Government concerned suspected Ebola outbreak may spread: A suspected outbreak of the Ebola virus in Northern Congo is suspected in the death of 38 people, according to BBC news. The Congolese authorities say they are concerned that the poorly understood virus, which causes death by internal liquification, will spread and become a major outbreak. Ebola is spread through contact with small amounts of body fluids and can result in death in 95 percent of people infected. Authorities were first alerted to a possible outbreak when a clan of gorillas in the region began to die in December. The Congolese Ministry of Health believes the outbreak started with consumption of infected primate meat, but confirmation has not been obtained. Local inhabitants, mostly Pygmies, were badly mistreated by Gabonese troops during attempts to contain the Ebola outbreak in 1996-7 and now do not trust medical professionals, whom they believe are bringing the virus to the region according to the BBC. Without the proper diagnosis and treatment Congolese authorities are worried about containing the suspected outbreak and limiting causalities.

More than half of U.S. teens see no risk in trying ecstasy:

The majority of American teenagers see no risk in experimenting with the drug ecstasy according to a survey released yesterday by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA). According to the PDFA, nearly 55 percent (13 million) of America's teens say they see no risk in trying ecstasy. The study surveyed 7,084 12- to 18- year-olds across the country and also found that 77 percent of teens see great risk in using ecstasy regularly (at least once a month). Nine percent said they had used the drug in the past year, only a small drop from the reported 10 percent in 2001, according to CNN. However, this newfound threshold is 71 percent higher than pre-1999 levels. Less than one percent of parents think that their child had tried ecstasy according to a different PDFA survey. The survey found that overall teen drug use is down, a trend that began in 1997. The decrease was seen not only in most illicit drugs, but also in alcohol and tobacco. According to the survey, the most widely used illegal drug was marijuana, with about 40 percent of teenagers saying they had tried it. About 20 percent reported they had used it in the past month, according to the PDFA and CNN.

Cost of public colleges increases by 24 percent as aid falls: The cost of public colleges in Massachusetts increased by a greater percentage last year than in any other state, according to a study released yesterday by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. State tuition help for students dropped by a great percentage, according to The Boston Globe. Tuition and fees increased by an average of 24 percent in 2002, while grant aid fell by an equal percentage as state budget problems grew. The sudden upswing in college bills follows several years in the 1990s when tuition at state public schools was frozen or rolled back. Partly because of the freeze, costs at Massachusetts colleges are still lower than in many other states. Average tuition and fees at four-year public colleges in Massachusetts for in-state students is now $4,075, still below the country's most expensive public colleges and nearby Connecticut ($4,556) and New Hampshire ($5,995). State education officials questioned the accuracy of the numbers in the study, but acknowledged that millions of dollars have been cut over two years, and grant awards from the state have been scaled back according to The Globe.