Local officials complain they were left in dark on New Jersey Ebola quarantine center

Local officials in central New Jersey are complaining they were left in the dark on plans to convert a shuttered military base into an Ebola quarantine center — and say they only found out about it when fire officials arrived for an inspection last week. 

“Nobody was happy about this situation,” Eatontown Mayor Dennis Connelly told FoxNews.com. 

Connelly says he had learned earlier that the military post, Fort Monmouth, could be used as a secondary quarantine site — the state already uses a psychiatric hospital in Hunterdon County — but only found out that the plan had moved forward last week. 

The Asbury Park Press reported that the state Department of Human Services had been in contact with a select number of local officials regarding the plan for this center. However, they asked that the plans not be made public. Local officials complain there was never an opportunity for the community to discuss the matter and be part of the planning. 

According to Connelly, the concern wasn’t just that patients potentially exposed to Ebola could be housed there. Officials also have been preparing the Fort Monmouth property to be put up for sale, and the Ebola center plans create problems for that effort. 

“Officials … are concerned that such actions have the potential to undermine the economic development of the Fort Monmouth property in the long run as it is necessary for the Board and the public and the State to work together openly and for the betterment of all residents,” Connelly said in a joint statement with Monmouth County Freeholder Lillian Burry, Oceanport Mayor Michael Mahon and Tinton Falls Mayor Gerry Turning. 

Fort Monmouth was closed as a military post in 2011. Shortly afterward, a committee — the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority (FMERA) — was created to assist in the economic transition of the surrounding towns. The committee assumed control of the base from the Army, with the power to lease and sell parts of the property. According to reports, FMERA recently leased a portion of Fort Monmouth for six months to the Department of Human Services to use as the Ebola quarantine center. 

The local officials said in their statement that the lease, though, was “imposed” on the committee by Gov. Chris Christie’s government and “was not vetted at a public meeting or voted on by the entire Board.” 

While the state is being accused of keeping the plans close to the vest, dozens of other treatment centers already are operational across the country to handle Ebola and other outbreaks. There are 48 treatment centers and 20 quarantine centers, overseen by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fort Monmouth was not previously among them. 

Local and state officials have sent a letter to the Department of Human Services requesting answers for why Fort Monmouth was chosen as the site for this center. 

The quarantine center is still in the developing stages, and no Ebola patients have been treated there.   

The Asbury Park Press reported that the center will only treat patients who have been exposed to the virus but show no symptoms, suggesting the health risks would be minimal. If patients were to become symptomatic, according to the report, they would be transferred to another facility immediately. 

Representatives in the Christie administration have not yet commented on the local officials’ concerns. 

FoxNews.com’s Jean Lee contributed to this report.

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Local officials complain they were left in dark on New Jersey Ebola quarantine center

Argentina special prosecutor in Jewish community center bombing found dead of gunshot wound

At left, firefighters and rescue workers search through the rubble of the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association community center, after a car bomb rocked the building in downtown Buenos Aires on July 18, 1994. At right, Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor investigating the bombing, talks to journalists in Buenos Aires in 2013. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)

BUENOS AIRES –  A special prosecutor who had accused Argentine President Cristina Fernandez of ordering impunity for Iranian suspects in the South American country’s worst terrorist attack was found shot dead, authorities said Monday.

Alberto Nisman, who was set to testify Monday in a closed-door hearing, was found in the bathroom of his Buenos Aires apartment late Sunday, federal prosecutor Viviana Fein told Telam, Argentina’s official news agency.

“We can confirm that it was a gunshot wound, .22 caliber,” she said, adding that it was too early in the investigation to know what had happened.

Nisman had been appointed 10 years ago by Fernandez’s late husband, then President Nestor Kirchner, to investigate the 1994 bombing of the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people and injured more than 200. In 2013, Argentina and Iran reached an agreement to investigate the attack, which remains unsolved.

That year, Nisman released an indictment accusing Iran and Hezbollah of organizing the blast. Iran denies any involvement.

Last week, Nisman accused Fernandez and other senior Argentine officials of agreeing not to punish at least two former Iranian officials in the case. He asked a judge to call Fernandez and others, including Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, for questioning.

“The president and her foreign minister took the criminal decision to fabricate Iran’s innocence to sate Argentina’s commercial, political and geopolitical interests,” Nisman said last week.

Government officials called the prosecutor’s allegations ludicrous.

A federal judge had begun the process of deciding whether to hear the complaint and whether anyone should be summoned for questioning.

Late Sunday, federal police agents in charge of Nisman’s protection alerted their superiors that he wasn’t answering phone calls, according to a statement from the Health Ministry. When he also didn’t answer the door, they decided to alert family members, according to the statement.

When Nisman’s mother wasn’t able to open the door because a key was in the lock on the other side, a locksmith was called to open it, the ministry said. A .22 caliber handgun and a shell casing were found next to Nisman’s body.

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Argentina special prosecutor in Jewish community center bombing found dead of gunshot wound

Bermuda begins cleaning up after Hurricane Gonzalo - Hawaii hit by winds, rains from Hurricane Ana - FOX NEWS WEATHER CENTER

October 18, 2014: An uprooted tree lies across a sea front street after Hurricane Gonzalo hit the island in Hamilton, Bermuda. (AP Photo/David Skinner)

Crews cleared away downed trees and power lines Saturday after Hurricane Gonzalo battered this tiny, wealthy British territory for several hours but caused no deaths or serious injuries.

The storm’s center crossed over Bermuda late Friday and Gonzalo quickly moved northward over the Atlantic on a track that could take it just off the shore of Newfoundland in Canada early Sunday.

More than 18,000 homes in Bermuda were still without power Saturday night, but Premier Michael Dunkley said cleanup efforts were going smoothly. He said the U.S., Britain and other nations have offered assistance.

“All hands were on deck and worked very well,” he tweeted Saturday night. “Much to be done but we are roaring back!”

Gonzalo approached Bermuda as a Category 3 storm then weakened to Category 2 strength just before coming ashore with sustained winds of 110 mph. Even after beginning to move away, its fierce winds battered the island for hours.

Maria Frith, who owns Grape Bay Cottages on Bermuda’s south coast, said in a phone interview that the hurricane woke her up before dawn when it tore the patio roof off her house.

“To be perfectly honest with you, I was terrified, partly because of the noise,” she said. “It was really scary.”

Some Bermudians woke up to toppled concrete walls, uprooted palm trees and boats run aground. Gonzalo ripped part of the roof off the island’s legislature as well as the roof of an exhibit at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum & Zoo.

No catastrophic damage was reported on Bermuda, which has one of the highest per-capita incomes in the world and is known for strict building codes meant to ensure homes can withstand sustained winds of at least 110 mph.

Officials had not yet announced whether government offices and schools would reopen Monday. The island’s international airport remained closed Saturday night but officials said it might reopen Sunday afternoon.

The last major hurricane to strike Bermuda was Fabian in September 2003. That Category 3 storm killed three police officers and a civilian and caused more than $100 million in damage.

The island was still recovering from last weekend’s blast from Tropical Storm Fay, which also damaged homes and toppled power lines.

“To be struck twice by two different cyclones is unusual, to say the least,” said Max Mayfield, a former director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Gonzalo weakened as it moved away from Bermuda on a track that would take it past Newfoundland and then across the Atlantic to Britain and Ireland.

Late Saturday, the storm was centered 360 miles southwest of Cape Race, Newfoundland, with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph as it moved northeast at 39 mph.

Forecasters said it would pass close to Cape Race early Sunday. Officials said there could be some flooding.

Hurricane warnings were in effect for the Grand Banks area, where three major offshore oil installations are located. Operators of the Hibernia, Terra Nova and SeaRose sites announced no plans to evacuate the three crews, which generally total more than 700.

Across the Atlantic, Britain’s meteorological agency issued an alert for strong winds and heavy rain expected Tuesday from the remains of Gonzalo. It warned of the potential for significant disruption of travel and difficult driving conditions.

Gonzalo earlier claimed one life in the Dutch territory of St. Maarten and the hurricane center said it could still whip up dangerous surf on portions of the U.S. coast and Canada.

In southern Mexico, the brief Tropical Storm Trudy was downgraded to a tropical depression as it continued to dump heavy rain. Authorities warned of the danger of flash floods and landslides.

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Bermuda begins cleaning up after Hurricane Gonzalo - Hawaii hit by winds, rains from Hurricane Ana - FOX NEWS WEATHER CENTER