Hospital, state police spokesman Steve McCausland said.

Oakland resident Kathy Mathieu, whose son Zachary is a close friend of Connor, said Charette and Connor attended the school's homecoming celebration together last week. She said the community is planning a fundraiser for Charette's family.

"Everybody is doing everything they can to help this family," Mathieu said. "There are no words to express the sorrow for the parents."

Charette was a member of the school's girls' soccer team and scored goals in recent games, according to results in local media. Garland was a member of the Central Maine Owls, a 15-and-under baseball team that won the state championship this year, according to the Portland Press Herald.

Messalonskee Principal Jon Moody sent a statement to the school community saying grief counselors will be available at the school this week.

The hay wagon was being pulled by a 1979 Jeep when it crashed, according to the fire marshal's office. The driver, identified by police as David Brown, 54, of South Paris, was among those hospitalized. Brown is an experienced trucker who has a commercial driver's license, according to a spokesman for the farm.

The sprawling New England farm is set on a forested hill in a rural area about 25 miles southwest of Augusta, set back from a two-lane road. A 10-foot, caged monster statue stands at the entrance to the haunted attraction. The farm also features Pumpkin Land — a daytime attraction.

"Our hearts and prayers go out to the family," farm spokesman Scott Lansley said. "We're a tight community. This is really a tragedy for us."

Lansley said the tour's narrator was among the other 19 people authorities said were injured.

The owners have been hosting the haunted ride for about five years without incident, Lansley said. He said Saturday night was a busy night for the ride, with more than 500 patrons. The entire park was evacuated after the crash, he said.

State fire marshals inspect and license mechanical amusement rides in Maine, but hayrides do not require such licensing.

The investigation into the crash is still ongoing and results will be forward to the district attorney to determine if there is criminal liability, Davis said.

The arrests were the only incident in an otherwise peaceful weekend of demonstrations in the city to protest the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson in August.

ST. LOUIS -- Officers arrested 17 protesters and used pepper spray to subdue some of them Sunday in a St. Louis neighborhood not far from the suburb where violence erupted this summer after the shooting of a black man by a white policeman.

The arrests were the only incident in an otherwise peaceful weekend of demonstrations in the city to protest the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson in August. The shooting sparked sometimes violent demonstrations in the predominantly black suburb.

Early Sunday morning, about 200 protesters gathered in Shaw, a south St. Louis neighborhood where last week another black 18-year-old was killed by a white police officer, St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said. The protesters, some wearing masks, marched toward a QuikTrip convenience store and tried to force open its doors, Dotson said.

Riot police told the crowd to disperse but some 50 protesters linked their arms to create a human chain, he said. About half of them heeded the police warning.

"The people who were left there were people who made a conscious decision they wanted to be arrested," Dotson said.

At least one officer was hit by a rock but was not seriously injured, and officers used pepper spray to get those arrested to comply with police, Dotson said. Police were charging those arrested with unlawful assembly then releasing them Sunday.

Community activists and organizers of the weekend of protests did not respond to Associated Press requests Sunday for comment on the police version of events.

The planned demonstrations began Friday afternoon with a march outside the St. Louis County prosecutor's office, where protesters renewed calls for prosecutor Bob McCulloch to charge Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson officer, in the Aug. 9 death of Brown. A grand jury is reviewing the case and the Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation.

Since Brown's death, three other fatal police shootings of black males have occurred in the St. Louis area. The most recent involved an off-duty St. Louis officer who was working for a private neighborhood security patrol when he shot and killed 18-year-old Vonderrit D. Myers on Wednesday night.

The white officer, whose name hasn't been released, fired 17 rounds after police say Myers opened fire. Myers' parents say he was unarmed, and many speakers at a weekend rally echoed those doubts.

Demonstrators stood outside Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis, where the Cardinals were playing the San Francisco Giants this weekend in the National League Championship Series of professional baseball. Fans were unimpeded by the protesters Saturday and none picketed the stadium Sunday night.

Lots of medical terms in recent news stories.

The World Health Organization has a department of pandemic and epidemic diseases. The list of such diseases include viral haemorrhagic fevers, like the current Ebola outbeak in West Africa, as well as influenza and smallpox.

But, what is the difference between an epidemic and pandemic? A pandemic is an infectious disease that spreads widely, in large numbers, throughout the globe, while an epidemic, or outbreak, spreads through certain communities, regions, or population, at the same time. An endemic disease is confined to certain region. A cluster usually involves the investigation of disease cases within a certain area that may be larger than normal. Epidemiologists study the spread of disease.

In terms of other medical definitions in the news of late, an infectious disease is a a disease, like pneumonia, that you can catch, as opposed to a non-infectious disease, like cancer.

Infections are caused by bacteria or viruses or other microbe invading the body, and causing harms to cells that results in a disease. They are said to be contagious when they spread spread through direct contact, like kissing, or indirect, as when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Enterovirus-D68 is an airborne virus. Diseases can spread through animals. Infected mosquitoes spread malaria in countries like Africa. Disease can also spread through contaminated food and water. Think salmonella in meat. There are infections that spread to people from an animal or insect, but are not contagious from another human. Lyme disease is an example of an infection that does not spread from an infected human to another human.

Most bacteria is actually helpful. It plays a role in digestion, vitamin production and destroying harmful organisms in the body. Antibiotics are used to fight harmful bacteria.

Vaccines are designed to prepare the body to fight a certain infection, as well as recognize it when it invades. Vaccines are made from a killed or weakened organism, and give the body immunity. The 2014 nasal spray vaccine contains live viruses (unlike the flu shot), and are said to be "attenuated (weakened) and cannot cause flu illness."

Viruses are parasites, meaning they cannot reproduce on their own. They contain DNA or RNA, surrounded by a coat of protein. They invade cells to reproduce. RNA viruses are said to mutate often; DNA viruses are said to be more stable and mutate less often. Ebola is a potent single strain RNA virus, with a number of proteins.

Antibodies are part of the body's immune system, and fall within the large molecules known as immunoglobulins. They fight antigens that invade the body.

Health care workers, on the front lines, most at risk.

The Massachusetts Legislature's public health committee will hold an oversight hearing Oct. 16 to question doctors and others on how the commonweath's healthcare system is prepared to handle any cases of Ebola, and what protocols are in place.

The timing is good in terms of transparency on how prepared providers are, and how trained staff are, to recognized and handle suspected cases. There is no vaccine, or specific anti-viral therapies, against Ebola, which has a high mortality rate, especially when not treated early. A Texas healthcare worker is being treated for Ebola, after she cared for a patient, from Libera, West Africa, who died from it.

Closer to home an individual, said to have been in Liberia, where the disease is epidemic, was transported to Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center on Oct. 12, from a Braintree medical facility, after complaining of a headache. During the last few months, cases initially treated as Ebola, in Massachusetts, turned out to be other illnesses, and, to date, there have been no confirmed cases in the state.

The Massachusetts Department of Health posted an advisory (pdf) on its website, dated Oct. 1, that advises, in part, that the state "is well prepared to handle an incidence of Ebola, in the unlikely event that a case should occur in the Commonwealth."

"The public," the statement reads, "can have full confidence that our hospitals have the expertise, preparedness and capacity to handle such a situation. The infectious disease controls in Massachusetts and the United States are world class. Should a patient present Ebola symptoms, the patient would be quickly isolated and treated to prevent the spread of this disease."

It will be good for the oversight committee to hear specifics.

The government's Centers for Disease Control has stressed that containment, in terms of isolating an infected individual and monitoring anyone who came into contact with the individual, is key to controlling the spread of the Ebola virus. The virus does not live long outside the body, but spreads through close contact with infected bodily fluids like blood, vomit and feces.

The deaths have been confirmed of more than 2,000 people in West Africa from Ebola, with the number of probable, suspected and unreported cases considered much higher. Few hospitals were prepared there with isolation wards, protective gear and equipment to treat the numbers of patients arriving for treatment. Many West Africans are forced to return home, continuing the spread of the disease and the death rate.

Health care workers are considered most at risk, with training and adequate protective gear essential. It takes only a small droplet of the virus from a contaminated needle, for example, to infect the eye when rubbed by the infected surface of a hand. There is already one case of an American healthcare worker becoming infected, after caring for Thomas Duncan, who died, in Texas, from Ebola, contracted in Liberia. Companies making personal protective equipment to protect such workers are overwhelmed with orders.

Ads have also been popping up on the Internet for kits, selling for around $500, said to be designed to protect an individual from outbreaks of infectious diseases.

Area hospitals have said they are prepared to handle any suspected cases, with both isolation rooms and protective gear.