Morning Must Reads: October 8

October 8, 2014 7:58 AM EDT

At sunset on Tuesday, the black flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria was flying on the edge of Kobani, a strategically important Syrian-Kurdish town on the Turkish border, despite President Obama’s pledge to destroy ISIS and the coalition’s air campaign

How to Protect Against Enterovirus

In the U.S., more than 500 patients have been diagnosed with the respiratory illness Enterovirus-D68, most of whom are children

Ebola Patient’s Son Asks for Prayer

The son of the Liberian man fighting for his life in a Dallas hospital after contracting Ebola asked the community to pray for his family on Tuesday

St. Louis Cardinals Beat L.A. Dodgers to Clinch Division

St. Louis pulled off a 3-2 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday and will head to the National League Championship Series for the fourth year in a row. The Cardinals overpowered Dodgers star pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who started Game 4 on short rest

2 Americans, 1 German Win Chemistry Nobel

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the work of Americans Eric Betzig and William Moerner and German scientist Stefan Hell, for the “development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy,” has “brought optical microscopy into the nanodimension”

The High-Stakes Struggle for Border-Crossing Kids

The thousands of children fleeing violence in Central America are desperate, but are they refugees? To win asylum — or refugee status — even they have to go beyond simply proving that they’re being truthful about terrifying experiences

Casey Affleck to Star in Film About the Marathon Attack

The Out of the Furnace star and Massachusetts native has reportedly signed on to star in and produce Boston Strong, a film about the deadly Boston Marathon bombing in April 2013, based on the non-fiction book Boston Strong: A City’s Triumph Over Tragedy

Smoking and Drinking Raise Your Risk for Oral HPV

A new study found that people with higher levels of biomarkers for tobacco exposure in their blood and urine also tended to have a higher prevalence of the HPV strain that causes more than 90% of HPV-related throat cancers

Syria Still Has Chemical-Weapons Sites, U.S. Says

The government of Syrian President Bashar Assad has at least four chemical-weapons sites, U.S. envoy to the U.N. Samantha Power said on Tuesday. The claim comes just months after the ending of a U.N. joint mission tasked with destroying Syria’s stockpile

NYPD Chokehold Complaints Highest in Decade, Report Finds

The number of complaints against the New York Police Department’s use of illegal chokeholds in the past year is the highest in a decade, according to a civilian-run agency tasked with investigating complaints against the NYPD

Willie Nelson’s Braids From 1983 Fetch $37,000

Willie Nelson’s hair was sold for $37,000 on Sunday in an Arizona auction. The iconic country singer’s signature braids, cut in the 1980s when his red hair hadn’t turned gray yet, were among the possessions of fellow country legend, the late Waylon Jennings

‘Carlos the Jackal’ Faces Third Trial for 1974 Attack in Paris

Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, nicknamed “Carlos the Jackal,” is to be tried for a 1974 grenade attack in Paris that killed two people and injured 34. The notorious Marxist terrorist from Venezuela is already serving two life sentences for attacks on French civilians in the 1980s

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