Morning Must Reads: November 18

State of Emergency in Missouri

Governor Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency in anticipation of the public response to an imminent grand jury decision in Ferguson about whether police officer Darren Wilson will be charged in the Aug. 9 killing of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown

Meet America’s Top Ebola Doctor

Dr. Bruce Ribner of Emory University Hospital may be the only man in America who was truly prepared for Ebola, a scenario he says he predicted 10 years ago

Miami Signs Slugger in Record Deal

The Miami Marlins announced that star outfielder Giancarlo Stanton had agreed on a new, record-setting 13-year contract worth $325 million

4 Israelis Killed in Jerusalem Synagogue Attack

Israel said two Palestinians stormed a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood and attacked with knives, axes and guns before they were killed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed the violence on incitement by Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

All 50 States Face Deep Freeze

All 50 states will see freezing temperatures on Tuesday, with millions of Americans facing another bitter blast of unseasonably cold air. Up to five feet of snow was possible south of Buffalo, New York, due to an “historic but highly localized lake effect snow event”

Charles Manson Is Granted Permission to Wed

Charles Manson, the 80-year-old mastermind behind one of the most notorious murder sprees of the 20th century who is currently serving a life sentence in California, was issued a marriage license on Nov. 7. Here are five things to know about the woman he might marry

This Is Oxford’s 2014 Word of the Year

Oxford’s lexicographers keep watch over billions of words every month, and at the end of the year they put their brainy heads together to select a single word that best embodies the zeitgeist. Out of this year’s haze of nominees and debate emerged four little letters

Abe Calls Early Elections After Japan Slips Into Recession

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he would dissolve parliament and call the elections for Dec. 14, in an effort to rescue his floundering plan to revive the economy, one day after the shock announcement that Japan’s economy fell into recession in the third quarter

New Test May Predict Alzheimer’s 10 Years Before Diagnosis

The research is very early, the sample size is small and a commercial test is not yet available, but study authors found a way to measure insulin resistance in the brain — a symptom indicative of Alzheimer’s disease

Pope Says Children Deserve Mother and Father

Pope Francis caused a stir on Monday with a statement that was criticized as a rolling back of his attempts to make the Catholic Church more inclusive of the LGBT community. The pontiff had seemed to be pushing for more acceptance of nontraditional families

New Jonathan Franzen Novel Purity Arriving September 2015

Celebrated Corrections author Jonathan Franzen will release his fifth novel, Purity, about a young woman working to uncover her father’s identity. The book, set to be released in September 2015, will be his first since 2010’s Freedom

Russia Loses Last Sympathetic Ear

President Vladimir Putin’s foreign and economic policies have always looked to Germany as a pivotal ally in Europe. But in a speech Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel predicted a drawn-out confrontation with Moscow over the Russian conflict in Ukraine

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