A Queens couple celebrated a unique wedding anniversary in a Long Island hospital Tuesday, insisting their love helped conquer a near fatal brain hemorrhage.

Tunicia and Raleigh Hall were married in June. A month later, complaining of the worst headache in her life, Tunicia Hall, 43, was taken to the hospital.

She was suffering from what doctors call an "uncommon" type of brain hemorrhage, a form of a stroke that strikes otherwise healthy middle-aged people.

As doctors treated his wife, Raleigh Hall, 50, realized she was losing some of her memory.

At one point, she asked the man she has known for 30 years, "Are we married?”

“I felt like I lost her,” Raleigh Hall remembered.

He covered the walls of his wife’s hospital room with photos of their wedding, in the hope that it would help her remember.

“I was fighting to get her back. Whatever came to mind, I tried," Raleigh Hall said.

Over time, the couple said, Tunicia Hall began to remember.

"The photos drew questions -- when were we married? And she saw something and I believe what she saw was hope," Raleigh Hall said.

Tunicia Hall said the process of recovering her memory was gradual, but she now feels "great" and is in no pain.

The couple marked three months as man and wife at North Shore University hospital in Manhasset, a few floors below the intensive care unit where Raleigh Hall spent weeks at his wife’s bedside.

Hospital staff presented the happy couple with a cake and then offered a toast "to life."

Tunicia Hall's doctor acknowledged that sometimes medical science alone isn’t enough to bring patients back.

“This is a great example of that,” said Dr. Richard Temis. “Patients families are key to recovery.”

"It happens," said Raleigh Hall. "When you see hope, it happens." 

Follow Greg Cergol on Twitter @GREGCERGOL4NY

Animal control officials managed to shoot a bear with a tranquilizer dart after it climbed a tree near a northern New Jersey elementary school, camped out there for a bit and shimmied the 40 feet back down before running off in the opposite direction, leading authorities on a six-hour chase.

Authorities were trying to coax the 301-pound bear down low enough so they could tranquilize it and safely catch it in a net, but the bear apparently came all the way to the ground on its own -- and escaped.

The bear led authorities on a chase through Ridgewood after it climbed about 40 feet up a tree in the front yard of a home near Ridge Elementary School around 9:30 a.m. It ran toward Godwin Avenue and climbed another tree there, then climbed down that one and ran off again before authorities found it nestled in the crook of yet another tree, this time on Lake Street.

The bruin clung to a branch for awhile, but the effect of the tranquilizer dart eventually made it fall into a safety net held by emergency responders. The bear, a male, was not harmed. It will be tagged and marked and driven back to the woods in northwest New Jersey. Authorities said it never behaved aggressively.

No injuries were reported and students in nearby schools were able to go home as scheduled.

An hour before the bear was spotted near the elementary school, sanitation workers reported seeing a bear and two cubs at a leaf dump. Authorities also got a call about a large bear spotted elsewhere in town.

The multiple sightings in Ridgewood come a day after officials at an elementary school in Wayne, a county over, canceled outdoor recess for the second time in two weeks after a bear was spotted wandering through the neighborhood.

Police say the bear in Wayne, believed to be the same one spotted in the area last week, hasn't shown aggressive behavior. It was seen in the woods surrounding the Toys R Us corporate headquarters over the weekend and on various blocks around the Pines Lake neighborhood.

Residents in nearby Oakland have also seen a mother black bear and her cubs walking near houses.

Many homeowners are taking the bears more seriously after Rutgers senior Darsh Patel was killed in a bear attack in West Milford last Sunday, the first fatal bear attack in New Jersey in at least 150 years.

Since the bear hunt in New Jersey began four years ago, the number of bear nuisance complaints have gone down by 43 percent.

But in 2014, the numbers have been going back up, with a 30 percent increase in bear nuisance calls compared to last year. Biologists are still trying to determine why.

Follow Jen Maxfield on Twitter @JenMaxfield4NY 

Copyright Associated Press / NBC 7 San Diego

An updated Climate Action Plan released Tuesday aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions in San Diego by half and switch to all electricity use to renewable sources by 2035.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer, City Council President Todd Gloria and Council President Pro Tem Sherri Lightner announced the strategies from the Alvarado Water Treatment Plant and outlined steps to achieve the ambitious targets.

• Read the full Climate Action Plan here

"This is a plan for creating economic opportunity for every San Diego family and community, and I truly believe that we have an opportunity to make San Diego one of the green energy and solar capitals of the world," said Faulconer.

The city’s goals are in line with state requirements to significantly reduce greenhouse gases by 2050.

According to Faulconer, the Climate Action Plan is designed to create new renewable energy jobs, improve public health and air quality, increase water quality and save taxpayer money by cutting water, energy and waste use.

The city leaders listed actions they could take to carry out the plan, pending city council approval:

• Create a set of regulations and incentives to improve buildings’ energy and water efficiency
• Cut vehicle travel and encourage alternative transit like biking, walking and public transportation
• Retime stoplights across the city to better coordinate traffic
• Install 20 roundabouts by 2035
• Reach a 75 percent waste diversion rate to landfills by 2020 and a 90 percent rate by 2035, meaning trash should be reduced through recycling, reuse or composting
• Build electric vehicle charging stations
• Convert the city’s fleet to 50 percent electric vehicles by 2020 and 90 percent by 2035
• Capture 98 percent of methane from wastewater treatment plants by 2035
• Run 100 percent of city trash trucks on natural gas by 2035

“This plan demonstrates that San Diego is a progressive leader in addressing climate change, and that we value our people and our environment enough to take such decisive and strong action,” said Gloria.

This draft of the Climate Action Plan is open to public input. Once all feedback is accounted for, city staff will revise the outline, perform an environmental review and bring it in front of the city council in spring 2015.

Millions of dollars in grants to assist homeless veterans and their families were awarded on Tuesday, $6 million of which will go toward San Diego veterans.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced the Supportive Services for Veteran Families grants to help 70,000 homeless and at-risk veterans.

The grants will be doled out to 82 nonprofit agencies and also include funding for 56 high-need communities. Locally, the money will go toward the agencies Vietnam Veterans of San Diego and Interfaith Community Services.

These grants will assist with veteran outreach, case management, assistance in obtaining benefits and assistance in receiving other public benefits.

In addition, community-based groups can offer temporary financial assistance on behalf of veterans for rent payments, utility payments, security deposits and moving costs.

Defense lawyers for former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez are citing the high-profile case against Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in their motion to have their client's venue changed.

In a motion filed Tuesday, Hernandez's lawyers are seeking to have Hernandez's Bristol County trial moved, arguing that the jury pool has been "poisoned" by prejudicial pretrial publicity. They suggested moving the trial "outside the Boston media market" to Hampden County or Worcester County.

The defense team's primary argument is "a media frenzy, the likes of which have never been seen in recent memory," according to the motion filed by attorney Michael Fee. Twenty-four of the 26 exhibits filed are media accounts, including a search for "Aaron Hernandez" on NECN.com.

Another exhibit filed by Hernandez is Tsarnaev's motion to change venues, which was denied earlier this month.

Fee argues that Tsarnaev was not permitted to change venues from "the large and diverse pool" of about 5 million people, Hernandez only has access to "350,000 to 400,000, if not fewer," potential jurors. Seventy to 80 percent of the pool, Fee says, is "hopelessly biased."

Additionally, Fee says that the media coverage of Hernandez has been more negative than that of Tsarnaev.

"Indeed, the sympathy shown for Tsarnaev in the press, including his portrayal as an impressionable young man under the influence of his Jihadi older brother, is in sharp contrast to the universally pejorative portrayal of Hernandez," he wrote in the motion. "Moreover, this court is acutely aware of the presence of prejudicial publicity in this case, as the danger of prejudice formed the basis for the entry of the so-called "gag order" in February."

The motion also cites the association of negative media attention regarding fellow NFL players, specifically Ray Rice. A Google search of the two men's names was submitted as an exhibit.

"Indeed, the intense media coverage of off-the-field violence by other NFL players is keeping the Hernandez case in the news almost daily and this trend alone, leaving aside other coverage of Hernandez, shows no sign of abating," wrote Fee.

CLICK HERE to see exhibits 1-12.

CLICK HERE to see exhibits 13-26.

CLICK HERE to read the motion.

Hernandez's trial is scheduled to begin on Jan. 9, 2015.

Also on Tuesday, the defendant was in Fall River Superior Court for a hearing on the defense's bid to have evidence from his cell phone thrown out. The hearing lasted about five hours, and is set to resume on Wednesday.

Stay with NECN for more on this developing story.

Copyright Associated Press / NBC 7 San Diego

One of the smallest victims of the 2014 San Diego wildfires is back on her feet.

On Tuesday, wildlife workers released a female coyote into the wild after spending the last five months with her.

The pup, known only as Coyote 1732, came to The Fund for Animals Wildlife Center in Ramona in May. The 10-week-old coyote had been severely burned in the Poinsettia Fire.

“Literally her paws were dripping blood after the first bandage change. She just had no top layer of skin on all four of her paw pads,” said Gina Taylor, registered veterinary technician at the wildlife center.

“Her entire coat was just crunchy, singed hair,” she said.

Taylor’s eyes welled up with tears as the coyote bolted from her carrier and into the wild. She described the bittersweet feeling as a mother of a teenager leaving for college.

“I do rehab not for them to be pets, not for them to be put into an exhibit of any sort," she said.

Although it was sad to see her go, Taylor said this coyote belongs in the wild.

“We do not feel like she has any inclination to be around humans,” Taylor said. “The fact that we every day, every other day, every third day had to capture her up to change her bandages, she still never liked it, never liked us, never sought us out for any attention.”

Coyote 1732 was released in Oceanside at an undisclosed location approved by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Taylor said the coyote will eat squirrels, rabbits, lizards and other small animals now that she’s back in the wild.

“She abruptly got separated from her family unit, and now instinct has to kick in for her,” she said.

A few days after the coyote came to the rehabilitation center, her brother arrived also. Taylor said his burns were so severe, she was surprised he survived the night.

Taylor said the boy, Coyote 1736, will never be healthy enough to go back to the wild. Instead, he will be transferred to a wildlife sanctuary in Texas.

The Poinsettia Fire burned 600 acres and destroyed 23 homes and apartments in Carlsbad last May.

A Pennsylvania State Trooper died Tuesday evening after he was accidentally shot at a Montgomery County gun range.

Trooper David Kedra, 26, of the Troop K, Skippack station was participating in a training exercise at the Montgomery County Public Safety Training Complex in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, around 4:45 p.m. when he was shot.

Officials have not yet revealed what led to the shooting but say a bullet pierced his chest. They also say the shooting was accidental.

A medical helicopter took the trooper from the scene to Temple University Hospital. He was later pronounced dead.

Kedra's body was placed into a hearse and escorted by a police motorcade to the coroner's office on South University Avenue.

Kedra had been a member of the Pennsylvania State Police since June 18, 2012.

"He died serving the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the men and women of the Pennsylvania State Police mourn his loss and extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends," state police officials said in a released statement.

Trooper Kedra is the 96th member of the Pennsylvania State Police to be killed in the line of duty.

Investigators say the shooting appears to be accidental.

The gun range at the training center is normally used by law enforcement and first responders.

This story is developing. Stay with us for updates.

A San Carlos couple is questioning the city of San Diego’s emergency response policy after a police cruiser crashed into them, sending the cop’s vehicle into a group of eight cyclists.

Camille and Scott Martin are recovering two days after their convertible collided with a San Diego Police car at the intersection of Harbor Drive and Cesar Chavez in Barrio Logan.

They say the officer, who was responding to a domestic violence call, drove through a red light without turning on lights and sirens.

“There is no reason you can’t at least flip the sirens on and turn them back off if need be but you have to warn people in that intersection,” Scott said in an exclusive interview with NBC 7.

By the rules of the road and the department's own pursuit policies, personal injury lawyer Chris Hulburt says police do not have the right of way.

“Even if this is an urgent need to get there, the only way to get through this red light is to turn on the lights and sirens,” he said.

Hulburt successfully settled a 1999 case with the city after June Meng Hong was killed by a SDPD cruiser that slammed into her car during a burglary chase in Mira Mesa. The city ended up paying $1.95 million to her husband.

The attorney told NBC 7 officers are required to use emergency lights and sirens to request that other drivers on the road yield.

SDPD investigators on the Martin case could not verify whether the officer was in violation of policy or even how fast his car was going.

There are no known circumstances in police policy that allow an officer to run a red light without warning the driving public ahead, according to Hulburt.

“There is going to be a determination, I predict, that this is a clear violation of the San Diego Police Department's own policies,” Hulburt said.

The SDPD says only that the accident is under investigation.

Volunteers broke ground Tuesday on the last of the 26 playgrounds dedicated to the students and teachers shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The 26th and final playground will be named for school principal Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, who bravely ran toward the barrage of bullets and died protecting her students and staff.

Alongside the Where Angels Play Foundation, Hochsprung's two daughters helped to design the playground in Watertown, the community where her four grandchildren live.

One of the many volunteers to help make the project a reality is the father of a young woman who was also killed protecting her young students.

Carlos Soto's 27-year-old daughter, Victoria, was a teacher at Sandy Hook and died shielding her students from gunfire.

He said he was inspired to help after watching the construction of his daughter's playground. Soto charged batteries for the workers on Tuesday and cheered them on.

"From something ugly that happened, something beautiful is coming out of it," Soto said.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place on Oct. 5.

Your child could be going to school close to a potential chemical catastrophe, according to a new report by the nonprofit Center for Effective Government.

Almost one third of all students in the country could be in harm's way because they attend school near hazardous facilities, like chemical factories and refineries, according to government data analyzed by the center.

While uncommon, industrial facility accidents could cause explosions or release chemicals that kill anyone within a so-called “vulnerability zone.”

In San Diego County, a big concern is water treatment plants.

There are 20 schools with 12,000 students near the Miramar Water Treatment Plant, which uses chlorine gas.

The Escondido/Vista Water Treatment Plant puts the most local students at risk, sitting near 33 schools. On site, workers store 80,000 pounds of chlorine gas.

“The main risk we saw in San Diego was actually from three different natural gas plants that used about 20,000 pounds of anhydrous-ammonium, which is very dangerous,” said Sean Moulton, the director for the Center for Effective Government.

He is referring to the Naval Station Energy Facility and energy plants at North Island and Naval Training Center/Marine Corps Recruit Depot. Together, they put between 3,000 and 5,000 students at risk, according to Moulton.

Throughout the county, 149 of the 984 schools are in 21vulnerability zones, potentially threatening 93,000 students out of more than a half a million. Click here to see if your child's school is at risk.

Moulton said they began looking into this issue after a fertilizer plant exploded in West, Texas, killing 15 people and destroying 150 buildings – including three schools.

“The federal government is trying to figure out what to do in the wake of West, Texas, so people need to get engaged and tell the EPA we need a requirement for companies to use the safest alternatives that are practical,” said Moulton.

A spokesperson for the Environmental Protection Agency said they are helping local agencies with risk assessment, prevention and response plans.

After coming oh-so-close through the first three games, the Chargers defense was finally able to break through with a pair of interceptions on Sunday.

Safety Eric Weddle and cornerback Brandon Flowers each had a pick in the 33-14 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, as the team forced three turnovers without committing any. That brings the team’s turnover ratio to a sparking plus-five through the first quarter of the season.

“Creating three turnovers was big,” Chargers coach Mike McCoy said. “On the back end, we really didn’t give up too many plays.”

Both interceptions came at critical times. Flowers’ pick came on the first defensive series of the second half. He jumped Cecil Shorts’ route at midfield, stepping in front of the pass and taking it back into Jaguars territory.

Weddle’s came midway through the fourth quarter as Jacksonville drove into Bolts territory, squelching the last chance the Jags had to get back into the game.

“When we had a chance to make plays, we made plays,” said Flowers. “I made it my duty to get one today.”

After Sunday’s catch, he now has 18 interceptions in his seven-year career. Defending Shorts – the Jags’ top receiver – for most of the day, Flowers played in all but three defensive snaps.

“Show ‘em one thing and play another,” he said of his strategy on the play.

The first confirmed case of Ebola in the United States immediately sparked concerns about who may have been exposed, and helped shed light on how the potentially deadly virus is, and isn't, spread.

Ebola can only be spread by infected people who show symptoms, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. If an exposed person does not develop symptoms within 21 days of exposure, the person will not become sick with Ebola, according to the CDC.

"There is no risk to people who have been in contact with those who have been sick with Ebola and recovered, or people who have been exposed and have not yet shown symptoms," the CDC's director Dr. Thomas Frieden explained Tuesday, after confirming that a patient in Dallas had tested positive.

That patient recently flew to the United States from Liberia, one of the West African countries now grappling with a deadly Ebola outbreak. Because he showed no signs of sickness until four days after landing in the U.S., however, officials are not worried about travelers who were on the plane with him.

The initial spread of the Ebola virus to humans is unknown, although researchers believe that "patient zero" in the recent West Africa outbreak became infected through contact with an infected animal, possibly a bat, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Once a person is infected, the CDC said there are several ways Ebola can spread to other people via direct contact with:

• Blood or body fluids of a person who is sick with or has died from Ebola, including but not limited to urine, saliva, feces, vomit and semen
• Objects contaminated with the virus, like syringes or other medical equipment
• Infected animals, by contact with blood or fluids or infected meat

Direct contact through broken skin or mucus membranes is key, as the CDC said Ebola cannot be spread through the air or by water or food. However, that may not have been the case in some cases in Africa, where Ebola may have been spread through the handling of wild animals hunted for food and contact with infected bats, according to the CDC.

The following symptoms can appear from two to 21 days after exposure:

• Fever
• Headache
• Diarrhea
• Vomiting
• Stomach pain
• Unexplained bleeding or bruising
• Muscle pain

Generally, after 21 days, if an exposed person has not developed symptoms, he or she will not become sick, the CDC said.

However, the Ebola virus has been found in semen for up to three months after exposure, so those who have recovered from the virus are advised not to have sex, or else only to have sex using condoms, during that time, according to the CDC.

California Gov. Jerry Brown signed the nation's first statewide ban on single-use plastic bags Tuesday.

The measure, first proposed by Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of Los Angeles, would prohibit single-use plastic bags at grocery stores and large pharmacies in 2015 and at convenience stores in 2016.

It includes $2 million in loans to help manufacturers shift to producing reusable bags and lets grocers charge 10 cents each for paper and reusable bags.

The bill had sparked one of the most contentious debates in the last weeks of the legislative session, with aggressive lobbying by environmentalists and bag manufacturers.

Moments after Brown signed the measure, the American Progressive Bag Alliance called it a “back room deal between grocers and union bosses to scam California consumers out of billions of dollars without providing any public benefit – all under the guise of environmentalism.”

The group plans to launch a referendum effort for the November 2016 ballot to repeal the measure.

San Diegan Laura Quinn-Stalker had mixed feelings about the news.

“Although I reuse my plastic bags constantly and will miss that,” she posted to NBC 7’s Facebook page, “I think this is important to do.”

“Won't see a dime saved in my pocket. Now, I have to buy garbage bags,” Oxnard resident Wade Wilson posted.

For years, a statewide plastic bag ban has been an elusive goal for lawmakers trying to reduce the buildup of plastic waste in oceans and waterways that costs millions of dollars to cleanup.

About 100 local jurisdictions in California already have adopted similar bans, including Los Angeles and San Francisco.

California became the first state to impose basic requirements for pet insurance Tuesday under a new law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown.

AB 2056 requires pet insurers to disclose basic information about their policies like reimbursement benefits and pre-existing condition restrictions. It also forces insurance companies to give customers a 30-day “free look” period, during which they can return their policy for a full refund.

The pet insurers – who will be part of a $750 million industry by 2015 – must offer a clear explanation of coverage limits such as coinsurance, waiting periods and deductibles.

The California Department of Insurance, a supporter of the law, says the changes address a growing number of complaints they have fielded about the industry. Policyholders have told the CDI they need help paying for sick or injured pets because they learned too late that their policy’s exclusions outweigh the benefits.

For example, CDI officials cite the experience of California resident Gary Lucks, who bought pet insurance after reading marketing materials advertising a 90 percent reimbursement rate. In reality, his insurer only covered 90 percent of the plan’s benefit schedule allowance.

When his dog was diagnosed and treated for cancer, Lucks was only reimbursed one third of the cost.

The CDI says AB 2056 will help pet owners like Lucks make better decisions by understanding what they are getting for their money.

“In the state with the largest number of insured pets, once again California is leading the way by becoming the first state in the nation to enact a law that adds consumer protections to this rapidly growing line of insurance,” said Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones.

A similar measure crossed former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk during his tenure, but he vetoed it. In July, the latest version passed the state Assembly with a unanimous vote.

Only about 1 percent of pet owners in the U.S. hold insurance policies, and Americans spend more than $15 billion every year on veterinary care, the CDI reports.

San Diego’s largest school district has announced it will return a controversial armored vehicle, but it’s not that simple.

On Wednesday, the San Diego Unified School District will file paperwork to return the Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle. The district received the vehicle through the Department of Defense 1033 program, which gives state and local law enforcement agencies surplus military equipment that might have been destroyed otherwise.

With its ability ram through buildings and tear down walls, the district said the MRAP could be used to reach victims during a school shooting or other emergency. However, officials have decided to return the vehicle after public backlash.

“I really do not feel schools have any business having military equipment on hand,” Point Loma resident Ruby Beardsley said.

“The decision to send it back was based around community sentiment and the fact that we want to be sensitive to what our community is thinking and believing as it relates to police,” said SDUSD Chief of Police Rueben Littlejohn.

“The value that this piece of equipment, this defensive tool, would bring does not outweigh the need for community confidence and public trust,” Littlejohn said.

It seems the San Diego Unified School District isn’t alone. According to SDUSD, the Department of Defense has a backlog of requests from other school districts trying to return their equipment obtained through the 1033 program. A report in the Washington Post found at least 120 schools, colleges and universities have received these military hand-me-downs, which include M16 rifles and grenade launchers.

The 1033 program came under the microscope after the tensions in Ferguson, Missouri. Police were seen with armored vehicles and assault weapons at rallies for Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager shot and killed by an officer.

The MRAP will remain in San Diego until the Department of Defense decides where it should go next, SDUSD Chief of Police Rueben Littlejohn told NBC 7 on Sept. 19. Littlejohn said the district will not have to pay the shipping costs to send the vehicle to its next owner.
 

A 15-year-old boy with an ax prompted a manhunt Tuesday in Scripps Ranch.

The incident started in the 11000 block of Red Cedar Drive. According to the San Diego Police Department, the teenager got into a fight with his family and started using an ax on the house. Then, he fled.

SDPD launched its ABLE helicopter to help find the teen. Officers located him in the canyon behind Jerebek Elementary School, not far from his home.

The boy is in custody and faces battery and vandalism charges, police said.

Jerebek Elementary School was placed on a short lockdown during the ordeal.

A person who moved from Liberia to Dallas a week ago has tested positive for Ebola, becoming the first person diagnosed in the U.S. with the potentially deadly virus, the City of Dallas confirmed Tuesday.

The patient was hospitalized at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on Sunday after falling ill four days earlier, on Sept. 24.

The Dallas Fire-Rescue ambulance crew who transported the infected man to the hospital is being quarantined and monitored for Ebola symptoms, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings told NBC 5, and the ambulance used to transport the man has been pulled from service.

The number of people in the DFR crew being monitored is not known.

After receiving the Ebola diagnosis, the city activated its Emergency Operations Center and is on Level 2: High Readiness.

The patient showed no symptoms of the virus when he left Liberia on Sept. 19 and arrived in the U.S. a day later, according to CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden.

There was no risk to any fellow airline passengers because the man had no symptoms when he was traveling, Frieden said.

The patient didn't begin developing symptoms of the virus until Sept. 24 and sought care on Friday. He was hospitalized the following Sunday and placed in isolation.

According to the City of Dallas, the patient had moved to Dallas a week ago.

Earlier, officials said the patient came to Dallas to visit family. It is unclear what the unidentified man's nationality is.

At this time, state and federal health officials said there are no other confirmed or suspected cases of Ebola virus in the state.

The CDC is working to identify and monitor all the people who may have come into contact with the patient while he was infectious. Those people, like the DFR fire crew, will be monitored for 21 days for Ebola symptoms.

Should symptoms develop, those patients too will be isolated, and investigators will then determine who they came into contact with and monitor those people for symptoms.

"I have no doubt that we will control this importation or this case of the Ebola so that it does not spread widely in this country. It is certainly possible that someone who had contact with this individual, a family member, or other individual, could develop Ebola in the coming weeks, but there is no doubt in my mind that we will stop it here," said Frieden.

The Ebola diagnosis was confirmed Tuesday after specimens were sent from Presbyterian Hospital to the Texas public health laboratory in Austin, the Texas Department of State Health Services said Tuesday.

The Austin lab, which was certified last month to test for Ebola, confirmed the result and sent the sample to the CDC in Atlanta, which confirmed it.

President Barack Obama was briefed about the diagnosis in a call from Frieden, the White House said.

Word of the infection alarmed the local Liberian community.

"People have been calling, trying to find out if anybody knows the family," said Stanley Gaye, president of the Liberian Community Association of Dallas-Fort Worth. "We've been telling people to try to stay away from social gatherings."

Dallas Patient the Fifth Ebola Patient Treated in U.S. This Year

The patient is the fifth person treated for Ebola in the country this year after missionaries Dr. Kent Brantly, Nancy Writebol and Dr. Rick Sacra all contracted the virus while working in West Africa.

The Dallas patient will continue to be treated at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas, according to Dr. Edward Goodman, hospital epidemiologist at Presbyterian.

Both Brantly and Writebol have fully recovered, after they were given experimental drugs and were treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta in August.  

Sacra was treated at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and was released Sept. 25. He had been working in Liberia on behalf of SIM.

The identity and condition of the fourth patient has not been released. It is believed that they are still being treated at Emory Hospital.

Writebol issued a statement Tuesday after learning of the new diagnosis in Dallas on Tuesday.

"We are sad for the family of the patient and pray for recovery to good health. It is a mercy that the best medical care is available. We also pray for the safety of the medical staff attending to the patient," she said.

How is Ebola Spread?

Ebola is a severe, often fatal disease spread through close, direct contact with blood or other bodily fluids of a living or dead person who had contracted Ebola. The virus is only contagious when symptoms are present, and it is not spread through the air, through food or water.

Symptoms for Ebola virus involve a fever, severe headache, muscle pain, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain and unexplained hemorrhage. Symptoms appear anywhere from two to 21 days after exposure but the average is eight to 10 days.

If someone exposed to Ebola has not shown symptoms for 21 days they are not expected to develop Ebola.

According to the CDC, recovery from Ebola depends on the patient's immune response. People who recover from Ebola infection develop antibodies that last for about 10 years.

The CDC said the United States is well-equipped to manage and treat Ebola and that the chances of an outbreak like the one in West Africa is extremely low.

NBC 5's Ben Russell and Scott Gordon contributed to this report.

The defunct Revel Casino Hotel in Atlantic City will reopen as another casino, a spokesman for Brookfield Property Partners parent company said Wednesday, hours after the firm was declared the winning bidder.

"Our expertise is running casino, hotel properties," said Andrew Willis of Brookfield Asset Management, which operates the Hard Rock Casino & Hotel in Las Vegas and the Atlantis Paradise Island resort in the Bahamas.

Revel officials declared Brookfield Property Partners the winning bidder Tuesday after the Toronto-based company upped their offer to $110 million late Tuesday.

Willis declined to discuss specifics about Brookfield's plan for the property, but did share its expectation for "synergies" between its future Atlantic City casino, Las Vegas' Hard Rock and the Atlantis.

The casino, which cost $2.4 billion to build, opened in 2012 and closed Sept. 2 after filing for its second bankruptcy in June.

"[Revel] and its advisors determined that Brookfield's bid was the highest and the best bid received," a Revel spokeswoman said in a statement. "The company intends to move forward promptly ... to seek approval of the sale."

The sale hearing is scheduled for Oct. 7.

Revel selected Polo North Country Club Inc. as the backup based on its $95.4 million offer, the statement said.

Brookfield first pledged $94 million and then $98 million as it competed with other bidders, like Polo and a real estate developer -- Glenn Straub, for ownership of the bankrupt casino.

Initially Straub appeared to be the only party interested in acquiring Revel, offering $90 million before the bankruptcy auction was even scheduled.

Ahead of the auction, Straub spoke about his ambitious plan to turn the closed casino into a university that would serve ideally "white and over 21" students  -- apparently Straub's way of describing someone with no financial obligations, Reuters reported.

The auction, which began last Wednesday, was suspended that afternoon due to the approaching Rosh Hashanah holiday. It resumed Tuesday.

The bidding process frustrated Straub, who said he waited around for six hours on Sept. 24, "but nothing happened."

He asked the judge to delay the auction, claiming Revel's attorneys failed to keep a promise to share information about other bids they received. A Revel spokeswoman declined to comment on Straub's complaint.

The court refused to suspend the auction, but a hearing was scheduled on Straub's objection for Oct. 20.

Sandy Hook Elementary School in Monroe, Connecticut, was evacuated Wednesday morning after a bomb threat was called in and students were dismissed around noon.

Supt. Dr. Joseph Erardi said at a public meeting Wednesday evening that a secretary took the call shortly after 9:30 a.m.

Due to the "uniqueness of the call," Erardi said, the school was evacuated to the Jockey Hollow building on campus around 10:45 a.m. and parents were notified through reverse 911 calls.

Teachers told students they were practicing an evacuation drill. The children were sent home at noon and parents were urged to disclose only the necessary details to their kids.

Erardi said teachers will acknowledge the early dismissal in school Thursday morning and will "make sure kids feel safe" but will not go into detail about the incident.

Officials did not elaborate on the phone call or the timing of the evacuation and dismissal. Town officials said in a statement Wednesday that the incident was considered "no threat-low threat," but the superintendent acted out of an abundance of caution. 

"All students and staff are safe," First Selectman Patricia Llodra said in the statement.

Students were brought to the neighboring Jockey Hollow school to await dismissal. The building and grounds were checked, and authorities found no evidence of an actual threat.

"Although there was little to no danger at any time with the alleged threat the decision was made to make sure that every precautionary step had been taken for the safety of the Sandy Hook staff members and students," Erardi said in a statement Wednesday. "This same decision would have been made for all other Newtown school."

Students from the Sandy Hook School have been going to classes in the former Chalk Hill School in Monroe since January 2013, weeks after a gunman killed 20 first graders and six staff members during a rampage in their Newtown school.

Police said the building in Monroe has been cleared for students to return at the start of the school day Thursday. No students are in danger, Erardi said.

The Newtown Recovery & Resiliency Team will provide counselors to parents and students who "experience emotional reactions and concerns" starting tomorrow between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at 28 Trades Lane. Call 203-270-4612 for information on after-hours appointments.

Architects have designed plans to build a new school on the Newtown site, but construction has not started. It is expected to begin in spring 2015.

The investigation is ongoing.

Kristin Davis, the former madam and candidate for governor and New York City comptroller, was sentenced Wednesday to two years in jail after she pleaded guilty to illegally distributing prescription pills, the U.S. Attorney said.

Davis was arrested in August 2013 for selling hundreds of powerful painkillers and other prescription pills to a drug dealer wearing a wire, federal authorities said.

According to the United States Attorney's Office, Davis sold drugs on several occasions to an FBI cooperating witness between January and March.

Davis, 38, pleaded guilty in March to one count of distributing and possessing with intent to distribute controlled substances, specifically alprazolam, zolpidem and carisoprodol.

Davis was one of several people charged as part of an investigation conducted by the FBI, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, the NYPD and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The once long-shot Libertarian candidate is perhaps best known for claiming to have gotten call girls for former Gov. Eliot Spitzer before a prostitution scandal forced him from office. But the claims have never been proven.

Before she was arrested, Davis was running for New York City comptroller against Spitzer and former Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who went on to win the election.