tolerance for gays. is change coming to the church? and five days in alaska, a week-long look another one of the election's biggest battle ground states. tonight the focus on rising health care costs. ♪ we begin tonight with the fight against ebola and the nationwide effort to contain that deadly virus. after the first case ever contracted on u.s. soil, the centers for disease control said it's time to rethink all of america's infection control. robert ray is live in atlanta with more on this. robert from the cdc's viewpoint, what changed today? >> reporter: well, john, interesting, dr. thomas frieden came out and looked at the protocol breakdown as they said, and they are going to look at the entire system as to how healthcare workers are treating people with ebola symptoms. about 70 healthcare workers treated the ebola victim who is now deceased. they picked up urine, diarrhea, wiped saliva off of his mouth, and now there's a healthcare worker in that same dallas hospital who has come down with the ebola infection. don't be surprised if more healthcare workers become infected in the coming days. >> all of us have to work together to do whatever is possible to reduce the risk that any other healthcare worker becomes infected. >> reporter: that's the message from dr. thomas frieden at the centers for disease control and prevention. his comments follow the quarantine of a dallas healthcare worker who has now been diagnosed with the virus. >> really there are two different steps. the first is diagnosis, and every hospital in this country needs to think about the possibility in ebola in anyone with a fever or other symptoms who has traveled to liberia, sierra leone, and guinea in the previous 21 days. second is the issue of care of ebola once the diagnosis has been made. and we're now working very closely with the hospital to make that care simpler, and easier, with hands on training, hands on oversight and monitoring. >> reporter: in dallas the centers for disease control says it is increasing its monitoring and tracing of hospital workers who cared for the now deceased thomas eric duncan. >> very tough day the last several of days for the hospital staff. we knew there was possible that one of the workers may become infected, but it's still disappointing. >> reporter: the cdc says a breach of protocol caused the worker to become infects. >> since we don't know what the exposure was, but we know there was an exposure, then we have to cast the net more widely. >> reporter: the cdc has 150 health detectors on the ground in dallas. they are investigating how the workers took off their gear, how they disposed of the suit, and what needs to change immediately so others don't become infected. >> the existence of the first case of ebola spread in the u.s. changes some things, and it doesn't change others. it doesn't change the fact that we know how ebola spreads. it doesn't change the fact that it is possible to take care of ebola safely, but it does change substantially how we approach it. >> reporter: -- >> obviously we're having some difficulty with our live picture with robert ray. hospitals across the country are now taking a second look at the rules their workers follow to stay safe from ebola. jake ward is in dallas tonight. jake, what are the main safety concerns for healthcare staff treating ebola patients? >> well, john, the real difficulty is that here in the united states, our healthcare system is based on a series of specialized facilities, and each do something a little bit different. and there are very few cases where all of them can do everything very well. we heard from the nursing unit -- the head of nursing at the biocontainment unit in nebraska. >> i too feel like any hospital could potentially care for an ebola patient. however, with that said, i think what is missing in many hospitals is the level of confidence and assurance in the protocols and processes, and again, i think the meticulous practicing of the taking off of the personal protect tiff equipment, and making sure it is on appropriately as well is what may be missing. >> reporter: at facilities like the texas hospital here, you have to impose an incredibly tedious and rigorous program of one person watching the other person take off of their garment. all of that stuff has to be mandated on this very, very brood level, and yet, it's very brood work, very hard. so we don't have the system in place nationwide to create the kinds of procedures, that she was talking about there. >> what steps need to be taken when it comes to decontamination and disposal of waste. >> well, video has begun to come out that has become the new standard trying to show how to keep the outside of the garment on the outside, never touching the inside with anything that's been exposed. and the waste issue is another issue. she also mentioned at the nebraska facility they have to limit their intake of possible ebola patients to two or three a day. they could not handle more than that, because the autoclaves that need to be used to dispose of the bloody materials, and all of that, needs to be handled in a very specific way. and that may also keep a hospital like this one or any other from admitting patients. >> jake thank you very much. we have a disease specialist we talked to last week, he had a chance to review some of thomas duncan's medical records. before i get to the medical records, doctor, i just want to go back to these -- these new -- whatever it is that the cdc is implementing. and i think -- you know, some americans are confused about it. can you help explain? >> so what happened is we have an exposure in an healthcare worker after mr. duncan was isolated when that person was wearing personal protective equipment. so there had to be some breach in that -- not necessarily the fault of the nurse, but some breach in what was going on. either the personal propecktive equipment wasn't used consistently, so what that triggers a root cause analysis, trying to figure out where this worker got exposed, and is it something that is sus stimic. mr. duncan was one of the most critically ill of the ebola patients that we have treated in the united states. and he was put on dialysis and had a tube put in his throat. so was how critically ill he was a factor? and how much more careful people had to be. >> did you learn anything more from his records? >> nothing specific to that. i know it was a no-holds barred to try to save mr. duncan's life. and he got state-of-the-art treatment from what we sal septic shock, which is what he had. round the clock nursing, continuous dialysis, medications to support his blood pressure. lots of attention from multiple physicians. >> can every hospital in america handle an ebola patient, and should they? >> the cdc began this outbreak by talking about how every hospital can take care of an ebola patient, and in certain aspects of that care, it is definitely true. hospitals take care of critically ill patients with infectious diseases all the time. but what needs to be emphasized is the level of familiarity, with the ability to take equipment on and off, to have all of those safeguards in place may not have penetrated all the way through, and it may be something we see less in rural areas. there may be gaps to be filled. and that's what the cdc's educational program is about. and there is some question whether we should have a tiered system. similar to what we do with other diseases. for example, level one trauma centers. just sending people to where the most excellent care can be done in the safest manner. >> yeah. let me talk just about one other topic, and this is the transmission between animals and humans, and we -- the dog of a healthcare worker in spain, that dog was euthanized after she got infected. the healthcare worker in dallas also has a dog. how much of a risk is there? >> there has been at least one study that looked at dogs in an outbreak in africa, and they did have antibodies, meaning they very able to fight the virus. but it's unclear what ebola does to a dog, and it's unclear whether the dogs are contagious to humans or other dogs, and i think what they are doing is reasonable, because we don't really know what the risk is. and we need to really understand the roll of animals. and dogs don't get sick from such a deadly disease, that's something to learn about. so i think we need to study what the effect is in the canine species. >> doctor, it's good to see you again. thank you for answering our questions. >> thanks for having me. today undersecretary general ban ki-moon called for a better response to ebola. in russia president putin promised more aid for west africa, but says he believes there is little chance ebola will spread to russia. that's not the belief in the u.k. tonight. >> it's likely we'll see an increase of ebola in the u.k. it could be handful of cases in the next three months. >> the british screening of travelers coming from west africa will start tomorrow. muslim's pilgrimage to mecca concluded last week. there were we'res that such an open gathering of people could spread the disease. attacks were focused on fighters today in kobani. isil has been battling coalition forces for weeks. kobani sits on the turkish border and the u.s. wants turkey to do more to stop the advance. libby over the weekend, u.s. officials said turkey would allow the coalition to use its air bases. so what happened? >> susan rice said yesterday that turkey has agreed to allow its territory and its bases for the u.s. and other coalition forces to train moderate syrian forces. this was billed as a new commitment, and the reporting went further because the "new york times" and the "washington post," siting unnamed sources says the u.s. does intend to use the air base inside turkey to launch air strikes against isil. now turkey is pushing back on that. turkey says that that story is not correct. it has not agreed to uallow use of its basses. the white house is standing by susan rice. you get sense, john, of both the tensions and combinations surrounding these negotiations with turkey. >> so now officials have talks this week. any indication of what we can expect? >> reporter: that's right. the talks will hit on the question of the bases used, but also look at the broader question of moderate syrian opposition forces and how they should be trained and dealt with. and turkey wants to see this fight brought to the doorstep of president assad. the u.s. says at this point its goal is fighting isil. so they have a disagreement there. turkey always wants to see a buffer zone border space created between its country and syria, to stop the flow of refugees coming across from syria, as well as to train the forces. so you can expect those topics to be on the table. and the u.s. still has its eye on the goal of trying to get more turkish help and access. >> all right. libby thanks. tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people have been chased from their homes by the fighting in that region, some who managed to reach turkey are facing new problems. stephanie decker has their story. >> reporter: they fled to seek safety in turkey. but now they find themselves detained by the authorities here. >> translator: the turkish police arrested my husband. they put them in a bus and dropped them here. it has been 11 days. i have been waited for him with my children. i lost everything. i have no money to feed them. i'm sleeping in a park, just waiting for him to come out. >> reporter: 260 people are being detained and the reason the police chief is giving us is this group is believed to have links to the ykp, which they deem a terrorist organization. following a 30-year insurgency, the pkk, and turkey have agreed on a peace process, the battle for kobani is threatening to derail that. this ypg video shows fighters, and turkey is accusing those detained of being part of this group. we managed to speak to one of the detained by phone. >> the turkish pretend they are fighting isil, why do they accuse us of being part of ypg? ypg is fighting isil? >> reporter: he tells us that all of those held are civilians who left kobani after the ypg told them to leave when it was no longer safe. >> translator: i don't understand if isil is fighting us or if turkey is targeting us. turkey fights us with isil's hands. my daughter is a child. where is the humanity. >> reporter: many of the detained are now on hunger strike. they say it's the only form of pressure they can apply to what they say is injustice and humiliation. forced to leave their homes because of isil advances, and now accused of being part of the group that is trying to protect their people. >> laura wells is a journalist based in istanbul. she has been covering the syrian war and the fight against isil for several years. why do you think turkey is not more involved? >> well, they are pretty clear about why they are not. they do not see eye to eye with the united states, and basically they are playing hardball with the u.s. right now. their goal is to degrade isil, a as well as the pkk and oust assad. >> so they see those three groups as the same. >> they do. and in kobani, they don't want to help the kurds there. we have seen 35 dead in riots in turkey. there is over 40,000 dead in three years, so this is a very real peril for the turkish government. there is not a political will on either side to actually support pkk, and in this case the syrian kurds. >> so you don't think the u.s. can do any arm twisting and change their minds? >> oh, if they said we are on board and come after assad, turkey would come in. they said that isil is actually just a result of this disenfranchisement of the sunnis in syria and iraq because it has been mainly shiite dominated. they said you can have all of the air strikes you want, but until you get rid of the root cause this will continue to happen. >> how much are the turks worried about the refugees? >> well, it's a big issue, it's also a political irk you. there's 1.8 million now. >> how long have they been coming in? >> mainly over the past two years. they have been mainly sunni, but now there are 200,000 kurdish refugees. but turkey would also have a hand in ruling the area, and the syrian curds say that would have been occupation. also assad said if you do such a thing, that would be an act of aggression. the government is giving the refugees provisions. it's also giving them housing. this is a very big expense. over $3 billion have been spent. it has also created a lot of ill will with locals. so it's definitely a political issue. and the unrest, this has been really disastrous for the stock market as well as the turkish lira. >> how easy is it for the refugees to get across the border? this >> well, it depends. in kobani the turkish army opens and closes the border at will. but the pkk were very angry, and they wanted to allow turkish kurds to enter or some of the refugees to enter to fight along the ypg, which is the military there. >> turkey wants to get assad and wants u.s. to get involved. >> absolutely. >> and if that happened, overnight turkey would rev up the air bases and get involved. >> they said they would. they offered the use of the air bases when obama was thinking we're going to oust assad. it has been taken back, because turkey wants to turn a bad situation into a positive for them. >> thank you for being with us. coming up a symbolic vote from british parliament. and ebola in dallas, the new steps being taken to keep the virus from spreading. ♪ >> we have strongly urged the government to release those journalists. >> journalism is not a crime. north korea's leader has not been seen in public for 40 days. today pictures of him appeared in the state media. the report did not say which day he made those visits. official media blamed personal discomfort for kim's lengthy absence. in london a strong signal of support for palestinians in gaza. british lawmakers have voted in favor of recognizing palestine as a state. the vote is of course symbolic. last week sweden said it would officially recognize a palestinian state. >> reporter: a show of support for palestine outside of the u.k. parliament. >> the ayes to the right -- >> reporter: the motion called on the government to recognize parliament as state. the result is not binding, but they insist it can push forward negotiations between israel and the palestinians. >> i believe the facts of the israelis in temperate reaction is proof that this resolution will make a difference. the only things the israeli's government in my view, under the present demeanor of benjamin netenyahu understands is pressure. >> reporter: in the next few weeks palestinian president is hoping to get the u.n. security council to vote on a resolution setting a deadline for the end of israel's occupation of palestinian territory. more than 2,000 palestinians were killed in israel east recent war in gaza. and the new settlement program have pushed some western countries to question the status quo. sweden's decision earned a major reduke from israel. it's not clear from this vote will have any lasting consequences for britain, but might encourage other european states to at least consider recognizing palestine. but for the british government recognition can only come about through israel. >> recognizing a state should only happen when the territory in question has got the basic requirements of a state, and through no fault of the palestinians, that is not true at the moment, and it does seem to me the resolution before us is premature. >> reporter: david cameron has made it clear this vote won't change his foreign policy, but might change perceptions of the rights of palestinians in future peace talks. still ahead, rushing to safe a young women's life. >> maybe sure that she gets the very best -- very best care known to man. >> what a dallas hospital is dogging for their healthcare worker with ebola. the owners of the restaurant pay nearly $200,000 a year for insurance for their employees. it's the high cost of health care in the last frontier just ahead. this is al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler, and coming up, rethinking ebola, the new steps to contain the spread after a u.s. healthcare worker tests positive. plus a surprise from the vatican, bishops hint at greater tolerance for gays. and five days in alaska, why healthcare costs are soaring in a key battleground state. ♪ an update on the top story tonight, the global effort to stop the advance of ebola. the director for the centers for disease control says hospitals must change their infection prevention protocols in this country. >> we will double down on training, outreach, education, and assistance, throughout the healthcare system. >> leading those changes, the dallas hospital where dozens of people are now being closely monitored. heidi zhou castro has more. >> reporter: inside the same hospital where she struggled to save thomas duncan's life less than a week ago, the healthcare worker diagnosed for ebola fights for her own. >> she is a heroic healthcare professional, who we all need to be concerned for and pray for, and she has a great family. >> reporter: how are their spirits right now? >> they are brave people. and they are a family that is handling this with grace, but obviously they are extremely concerned for their daughter and sister. >> reporter: al jazeera is respecting the immediate family's request for privacy and not identifying here. the chief emergency response officer said the team of outside medical experts have joined her treatment team. >> we're bringing in the best in the country to work alongside the local doctors, and make sure she gets the very best healthcare known to man. >> reporter: there has been constant activity here since her diagnosis. hazmat crews coming in and out of the home, and sheriff deputies guards the block. the home is empty except for the family dog. >> her family has asked me to make sure nothing happens to that dog. >> reporter: dogs can carry ebola without showing symptoms. the cdc is interviewing other healthcare workers who have had contact with duncan. that includes his treatment team, lab workers, and others who handled his samples. >> i know the teams are working extremely hard. >> reporter: heidi zhou castro, al jazeera, texas. adam may asked the mayor of dallas whatted advice he would offer to any other city. >> if there's a new place, that's what i would be coaching them on. probably that first 12 hours, clarifying each and everybody's role will help you move faster through the process. that's got to be done real time. >> you can see the rest of the interview on "america tonight" coming up at the top of the hour. protesters in ferguson, missouri, declared today a day of civil disobedience. hundreds demonstrated against the recent police shootings of two young black teenagers. both were shot by white police officers. >> reporter: dubbed moral monday, organizers say today was intended to focus on civil di h disobedien disobedience. and despite the inclement weather that not stop protesters. protesters, clergymen and activists headed for police headquarters. the refrain that has become to define the shooting of michael brown brought young and old together this morning. to have the younger generation say we're coming together. you have white brothers, brown brothers and sisters, the asians, it's a beautiful thing. >> reporter: cornell west says it's pass of the torch beyond civil rights to what he calls a freedom movement. the weekend included marches, rallies and performances by hip hop artists like this st. louis artist. >> fight back point blank. you don't have to take it. i tell people all the time. once you get over the initial fear, you will be okay. the only thing police can do is kill you or oar rest you. >> reporter: today's goal was to meet with police or create arrests in civil disobedience. >> the whole damn system, is guilty as hell. >> reporter: frustration and distrust linger in the absence of an indictment of the police officer that shot michael brown. >> we are going to tear down the wall of racism and white supremacy in this town. >> reporter: police cordon off the building. some protesters made it to the steps of the police station. >> brothers and sisters of all colors -- >> reporter: after asking for access to the building for a meeting with the police chief, protesters broke the line. >> it's my moral call and duty to step up and be present in this hour right now. >> reporter: this person travelled from chicago to be here and demonstrate. >> it is important to me, because i am a child of god, and these are my children, and their blood is on the streets. >> reporter: it is a sentiment that has brought so many from so far away to the streets of ferguson and st. louis in an effort to speak and give voice to those who no longer can. earlier this week the shooting death of a black teenager shot by an off-duty st. louis police officer expanded the protest not only here in ferguson, but also to neighboring st. louis in the shaw neighborhood. some feared that that may cause tensions here. the protests, though, have been mostly peaceful. and we are being told that these protests will continue through the night. i talked to dr. cornell west after his arrest today. and you can see that at 11:00 pm eastern time. all this week we're taking a close look at what matters most to the voters in alaska because their decisions will affect the entire country. the cost of health care is one of those issues. alan is here tonight. and alaska, five days in alaska, alan. >> yes. >> tells what you saw. >> interesting time and place. start with healthcare, which is a pocketbook issue, and certainly a consideration for voters. as a healthcare market, alaska is small, isolated and expensive. geographically it is huge, but the far flung population centers, and that's a big part of why healthcare costs so much. we talked to stan, a small business person who owns a restaurant, and he says obamacare is one of the many factors in the already over priced medical care in the last frontier. >> reporter: lunch rush at the oldest steakhouse. stan's family helped open it in the 1950s. and always paid for their employees healthcare. and today those costs are soaring. >> about 16 to $18,000 a month for healthcare for 25 people. >> reporter: with so few employees, club paris is not legally required to provide health insurance under the affordable care act, but they do it anyway, because that's the way stan's dad would have wanted it. coverage has to meet aca standards jfshgs, and the restaurant pays more than $200 thousand dollars a year. >> i just keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep paying the bills, and right now we're doing all right. >> in alaska the word outside is often capitalized. it's that place where the rest of us live. it can be so expense if here that many insurers will pay to fly patients to the lower 48 for treatment. specialty care can cost four times the average, primary care 30% higher, basic hospital costs 50% higher. as sheila discovered after major surgery. >> you get that itemized bill, and it's $25 for aspirin. they rent you a blanket for $12. it adds up and adds up and adds up. alaska is one of 19 states which chose to let the federal government manage the market under the affordable care act. and in a tight race between mark begich, and dan sullivan, both candidates are bashing the other. >> mark begich cast the deciding voted for obamacare. sullivans links his democratic opponent whenever possible to obamacare. and senator begich made a point of highlighting his occasional disagreements with the administration. sheila says she will make ballot decisions based on what is best for her family, and count her blessings that for her work means healthcare coverage. >> i couldn't afford to stay here if didn't have it. >> reporter: and dan looks ahead and hopes he can continue to apply that coverage for his employees. >> we're a small family-owned business that doesn't have deep pockets, and boy, i feel like you can only sell a peace of meat for so much money. >> as a city anchorage ranges third in alaska for highest healthcare coverage. >> give me a sense -- do you think the voters will spending more time focusing on politics than they do in the lower 48. >> i talked to someone in alaska who said we don't have big time professional sports here, politics are our sport. so, yeah, people pay attention. and there are some really interesting races. a governor's race, and a senate race that could be very important in terms of control of the u.s. senate. >> the most expensive senate campaign in the country, why? >> both sides realize this is a seat that is voler i -- vulnera. so they are both dumping hugs amounts of money. and they know it's -- it could be a flip. >> and tomorrow what have you got? >> tomorrow we're going to take a look at the minimum wage. alaska and four other states in the country voting on minimum wage. and there is a lot of subsistence living, and there aren't that many people working for minimum wage around the state. so it's a bit of an afterthought, but we'll take a look at why the formula is just a shade different up in what they call the last front tier. >> alan thanks very much. nathaniel is a reporter from the alaska dispatch news. he joins us tonight. it's good to see you. >> good evening. >> so now what is it like in a state that's running one of the most expensive senate campaigns in history? what -- what is it like to be there? >> well, you -- you can't really escape from it when you show up at home at the end of the day, you open your mailbox, and you'll find fliers from the alaska democratic party, from the candidates, from the outside group. i have a friend who sent me a picture the other way with all of the stuff he got he said he wanted to set fire to his mailbox. you'll see the ads on television. you will run into the campaign that is trying to register voters in the park. you might run into -- mark begich likes to talk about how you might run into him at costco, which is across the street from my office. and then you go on the internet, and i had a colleague who was telling me that his 14-year-old son plays video games online and he said his son can actually now tell you who the candidates are, what their platform is. because every single time he watches a youtube video, he gets 30 seconds of mark or dan. i think actually youtube is sold out in alaska. >> wow. but these candidates couldn't have -- they have very, very different backgrounds. talk about that. >> yeah, you have the incumbent, the democrat, mark begich. he has been in office about the last six years. formally was the mayor of anchorage. his father was a congressman who was killed in a plane crash -- actually was never found. he has been involved in politicians since he was about 18 in anchorage. ran for city council, and has been here the whole time. that's sort of -- and you'll hear him talk about that, how much of an alaskian he is. the republican challenger, dan sullivan is originally from ohio, which, again, you will hear a lot from the democrats. i think he spent five years in the d.c. area working with george w. bush in the state department. and also worked in the military. dan spent some time in the administration of sarah palin, the administration of the c current governor. he has degrees from harvard, compared to mark begich who does not have a college degree. which i think he speaks proudly of here. no one here would think badly of that. you hear the democrats attacking dan a lot about his ties to outside and to ohio. i think ultimate that's going to be up to the voters to decide sort of what they feel about his alaska credentials. >> i don't know whether you looked at the polls. but which of these candidates appeals to the rural vote, and which to the city, or is that a comparison you can make? >> yeah, i mean i think mark begich has definitely made huge investments in rural areas, reaching out to rural voters to alaska native voters. he has about 90-paid staff between -- between him and the democratic party, and a huge presence in the rural areas. i think he definitely sees his position as being more in line with the beliefs of rural voters of alaska, native voters on issues like hunting, fishinger, subsistence is kind of the world you used to hear people describe that. sullivan certainly -- he -- he is actually married to a woman with alaska native ancestry. she is an alaska native, and, you know, so he is not ignoring that, but i think certainly as far as the presence in those communities, begich is definitely stronger. >> well, matt, we'll be watching along with you. fascinating discussion. we'll be talking about it all this week. matt thank you. join us also for our friday special report, five days in alaska, 8:30 eastern, again, 11:30. still ahead, new language from the vatican. and reporting a revolution. the nation's oldest gay newspaper celebrates a milestone. ♪ ferz be -- good evening, i'm kevin corriveau. this weather began early this morning, where we saw one ef 2 tornado that was deadly across parts of alaska, and this evening in alabama another death was reported. you can see the line of thunderstorms here. today we have already seen seven tornados touch down across the region, and we are not over with it yet. we're going to be seeing it through the night as well as into tomorrow. where the severe weather will shift towards the east. you can see the storms are coming closer towards birmingham. and we are going to be watching these storms push through in the next, probably half hour to one hour. and of course mobile will be seeing thunderstorms as well. a lot of wind damage associated with these storms. but as we have seen tornados as well. those are those red dots that you see there, and we expect those to continue all through the evening where tornado warnings are in effect at least through the evening hours. talk of change tonight in the catholic church. a new vatican document says gays have gifts and qualities to offer the christian community. gays rights groups call it a turning point. roxana saberi has more. >> reporter: this group of 20 -- 200 bishops is showing an openness towards an issue that was considered controversial. >> we must respect the dignity of every person. and the fact that someone is a homosexual does not mean this dignity must not be acknowledged. >> reporter: in a report released on monday they said: gay rights advocates say the statement is a break through. >> the lesbian gay catholics that i know are very happy. they are thinking that finally they are hearing words of welcome into the church; that they have wanted to hear for -- for years and years. >> reporter: the church teaches that homosexual tendencies are not sinful, homosexual acts are. the pope once commented who am i to judge. but church conservatives have blasted the group's report. it called it one of the most controversial documents in catholic history. the bishops will issue a final report next week. the gathering is unlikely to change church doctrine, but it could lead to changes around catholicism around the world. it also discussed other family issues. for example it called on pathtors to treat divorced members with respect. the vatican's change in language is not the only thing that gay right's supporters are celebrating today. the washington blade is dedicated to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues. lisa spark spoke with the founder. >> reporter: the paper hasn't missed a week since it began publicing in october 1969. patrons at a gay bar, tired, fought back. it marked the beginning of the gay right's movement. >> at that same time like so many other gay people i was sort of coming out myself. >> reporter: lou has written for the paper as long as it has been around. most gays kept his identities hidden. he wrote under an assumed name. >> that was an era when one didn't know what would happen. >> reporter: his biline read lou romano. until he reported on a fire where eight men died. >> turned out none of their families knew they were gay, and they don't learn it until they met their demise. and i was covering this story, and i said it's probably time for me to start writing under my own name. >> reporter: just as the reporters have evolved, so too as the paper. the first issue sample one-age handout. this week, a 72-page-special edition. it was dedicated to help the community find resources and each other. >> picking up the paper and knowing that there was a whole world out there that was waiting for you, when you were finally ready to come out. >> reporter: the paper chronicled the aids epidemic. first writing in december of 1981 about a strange new cancer, killing gay men. it would overwhelm the community and the blade. >> the number of obituaries we had to write just mushroomed, and the anguish, not only in the dying of so many good people, the pare inertia on the part of government to address the issue. >> today aids would have been almost unimaginable. from the end of the ban on service marriage to same-sex marriage. chris johnson has chronicled much of it. >> all of those bad laws on how many gay people are falling away faster than we can almost write about. >> and continue to write they will, fascinating by what the next 45 years might bring. lisa stark, al jazeera, washington. coming up tonight at 11:00, new details on a new jersey high school football sex abuse scandal. how one player is being punished by the big time college he planned to attend. and former brat pack member molly ringwalled talks about what she is up to today. and tonight's freeze fame is from the city of kobani. a syrian woman watching the battle. that's our news. thank you for. watching. we'll be back at 11:00 eastern. >> on "america tonight": how did it happen? a dallas health worker becomes the first in the u.s. to contract ebola while trying to help a sick patient. are u.s. health officials doing enough fast enough do they know enough to protect us? fears from the airport gates to hospital corridors. >> we're anxious every day. i look at the reports about our monitoring of people and it's a concerning thing. >> with "america tonight's" adam may in dallas,