The Cafe' [Think Tank]

by Maggie Fox <img class="img-responsive img_hero" src="http://media1.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2015_39/1231191/150921-ebola-jsw-02_149fcb9ce3ee553ddc92966aeebb4349.nbcnews-fp-600-320.jpg" alt="Ebola Returns to Liberia, Again"/>                    An entire Liberian family was being treated at a special Ebola unit Friday after a 10-year-old boy tested positive for the virus, officials said. It's a blow for efforts to end the West African epidemic, which has killed more than 11,000 people and made more than 28,000 people sick, and it's a reminder of just how hard it will be to completely stamp out the infection. The World Health Organization confirmed the boy had tested positive and local health officials said five other members of his family were be...

© Getty Images Every day, the U.S. 9-1-1 system receives more than 500,000 calls, and emergency dispatchers are the very first responders. They translate a caller’s situation into actionable instructions so police, fire, or medical teams can respond as quickly as possible. It’s an incredibly demanding job, with some shifts lasting up to 16 hours.   That’s a lot of time spent listening to terrified callers in their most desperate moments, and it takes a certain kind of person to survive the stress. Hopefully you never have to dial 9-1-1, but if you do, here are a few things you should know about the person answering your call:

One determined Georgia student let nothing stop her from finishing an exam – not even going into labor! "This is what you call 'Strong Priorities.' Contractions three minutes apart and still takes her psychology test! You are going to be a great mom, baby sis!" Shanell Brinkley-Chapman captioned a powerful Facebook photo of Tommitrise Collins sitting in a hospital bed with a laptop in front of her.   The moving photo has amassed more than 15,000 shares.   Collins, 21, was preparing to deliver a baby girl on Nov. 12 at Coliseum Medical Center, but says she had to complete an online exam the same day.   "It took me four to five hours after the opening of the test to try to put the pain to the side and do it so I wouldn't have to do it later and I could enjoy my newborn," Collins told Fox 5 Atlanta .   © Provided by TIME Inc. Collins finished the two-hour exam in about an hour and a half, and after about 20 hours, Collins gave bi...

© AP Photo/Matt York, File FILE - In this Dec. 15, 2009 file photo, Donald Eugene Gates stands outside a bus terminal in Phoenix. The District of Columbia has agreed to pay $16.65 million to a man who spent 27 years in prison for a rape and… WASHINGTON — The District of Columbia agreed Thursday to pay $16.65 million to a man who spent 27 years in prison for a rape and murder he didn't commit. The amount is about $617,000 for every year Donald Eugene Gates spent in prison. Gates was freed in 2009 after DNA evidence cleared him in the 1981 rape and murder of 21-year-old Georgetown University student Catherine Schilling. A federal jury on Wednesday found that two city police officers fabricated and withheld evidence in the case, and city officials agreed to a settlement Thursday as the jury was getting ready to decide damages in the case. The 64-year-old Gates, who now lives in Tennessee, previously received more than $1 million from the federal government for its role in his...

© CBS News Joseph Patterson, the man who was convicted in September of killing Adrian Peterson’s 2-year-old son was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Thursday. Joseph Patterson, the man who was convicted in September of killing Adrian Peterson’s 2-year-old son Tyrese Ruffin, was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Thursday. AdChoices Patterson maintained that he is innocent while addressing the courtroom in South Dakota. “This is probably where people expect a guilty person to turn around and ask for forgiveness,” Patterson said,  according to Megan Raposa of The Argus Leader . “I’m not guilty. All I did was try to help.”   Patterson was already serving a 25-year sentence for aggravated battery. He was found guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter, though state law does not allow sentences to be imposed on both murder and manslaughter. Patterson will serve a life sentence for the murder charge.   ...

Image copyright Reuters                              Image caption Open Stellenbosch has campaigned for the university to change its language policy An elite South African university wants to drop Afrikaans as the language of instruction and teach in English.   Stellenbosch University management has taken the decision in the wake of a viral video about the challenges and racism faced by black students. It detailed how some struggled with lessons in Afrikaans, one of the main languages spoken by the white minority. A student movement that campaigned for change said: "The doors of learning and culture shall be opened to all." The university is reportedly two-thirds white, more than two decades after the end of apartheid. Opposition to being taught in A...

Yes, the Cherokee had slaves, and no, their descendants are not happy. They’re so unhappy, in fact, that they’ve sued the Cherokee nation that enslaved and freed their ancestors, only to kick them out a century later. On Saturday they’ll be gathering in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to prepare for next month’s court proceedings. What do they want? To be recognized as part of the Cherokee nation again, of course. Confused? You’re not alone. The group, known as the Freedmen, have been fighting the Cherokee government for citizenship since it was revoked in the early 1980s on the basis that they lacked proof of native blood. Today around 3,000 reservation residents claim lineage from blacks once enslaved by the Cherokee and the rights they were entitled to. Here’s what you need to know. So the Cherokee had slaves? Thousands, actually . And it wasn’t just the Cherokee. Many members the Five Civilized Tribes—Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaws, Creeks and Seminoles—all of them had slaves, though...

                        Sean Gallup/Getty Images Delegates arrange themselves for a group picture during a visit by the German president at the headquarters of the African Union (AU) on March 18, 2013 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.   The world is just about to get a free trade area that's bigger, by population, than either the European Union or NAFTA . It's got nothing to do with the much-publicised Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). In fact, you've probably never heard of it. It's actually the Tripartite Free Trade Area, a deal that will wrap together 26 African nations with a population north of 600 million. The agreement will be signed off on June 10 in Egypt . Much of west Africa isn't covered, but the deal means a huge stripe of southern and eastern Africa will be. According to the Br...

  After a customer complained that his French fries were too thick, Chef George Crum, who worked in a Saratoga Springs, NY restaurant accidentally created the potato chip. He took a potato and sliced it very thin, fried it up, and it became a huge hit around that area.  The “Saratoga Chip” as it was once called, became popular in the 1920’s and the name was later changed to potato chips.