take over the town. powerful explosions could be heard there as plumes of smoke rose high in the air. kurdish forces continued to fight militants. air strikes will have an impact, but that impact is constrained by the fact there aren t forces on the ground that can follow up on those air strikes. reporter: the cost of those air strikes, two months inside of iraq and syria, is $424 million. t.j., reena? karen, thank you. we re following new developments in the battle over abortion in texas. the law forced the closure of all but eight clinics provided abortions. the issue is still far from settled. a federal appeals court is still deciding whether the overall law is constitutional. in texas, a vigil and prayer service held on the campus of tcu for the ebola victim, the 26-year-old now recovering from that virus.
good morning. i m reena ni good morning. i m reena ninan. i m t.j. holmes. here are some of the top headlines we re following this morning on world news now. a mother s desperate plea turning to social media with a direct appeal to isis to release her son. is it enough for the cold-blooded killers to set peter kassig free? the fear now is he could meet the same fate as other westerners in recent weeks. full details in just a moment. a texas deputy who entered the ebola victim s apartment has tested negative for the virus. and a joke about ebola aboard an airliner sparked a hazmat response. a second night of protests in st. louis following the shooting death of a teenager by an off-duty police officer.