Christchurch officials posted to the Facebook page looking for Samuel Evan Lake, as he had a warrant out for his arrest.

A man who commented on his own "wanted" post on the Christchurch Police Department Facebook page has been found and arrested.

The New Zealand officials posted to the Facebook page looking for Samuel Evan Lake, as he had a warrant out for his arrest. A Facebook user, Sam Lake, then commented on the wanted poster with, "I need to get a new mugshot."

Christchurch police responded to the comment with, "Come and see us and will arrange at no cost." Shortly after, Lake shot back with, "If only they were as good at finding me as they were with comebacks."

Criminal responds to own wanted poster on Facebook, is caught by police hours later pic.twitter.com/CONwsjWGRu

— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) October 19, 2014

TVNZ reports that Lake posted a Photoshopped version of the mugshot with Ben Stiller's "Zoolander" replacing his own face.

The Facebook posts by both Lake and the police department collected hundreds of likes. The post has since been taken down from the page, however Christchurch police posted, "Thanks to everyone for their help locating Mr LAKE in Wellington tonight!"

Police haven't verified if Lake's Facebook account is authentic, TVNZ adds.

 

One is a building with bars. The other is a building with a bar. A very drunk woman apparently had trouble telling them apart and ended up in a southwestern Michigan jail cell.

MLive.com File Photo 

PAW PAW, Mich. -- One is a building with bars. The other is a building with a bar. A very drunk woman apparently had trouble telling them apart and ended up in a southwestern Michigan jail cell.

The Van Buren County sheriff's department says a 39-year-old woman mistook the Van Buren County jail for the bar where she was trying to pick up her boyfriend.

The department says Deputy Robert Miersma spotted the Hartford-area woman backing into the jail parking lot in Paw Paw about 2 a.m. Sunday and noticed she smelled of alcohol and appeared intoxicated.

It says a breath test showed her with more than twice the 0.08 percent blood alcohol considered drunk in Michigan. She's expected to face drunken driving charges.

Paw Paw is about 15 miles west-southwest of Kalamazoo.

Empire State Marathon and Half Marathon complete results in a searchable database: Find out how your relative, friend, co-worker did.

More than 1,500 runners came out to compete Sunday in the fourth annual Empire State Marathon and Half Marathon in Syracuse.

The day featured a marathon, a marathon relay and a half-marathon. All three races started and finished in front of NBT Bank Stadium; the course ran along Onondaga Lake.

It was a chilly day for runners and race volunteers. The temperatures hovered around 41 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

Top runners
Marathon
Male: J. Matthew Medeiros, Saranac: 2:42:28
Female: Rachel Karmen, Boston, MA: 3:13:24

Half-marathon
Male:Jeff Mogavero, Canton: 1:16:05
Female: Laura Anderson, Rochester: 1:28:44

Marathon relay
Male: ROB & THE OTHER GUY (Robert Bauer, Todd Carville) 3:23:31
Female: HEART AND SOLE (Elizabeth Saarie, Karen Beckman, Kristen Johnson, Kristin Mullally): 3:27:1
Mixed: GAZELLA MIXED UP (Reem Jishi, Christopher Baker, Heather McClanahan, David Odell): 3:25:47

Complete relay results for 2014

Complete results
(Times are courtesy of Leone Timing and Results.)

Story, photo, relay results 2013

Numerous fire departments are responding to the Cayuga County Correctional Facility.

MORAVIA, N.Y. -- A fire reported Sunday evening at the Cayuga County Correctional Facility in Moravia has forced the state prison to evacuate, 911 officials said.

A fire in a laundry room at the medium-security prison, at 2202 state Route 38A in the town of Moravia, was reported at 5:04 p.m. Sunday. E-911 officials said numerous fire departments are responding and an evacuation is in progress. No injuries have been reported.

Check back for updates.

The Dayton Daily News reports 47-year-old Lisa Flynt was ejected from her car Friday afternoon after it turned in front of a tractor-trailer. A 24-year-old female passenger suffered minor injuries.

DAYTON, Ohio -- The daughter of Hustler publisher Larry Flynt has been seriously injured in an Ohio car accident and is hospitalized in critical condition.

The Dayton Daily News reports 47-year-old Lisa Flynt was ejected from her car Friday afternoon after it turned in front of a tractor-trailer. A 24-year-old female passenger suffered minor injuries.

The newspaper says police searched the bar where the women are believed to have been before the accident.

Lisa Flynt lives in the Dayton suburb Huber Heights. Her brother says doctors are trying to determine the extent of her cranial injuries.

Their father began as an Ohio strip club owner. He has built Hustler into an adult entertainment empire while championing First Amendment rights. He was shot by a sniper in 1978 and was paralyzed from the waist down.

Pope Francis on Sunday beatified Pope Paul VI, concluding the remarkable meeting of bishops debating family issues that drew parallels to the tumultuous reforms of the Second Vatican Council which Paul oversaw and implemented.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis on Sunday beatified Pope Paul VI, concluding the remarkable meeting of bishops debating family issues that drew parallels to the tumultuous reforms of the Second Vatican Council which Paul oversaw and implemented.

Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI was on hand for the Mass, which took place just hours after Catholic bishops approved a document charting a more pastoral approach to ministering to Catholic families.

They failed to reach consensus on the two most divisive issues at the synod: on welcoming gays and divorced and civilly remarried couples. But the issues remain up for discussion ahead of another meeting of bishops next year.

While the synod scrapped its ground-breaking welcome and showed deep divisions on hot-button issues, the fact that the questions are on the table is significant given that they had been taboo until Francis' papacy.

"God is not afraid of new things!" Francis exclaimed in his homily Sunday. "That is why he is continually surprising us, opening our hearts and guiding us in unexpected ways."

He quoted Paul himself as saying the church, particularly the synod of bishops which Paul established, must survey the signs of the times to make sure the church adapts methods to respond to the "growing needs of our time and the changing conditions of society."

Paul was elected in 1963 to succeed the popular Pope John XXIII, and during his 15-year reign was responsible for implementing the reforms of Vatican II and charting the church through the tumultuous years of the 1960s sexual revolution.

Vatican II opened the way for Mass to be said in local languages instead of in Latin, called for greater involvement of the laity in the life of the church and revolutionized the church's relations with people of other faiths.

He is perhaps best known, though, for the divisive 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, which enshrined the church's opposition to artificial contraception.

More than 50 years later, Humanae Vitae still elicits criticism for being unrealistic given the vast majority of Catholics ignore its teaching on birth control. In their final synod document, bishops restated doctrine, but they also said the church must respect couples in their moral evaluation of contraception methods.

The bishops also signaled a muted opening toward gays, saying they should be "welcomed with respect and sensitivity." That language was far less welcoming than initially proposed, and it failed to get the necessary two-thirds majority vote to pass.

"I have the impression many would have preferred a more open, positive language," Canadian Archbishop Paul-Andre Durocher wrote on his blog in explaining the apparent protest vote on the gay paragraph. "Not finding it in this paragraph, they might have chosen to indicate their disapproval of it. However, it has also been published, and the reflection will have to continue."

The beatification marked the third 20th century pope Francis has elevated this year: In April, he canonized Sts. John Paul II and John XXIII. That historic event marked the first time a reigning and retired pope -- Francis and Benedict -- had celebrated Mass together in public in the 2,000-year history of the church.

Benedict returned to the steps of St. Peter's Basilica for Paul's outdoor beatification Mass in a potent symbol of the continuity of the church, despite differences in style and priorities that were so evident in the synod meetings this week.

Paul was beatified, the first step toward possible sainthood, after the Vatican certified a miracle attributed to his intercession concerning a California boy whom doctors had said would be born with serious birth defects. The boy, whose identity has been kept secret at his parents' request, is now a healthy teen.

A second miracle needs to be certified by the Vatican for him to be canonized.

The Vatican said 70,000 people attended Sunday's Mass, held under sunny Roman skies, far fewer than the 800,000 people who attended the dual canonization earlier this year. Paul is often called the "forgotten" or "misunderstood" pope, caught between the "good pope" John XXIII and the crowd-pleasing, globe-trotting John Paul.

Syracuse police and Rural Metro Ambulance responded to a shooting in the 600 block of South Geddes Street.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Syracuse police are responding Sunday night to a report of someone shot in the chest in the 600 block of South Geddes Street, Onondaga County 911 confirmed.

Someone called 911 at 6:56 p.m. to report the shooting. Syracuse police and Rural Metro Ambulance responded to South Geddes Street, between Shonnard and Seymour streets in the city.

Check back for updates.

A man was shot in Sakran Plaza on South Geddes Street, Syracuse.

Syracuse police investigate a shooting Sunday night at Sakran Plaza in the 600 block of South Geddes Street, Syracuse.Catie O'Toole | cotoole@syracuse.com 

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Bullets rang out Sunday night on South Geddes Street in Syracuse, piercing a hole in the glass door of one business and striking a man outside another local business, authorities said.

Rural Metro Ambulance took the man to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, officials said. Syracuse police were told the bullet may have struck the man in the lower chest area and his injuries are considered serious, but they were waiting to learn more about condition Sunday night.

Officers wrapped yellow "Do Not Cross" police tape around the entire Sakran Plaza parking lot at 600 S. Geddes St. after the shooting was reported shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday.

Investigators took photographs of the scene, which included a bullet hole in the glass door of N.Y. Sportswear & Sneakers, and debris on the sidewalk outside Geddes Plaza Groceries, near where emergency responders tried to help the wounded man.

Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler briefly stopped by the scene to talk to investigators. He said police expect to release more information soon. Syracuse police remained at the scene after 9:30 p.m.

Check back for updates.

A small fire broke out Sunday evening in the laundry room at the Cayuga County Correctional Facility in Moravia.

MORAVIA, N.Y. -- Hours after a small fire broke out in the laundry room of the Cayuga County Correctional Facility, prison officials said the approximately 1,000 inmates were not evacuated.

Instead, the inmates remained in the medium-security state prison, at 2202 state Route 38A in the town of Moravia, after someone called 911 at 5:04 p.m. Sunday to report the fire, officials said. Cayuga County 911 said "numerous" fire departments responded, including Moravia volunteer firefighters. The fire was in the Moravia fire district; Moravia's assistant fire chief Sunday night referred all comments to the state Department of Corrections.

A captain at the Cayuga County Correctional Facility said Sunday night the inmates were not evacuated and no one was injured. He referred all other questions to the state Department of Correctional Services' public information officer in Albany, who could not be reached for comment Sunday night.

Dustin Lenhart, 22, and Joseph Briggs, 21, were stabbed. Briggs had a collapsed lung and is in serious condition at Upstate University Hospital, police said.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Syracuse police say two men were stabbed Sunday after another man tried to collect a gambling debt.

The suspect went to 402 Highland St. around 3:30 p.m. Sunday to collect the "gambling debt" from 22-year-old Dustin Lenhart, Syracuse police Sgt. Thomas Connellan said in a news release. But then Lenhart and the suspect got into a fight inside the home, and the suspect pulled out a knife during the fight, Connellan said in the release. That's when Lenhart's friend, Joseph Briggs, 21, jumped in to help him, the release said.

The suspect stabbed Briggs once in the left side. Briggs, of Syracuse, suffered a collapsed lung. He was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center, but then transferred to Upstate University Hospital. He was in serious, but stable condition Sunday night, police said.

Lenhart, of Syracuse, was cut on the lip. He also received a small cut on the arm, city police said.

The suspect is described as a light-skinned black man with a tall, thin build. Police say the victims know the suspect.

Anyone with information can call Syracuse police at (315) 442-5222.

Syracuse University also recently rescinded an invitation because the guest speaker had been in Liberia covering the Ebola crisis.

ATHENS, Ga. -- Ebola concerns have prompted the University of Georgia to postpone a guest lecture by a Liberian journalist.

Officials said in a release that Washington Post reporter Todd Frankel will replace Wade C.L. Williams as a guest speaker during a lecture on the crisis at the university on Thursday.

Front Page Africa 

Williams' visit was postponed because she's within a 21-day incubation period for the virus "and we didn't feel like that was safe for our students," UGA spokeswoman Sarah Freeman said. "It's certainly a hope that we will have her in the future," she said.

Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluid, such as getting an infected person's blood or vomit into the eyes or through a cut in the skin, not through the air, experts have said. And people infected with Ebola aren't contagious until they start showing symptoms, such as fever, body aches or stomach pain, research shows.

Syracuse University also recently rescinded an invitation for Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post photojournalist Michel DuCille to speak at a workshop because he had been in Liberia covering the Ebola crisis. There, school officials consulted with county health officials, who supported their decision to cancel his visit. DuCille said he returned more than 21 days ago and is symptom free.

UGA officials said that Frankel and three other writers are also scheduled to speak about what journalistic courage means during a symposium at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Matt Ficarra achieved his goal of walking down the aisle with his bride at his wedding Saturday night at the Doubletree Hotel in DeWitt. Watch video

The night Frank Ficarra learned his son, Matt, had broken his neck after a freak boating accident in 2011, he was devastated.

"He wasn't given a very good prognosis then, and when he was lying in that hospital bed, I wasn't sure he would ever improve,'' Frank Ficarra said. "I didn't think he'd ever be able to live on his own again."

It took months of hard work for Matt Ficarra, now 30, to learn how to dress himself and use a fork, his dad said. "He promised me then he would somehow walk again," recalled Frank Ficarra.

Saturday night, Matt Ficarra achieved that goal. He walked down the aisle at his wedding with his new wife Jordan Basile, 27. He was aided by a high-tech robotic device called an Ekso, which straps to his body and allows him to walk and stand for short periods.

The Baldwinsville man broke his neck and was paralyzed from the neck down after the 2011 boating accident when he jumped off the boat not realizing he was in shallow water. In the three years since then, he's spent many long hours in rehabilitation and physical therapy to re-learn many basic life skills such as eating and dressing.

When Matt Ficarra got engaged in December, he told his father and fiancee he would not roll the down the aisle in a wheelchair at his wedding.

"I told myself that I would walk with my bride down the aisle,'' Matt Ficarra said.

Ficarra has driven seven hours each week to and from the Good Shepherd Rehabiltation Network in Allentown, Pa. to practice with the Ekso. At first, he could walk only a few steps, but he progressed to the point that he would walk a mile.

Good Shepherd therapists transported the Ekso to Syracuse for the rehearsal Friday night, and then strapped Ficarra into the device Saturday night for the 5:30 p.m. wedding at the Doubletree Hotel in East Syracuse.

Ficarra walked into the hotel ballroom alongside his dad to applause. He then stood during the vows, exchange of rings, proclamation of husband and wife and the first kiss as a married couple. He then turned and walked down the aisle with his new wife beside him. Behind him were two physical therapists who walk behind him just to make sure he was safe.

Family and friends clapped, tears flowed and cameras recorded the special moment. Matt and Jordan Ficarra then stood for photos before Ficarra's Ekso was taken off and he returned to his wheelchair.

The couple flew out this morning to Sandals in Jamaica for a week-long honeymoon.

"I'm so happy to be married,'' Matt Ficarra said.

His dad, Frank, also is happy for his son - and so very proud.

"He pushed himself and he worked hard,'' Frank Ficarra said. "He doesn't give up on anything."

To help Ficarra buy an Ekso for himself, go to his You Caring site.

 

Rain is possible at times this week.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- It's going to be chilly this week in Central New York.

A low-pressure system is moving through the Great Lakes, which will bring more clouds to the area on Monday and rain on Tuesday "and for much of the week," according to the National Weather Service.

Your forecast

• Today: Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of rain after 3 p.m. Southwest wind 7 mph to 10 mph. High near 56.
• Tonight: Cloudy with a 60 percent chance of rain, mainly after midnight. South wind 6 mph to 8 mph. Low around 44.
• Tuesday: Cloudy with a 60 percent chance of rain. Light and variable wind around 6 mph in the afternoon. High near 58. Low around 44.
• Wednesday: Cloudy with a 40 percent chance of rain during the day and a 60 percent chance of rain at night. High near 52. Low around 42.
• Thursday: Cloudy with a 60 percent chance of rain. High near 52. Low around 46.
• Friday:Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of rain. High near 55. Low around 46.

The weekend

• Saturday: Partly sunny. High near 59. Low around 44.
• Sunday: Mostly sunny. High near 54.

You can also follow us on Facebook or visit http://www.syracuse.com/weather/ for more on the weather.

To send in weather info, or especially photos: Use the Twitter or Instagram hashtag: #cnyweather Also, please let us know where the images are located.

Police said Kelsey Smith, 20, was arrested on charges of assault and acting in a manner injurious to a child less than 17 years old.

NEW YORK -- A man was under arrest Sunday in the beating death of his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter, whose 5-year-old brother also was assaulted.

Jeida Torres, 3, is seen in an undated family photo.WCBS-TV 

The girl was beaten after she accidentally  went to the bathroom in her pants, police told the Daily News.

Police were called by someone who reported bloodcurdling screams coming from a Brooklyn apartment. They found the girl, Jeida Torres, unconscious and unresponsive Saturday afternoon when they entered the apartment, which is part of a homeless shelter.

The girl was rushed to a hospital in cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead there, a fire department spokesman said. Her brother was hospitalized in stable condition.

Police said Kelsey Smith, 20, was arrested on charges of assault and acting in a manner injurious to a child less than 17-years-old. It wasn't clear if he had a lawyer.

Smith was taken into police custody later Saturday in Queens and was hospitalized in stable condition. Police did not say why Smith was in the hospital nor did they reveal his injuries.

Neighbor Keith Best said the boy had big bruises on his face and arms. He said the children's mother and grandfather sobbed when they arrived home and found out what had happened.

Kimberly Amidon is facing at least a couple years in prison, but the more she pays back, the shorter her punishment will be. Watch video

Manlius, NY -- We should know today how much money former Manlius court clerk Kimberly Amidon can pay back of the $198,397 she admitted stealing.

Amidon, 46, is guaranteed to spend at least a couple years in prison for the thefts in 2011 and 2012. But the more she can pay back, the shorter her prison sentence will be.

She was supposed to be sentenced a month ago, but got a reprieve to continue working on her debt. If she pays back all the money, she faces 2 1/3 to 7 years in prison. If she pays back nothing, she faces 4 to 12 years in prison.

Amidon has been working as a waitress and doing other jobs in a bid to repay as much money as possible, her lawyer, Robert Durr, has said. In addition to the stolen bail money, she also must pay the state $14,699 in back taxes on the stolen money.

Restitution will go to the Town of Manlius, which was the keeper of the bail money.

She pleaded guilty June 10 after repeated court appearances dating back to late 2013.

These are the top syracuse.com stories for the weekend of Oct. 17-19.

A 34-year-old man was shot in the chest Sunday night in Sakran Plaza on South Geddes Street in Syracuse, police said.

Syracuse police investigate a shooting Sunday night at Sakran Plaza in the 600 block of South Geddes Street, Syracuse.Catie O'Toole | cotoole@syracuse.com 

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A 34-year-old Syracuse man was shot in the chest Sunday night in Sakran Plaza on South Geddes Street, Syracuse police said.

Officers found the man laying on the sidewalk with a gunshot wound to the chest, city police Sgt. Thomas Connellan said in a news release. Police were called to the plaza, in the 600 block of South Geddes Street, to investigate a shooting at 6:50 p.m. Sunday.

The victim, whose name has not been released, was taken to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse. He is in critical, but stable condition Sunday night, Connellan said in the news release.

"There is no suspect information at this time," Connellan said in the release.

Police are continuing to investigate. After the shooting, officers wrapped yellow "Do Not Cross" police tape around the entire Sakran Plaza parking lot. Investigators took photographs of the scene, which included a bullet hole in the glass door of N.Y. Sportswear & Sneakers, and debris on the sidewalk outside Geddes Plaza Groceries, near where emergency responders tried to help the wounded man.

Anyone with information about the shooting can call Syracuse police at (315) 442-5222.

Even though Central New Yorkers don't have a say in the state Senate elections, the outcome could affect the Syracuse region.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The state's Republican Party is in a fight for its life to keep control of its last source of power in state government: The New York State Senate.

Central New York voters will have no say in the matter. The region's six senators are all unopposed.

That means voters in a handful of districts near Buffalo and Albany and across the Hudson Valley likely will decide whether the Republicans retain control of the Senate - or whether two Democratic factions will join forces to control the chamber and put the entire New York State Legislature into the party's hands.

And that shift would affect Central New York greatly.

First, a Democratic-controlled Senate would tip political power decidedly toward Downstate. There are 63 Senate seats in New York. Only eight Democratic senators currently represent Upstate districts, and three of those are one-term incumbents facing tough re-election battles in a non-presidential year.

Second, a flip in Senate control could alter the influence Syracuse's two senators now wield as members of the chamber's current majority coalition.

That's why Sens. David Valesky, D-Oneida, and John DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse, have been following these races closely, even conferring with each other in DeFrancisco's Syracuse office over how various candidates are doing.

"We talk about it all the time," DeFrancisco said. He said the two have discussed individual races and, in a meeting earlier this month, generally agreed on analyses in key races to that point.

Both senators also agree no one knows where Valesky's Independent Democratic Conference will end up after Nov. 4 - standing alone, siding with other Senate Democrats or recommitting to another partnership with the Republican Senate.

"It's like businessmen, giving to both sides of the campaign to hedge their bets," DeFrancisco said. "Everybody is trying to court as many people as they can."

Valesky, D-Oneida, is part of a five-member group now running the Senate with Republicans. If the GOP can't win a majority on its own, the IDC will once again be in a position to pick sides and jointly run the Senate with either side.

The IDC pledged this summer to partner with fellow Democrats to recapture the majority. But Albany watchers agree with DeFrancisco and Valesky that the final outcome of the Senate remains unclear.

"Nothing is certain," said Steven Greenberg, a pollster for Siena College, said this week of the IDC's role in deciding Senate control. "Nothing is written in stone."

For now, two near-certainties are emerging two weeks before Election Day. The Republicans are positioned to win 32 seats, or more, and the majority. The Democrats - without Valesky's IDC - are not.

The pledge

Last summer, under pressure from the left wing of the Democratic Party and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the IDC pledged to partner with the Senate's other Democrats.

"All IDC members are united and agree to work together to form a new majority coalition between the Independent Democratic Conference and the Senate Democratic Conference after the November elections," said Sen. Jeffrey Klein, D-Bronx, the leader of the IDC, in a June 25 statement that shared Cuomo's letterhead.

Valesky said this month the IDC stands behind that pledge - as long as that partnership means the two Democratic factions have enough seats to control the Senate. But he also said there's no guarantee the IDC won't end up in another partnership with the Republicans.

Sen. David Valesky talks with fellow Syracuse-area Sen. John DeFrancisco before the start of a legislative session in 2012. Stephen D. Cannerelli | scannerelli@syracuse.com 

"I can't rule anything out," Valesky said when asked about another coalition between the IDC and the GOP senators.  "And I certainly can't rule that or any other possibility out," he added. "I think it would be presumptuous for me or anyone else to rule out anything at this point in time, before an election takes place."

That careful language could end up angering some Democrats in Central New York.

"He is trying to cover all his bases and not commit and I think that's a real step back," said Joan Mandle, the executive director of Democracy Matters, a group that pushed the IDC to reconnect with the other Democrats in the Senate. "I think it's very opportunistic."

David Kirby chairs the Democrats in Syracuse's powerful 17^th Ward, a key part of Valesky's district. Kirby isn't worried about the pledge. He wants Valesky and the IDC to figure out the best way to represent their districts.

What if that means aligning with the Republicans to stay in the majority? "More power to him," Kirby said.

Valesky, for his part, doesn't fear any backlash from his district about the outcome. "In fact," he said, "if my political decisions as it relates to the Independent Democratic Conference were ruled by fear, then I wouldn't be a part of the conference in the first place."

Contact Teri Weaver anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-470-2274

"But... The war will only end when West Africa is also declared free of Ebola."

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) -- The World Health Organization declared on Monday that Nigeria is free of Ebola, a rare victory in the months-long battle against the fatal disease.

Nigeria's containment of the lethal disease is a "spectacular success story," WHO Country Director Rui Gama Vaz told a news conference in Abuja, Nigeria's capital. Nigeria reported 20 cases of Ebola, including eight deaths. One of those who died was an airline passenger who brought Ebola to Nigeria and died soon after.

The WHO announcement came after 42 days passed -- twice the disease's maximum incubation period -- since the last case in Nigeria tested negative.

"The outbreak in Nigeria has been contained," Vaz said. "But we must be clear that we only won a battle. The war will only end when West Africa is also declared free of Ebola."

WHO said Nigeria had traced nearly every contact of Ebola patients in the country, all of whom were linked to the country's first patient, a Liberian man who arrived with symptoms in Lagos and later died.

For an outbreak to be declared officially over, WHO convenes a committee on surveillance, epidemiology and lab testing to determine that all conditions have been met.

Vaz warned that Nigeria's geographical position and extensive borders makes the country, Africa's most populous, vulnerable to additional imported cases of Eebola.

"Therefore there is need to continue to work together with states to ensure adequate preparedness to rapidly respond, in case of any potential re-importation," he said.

The disease continues to spread rapidly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea and has claimed more than 4,500 lives.

Biden campaigns for Maffei while McCarthy campaigns for Katko, Ohio considers drilling in its state parks, and New York offers most tax breaks of any state in nation.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Some of us had our first flurries of the season on Sunday, others of us simply turned on the heat. Congrats to all that ran to keep warm. You looked great out there.

Vice President Joe Biden is in New York today, first with Gov. Andrew Cuomo for an infrastructure announcement Downstate and then with U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei in Syracuse. Bill Carey will be on camera for the event. I'll be there, too, using the hashtag #BideninCNY.

Cuomo on Sunday defended the parts of the NY Safe Act that remove guns from people deemed mentally unstable, saying the number might be too low.

That came after Sunday's New York Times story about the 34,500 people who have been judged too unstable to possess guns since Cuomo signed the gun laws into effect in early 2013.

Republican Rob Astorino is trying to close the gap with Cuomo with a little more than two weeks to go before the Nov. 4 elections by aiming at the governor's efforts to tackle corruption in Albany.

The governor, meanwhile, is attracting political contributions from Hollywood, Western New York and just about every corner of the state.

Cuomo went to the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico late last week to shore up voters among people living in New York from the two areas.

On Sunday, Cuomo courted the same votes in the Bronx, saying he first went overseas to show respect.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and his challenger, John Cahill, see the incumbent's record very differently.

Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins would combat the heroin epidemic by legalizing it.

New York offers more tax breaks to businesses than any other state.

The state has also spent $300,000 fixing problems with its hunting and fishing license system.

The natural gas and mineral debate in Ohio has taken a turn toward the state's public parks.

Cuomo nominated a new appointment to the state's highest court, swinging the majority of jurors toward the left.

Few people are excited about a $2 billion bond act to help schools, including some educators.

None of Central New York's state Senate seats are contested as factions jockey for control over Albany's upper chamber. A couple of local Assembly races, however, are becoming tight battles, including a district that covers western Onondaga County.

See how Sen. Charles Schumer helped keep the Buffalo Bills in Buffalo.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy was in Auburn on Sunday to campaign for Maffei challenger John Katko.

ICYMI About $4 of every $5 that Maffei has raised has come from outside of the Syracuse-area district.

Tweet of the Day

1st snow of the season means finding my winter barn jacket and wondering how many spiders have taken up residence in it since May.

— Ellen Yeomans (@ellenyeomans) October 19, 2014

Contact Teri Weaver anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-470-2274