• After 5 Years in Captivity, Cuba Has Released American Alan Gross in Prisoner Swap

    Just a few short weeks after learning that the United States launched a failed attempt to rescue one of our hostages, Luke Somers, who was being held in Yemen, we are now hearing of another hostage who has been released. Alan Gross, 65, was working as a U.S. contractor in Cuba in 2009 when he was arrested for bringing telecommunications devices into the country. He was later convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison, but as of this morning, Dec. 17, Gross is on a plane bound for Washington, D.C. According to ABC News, Gross has been in poor health for some time and has refused medical care. Gross is said to now be blind in one eye, suffering from arthritis in one hip and nearly toothless. He was also staging a hunger strike, which he promised would ultimately lead to his death if he was not released this year. In exchange for Gross, the U.S. has agreed to hand over three Cuban agents who were convicted of espionage back in the 1990s. Sources say all three have been housed at a federal medical facility in North Carolina.

  • Amber Vinson Released from Hospital after Being Declared Ebola-Free, Retains Attorney

    Today is no doubt one of the happiest of Amber Vinson's life, as she was discharged from Emory Hospital in Atlanta earlier today after being declared healthy. Vinson was the second Texas nurse infected with the Ebola virus after caring for Thomas Eric Duncan, who died from the illness Oct. 9. She eventually was transferred out of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in favor of Atlanta's Emory facility, one that had previously treated Ebola patients, and it is the excellent care she received there that eventually nursed her back to health.
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