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Zika - page 12

Latest in Zika battle: Enlist kids to ‘Spill the Water’

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As the number of Zika cases in Florida mounts — 11 new cases were reported on Wednesday, including one in Hillsborough County — state health officials have launched a campaign to educate children on the dangers of the virus and to enlist their help in stemming the spread of disease-toting mosquitoes. The Florida Department of Health’s “Spill the Water” campaign is encouraging kids to venture out into their backyards and dump vessels in which standing water may accumulate. Water like that,…

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Bill Nelson urges Mitch McConnell to bring back Senate’s $1.1B Zika funding proposal

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Sen. Bill Nelson is urging Senate leaders to bring back a $1.1 billion proposal that would help fight the spread of Zika. The request comes just one day after the Florida Department of Health announced 11 new cases of Florida, bringing the total number of travel-related cases in the Sunshine State to 263. In a letter Thursday, the Florida Democrat asked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring the bipartisan $1.1 billion bill the Senate passed back to the floor…

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Guns, immigration and Zika top agenda as Congress returns

in 2017/Top Headlines by

Gun control, immigration and money to combat the Zika virus top the congressional agenda as lawmakers sprint toward the political conventions this month and a seven-week summer recess. Amid all that, Republicans plan to squeeze in a meeting with Donald Trump on Thursday. The House and Senate have just eight legislative days before their break, and lawmakers have scheduled a handful of politically charged votes with implications for incumbents in November’s election. In the House, legislation to fight terrorism and…

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Florida records birth of first baby with Zika-related birth defects

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The first case of microcephaly, a birth defect in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and incomplete brain development, has surfaced in Florida. The defect is caused by the Zika virus, which was contracted by the mother while in her native Haiti, authorities said. Officials with the Florida Department of Health confirmed the case Tuesday morning. The newborn’s mother came to Florida to deliver her baby, officials said. The department is working with the family to get the…

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No help from DC? Florida to spend millions on Zika fight

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Saying he was “profoundly disappointed” with the ongoing federal stalemate over the Zika virus, Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday ordered the state to spend millions in an effort to stop its potential spread. Scott used his emergency powers to authorize spending up to $26.2 million on everything from killing mosquitoes, training mosquito technicians and purchasing Zika prevention kits. The Republican governor has been calling on the federal government for weeks to approve money to fight the Zika virus, which…

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Todd Wilcox dropping out of race for U.S. Senate

in 2017/Top Headlines by

Todd Wilcox is dropping out of the U.S. Senate race in Florida. Sources close to Wilcox’s decision say his withdrawal from the race is imminent and that he will support Marco Rubio for the good of the Republican Party. The former Special Forces commander and CIA veteran becomes the fourth Republican to drop out of the contest after Rubio decided to run for re-election to his seat, after repeatedly saying he would not. Wilcox denied that he would drop out just two days ago, citing his decades of…

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As Zika looms, U.S. health officials worry about the neighbors

in Apolitical/Top Headlines by

Saron Wyatt pointed to the secluded end of her small street in Houston’s impoverished Fifth Ward, where a mound of old tires keeps popping up. Always a trashy nuisance, it’s now a growing danger. Tires collect water and become prime breeding grounds for mosquitoes — especially the ones that spread Zika virus disease and other tropical mosquito-borne illnesses. Wyatt, a mother of five, doesn’t know where the tires are coming from. But she’s worried about it, and so are health…

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