Monday News Rundown (11-17-14)

By Emily Parma
Assistant Web Content Manager

Ebola has claimed another American life. Doctor Martin Salia died after contracting the Ebola virus while working in Sierra Leone. Salia was tested weeks before with negative test results for the disease. According to the Washington Post, colleagues said he still had symptoms that made him take a second test, which came back positive. Salia died earlier today at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. He is survived by his wife and two children who live in Maryland.

The San Marcos Police Department received a report of a burglary this morning at the Vistas Apartments near campus. A resident provided a description of the suspect: black male, 5’5” tall, wearing long denim shorts and a light colored hoodie with an Aztec print. The suspect may be armed with a knife.The University Police Department and SMPD are working together to investigate the situation. More information will be released as it becomes available.

The Vatican has announced that Pope Francis will make his first trip to the United States this time next year. According to CNN, the Pope will travel to the World Meeting of the Families, which is a public Catholic event that celebrates family as the basic building block of society. This event will be held in Philadelphia next year and Pope Francis is scheduled to hold a mass on Sept. 27, 2015 off Philadelphia’s Broad Central City Avenue.

Texas State was named by Payscale and Collegenet as one of the top institutions that help disadvantaged students succeed. Rankings were created using the social mobility index. The rankings focus on the problem of economic mobility and the percentage of students whose families are below the federal poverty level. Texas State ranked 51 out of 539 institutes.

The Leonid meteor shower will peak at 1 a.m. today. Star gazers can expect clear skies tonight and a waning crescent moon to increase the skies visibility and increase chances of seeing meteors. The crescent moon will make the sky darker and make the bright and colorful meteors easier to spot. NASA meteor expert Bill Cook told space.com that the shower could produce between 10-and-15 meteors per hour.

Tonigth’s forecast will be a high of 45, dropping to 38 around 9 p.m. Tomorrow will have a high of 57 and low of 37.