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Florida ramps up mosquito control efforts due to 4 cases of locally contracted malaria

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:28 GMT

TERRA CEIA ISLAND, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Department of Health has issued a statewide mosquito-borne illness advisory after four locally contracted cases of malaria were reported along the Gulf Coast south of Tampa.On Monday, a health alert issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also noted that another case has been detected in Texas, marking the first time there has been a local spread of malaria in the United States in 20 years.The four residents in Sarasota County received treatment and have recovered, according to the state’s Department of Health advisory. Malaria, caused by a parasite that spreads through bites from Anopheles mosquitoes, causes fever, chills, sweats, nausea and vomiting, and headaches. It is not spread person to person.It’s the threat of the mosquito-borne illness that concerns Kathleen Gibson-Dee, who lives on Terra Ceia Island, which is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Sarasota County. Even though no malaria cases have be...

A man who fired a rifle at a pool cleaner will not be charged, sheriff says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:28 GMT

DUNEDIN, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man who shot a rifle at his pool cleaner after mistaking the man for an intruder will not face charges, officials said.Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said during a news conference Monday that the owner of the Dunedin home had a right to fire on someone who he believed posed a threat to him and his wife under a self-defense law commonly referred to as “stand your ground.” Dunedin is located on the Gulf of Mexico near Tampa.A husband and wife were watching a movie around 9 p.m. on June 15 when the wife heard noises from the pool lanai and observed someone she didn’t recognize on the pool deck, Gualtieri said. The woman told her husband, who yelled for the man to get out and to go away several times.According to detectives, the wife called 911, and the man retrieved an AR-15 rifle from their bedroom. The couple observed a flashlight coming toward the door, prompting the husband to fire twice, officials said. Shrapnel from the bullet and glass...

6 dead in a meningitis outbreak tied to Mexico clinics as officials struggle to reach more patients

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:28 GMT

The death toll has risen to six in an outbreak of fungal meningitis that’s tied to surgical procedures in a city along the U.S.-Mexico border, and health officials say they have not been able to reach everyone who may be at risk of infection.More than 200 patients could be at risk of fungal meningitis after having surgical procedures in Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas, between Jan. 1 to May 13 of this year.But incomplete contact information has hindered efforts to reach nearly half the people who need to see a doctor for evaluation and testing, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesman Tom Skinner said Tuesday. Two clinics linked to the outbreak, River Side Surgical Center and Clinica K-3, closed on May 13.The CDC has been working with the Mexican Ministry of Health and state and local health departments in the U.S. to respond to the outbreak. Meningitis is the swelling of the protective covering of the brain and spinal cord and should be t...

Parliamentary inquest into ‘Vatican Girl’ mystery moves forward as pope acknowledges family’s pain

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:28 GMT

ROME (AP) — Italy’s Parliament is poised to open a bicameral commission of inquiry into the disappearance of the teenage daughter of a Vatican employee, the third new investigation launched in the four decades since Emanuela Orlandi vanished on the streets of Rome.The Senate’s Constitutional Affairs Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved setting up the inquest, and full Senate approval is now expected. The Chamber of Deputies, the Italian Parliament’s lower house, gave it’s go ahead earlier. Separately, Vatican and Rome prosecutors both recently reopened their investigations in the case. Orlandi vanished 40 years ago last week, on June 22, 1983, after leaving her family’s Vatican City apartment to go to a music lesson in Rome. Her father was a lay employee of the Holy See. Theories over the years have linked her disappearance at age 15 to everything from the plot to kill St. John Paul II, a financial scandal involving the Vatican bank and Rome’s criminal underworldThe famil...

Former Navy SEAL seeks GOP nod to challenge Montana Democratic US Sen. Tester in 2024

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:28 GMT

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy announced Tuesday he will seek the 2024 Republican nomination to challenge Montana U.S. Sen. Jon Tester as the Democrat tries to secure a fourth term.Sheehy, 37, was recruited by GOP leaders eager to unseat Tester as they try to wrest control of the Senate from Democrats, who hold a slim majority and will have several vulnerable incumbents on the 2024 ballot, including Tester.Sheehy runs an aerial firefighting company, Bridger Aerospace, which he founded near Bozeman after moving to Montana in 2014. This is his first run for public office, and he said in a telephone interview that his military service and business background will set him apart in the race.“What I’m seeing now is kind of a government devoid of common sense,” he said Tuesday. “It’s a lot of rhetoric, a lot of demagoguery, but not a lot of people sitting down actually trying to solve the serious problems we face as a country.”His entry shakes up a GOP prima...

Five things to know about the Competition Bureau’s study into Canada’s grocery sector

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:28 GMT

Canada’s competition watchdog released its much awaited study into the country’s retail grocery market on Tuesday, painting a picture of a highly concentrated industry dominated by few players.Making an effort to detail its findings in “plain language,” the Competition Bureau highlighted the need to communicate clearly on the issue to promote transparency.The bureau said most Canadians buy groceries in stores owned by giants Loblaw, Sobeys, and Metro, with rising prices signalling a need for more competition in the sector.Here are five key take-aways from the report.Harmonized unit pricing requirements as a potential solutionAmong the four main recommendations contained in the report, the Competition Bureau called on provincial and territorial governments to consider introducing accessible and harmonized unit pricing requirements. That would force grocers to display the price of a product based on a standard package size, alongside the total price. For instan...

Canadian wildfires are causing unhealthy air quality again in Chicago and other parts of the US

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:28 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Drifting smoke from the ongoing wildfires across Canada is creating curtains of haze and raising air quality concerns throughout the Great Lakes region, and in parts of the central and eastern United States.Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy on Tuesday issued an air quality alert for the entire state, while in Chicago — where the air quality has been categorized “unhealthy” by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — officials are urging young people, older adults and residents with health issues to spend more time indoors. “Just driving into the zoo … you could just see around the buildings, kind of just haze,” said Shelly Woinowski, who was visiting the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.Some day care centers in the Chicago area have told parents that their children will remain indoors Tuesday due to the poor air quality, while one youth sports club says it adjusted its activities to add more time indoors.“We recommend childre...

Russian militia maintains ruthless role in Africa after failed rebellion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:28 GMT

BIRAO, Central African Republic (AP) — The Russian mercenary group that briefly threatened President Vladimir Putin’s authority has for years been a ruthless force-for-hire across Africa, protecting rulers at the expense of the masses. That dynamic is not expected to change now that the group’s founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has been exiled to Belarus as punishment for the failed rebellion.The Wagner Group brutalizes civilians in the Central African Republic, Mali and elsewhere to crush dissent and fend off threats to their leaders’ power. In exchange, Russia gains access to natural resources and ports through which weapons can be shipped, and receives payments that enrich the Kremlin and help it fund operations elsewhere, including the war in Ukraine.Neither Russia nor the African leaders dependent on Wagner’s fighters have any interest in ending those relationships. But many questions linger in the aftermath of Wagner’s stunning revolt, such as who will lead its thousands...

Mother in deadly Maxwell Street Express shooting files lawsuit against City of Chicago

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:28 GMT

CHICAGO — The mother who was arrested for murder at a Far South Side hot dog stand, but later had the charges dropped, filed a lawsuit against the City of Chicago Tuesday morning. At the beginning of the press conference, attorney Ari Williams thanked Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx before Carlishia Hood spoke out for the first time."On June 18 of this year my life changed, my son’s life changed, I've experiences pain in many ways that I would have never have thought, what happened to me was totally," Carlishia Hood said.Hood and her 14-year-old son were released from Cook County Jail Monday after prosecutors dropped first-degree murder charges in the fatal shooting of 32-year-old Jeremy Brown.Hood and her son had been charged with murdering Brown at a Maxwell Street Express restaurant, located near the corner of 116th Street and Halsted in Chicago’s West Pullman neighborhood on June 18.Store surveillance captured the moment Hood and 32-year-old Brown got into an argument. At ...

Chicago has worst air quality in the world due to wildfire smoke

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:28:28 GMT

CHICAGO —  Wildfire smoke from Canada has brought air quality levels to unhealthy levels in Chicago and much of the Midwest.Chicago currently has the worst air quality in the world right now.An Air Quality Alert has been issued for the Chicago area and Northwest Indiana though Wednesday night. Counties include Cook, DuPage, Will, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, La Salle, Lake and McHenry in Illinois.People with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teens should avoid strenuous outdoor activities, keep outdoor activities short. Others should choose less strenuous activities limit active time outdoors. Here’s how you can check the air quality in Illinois Chicago now has the worst air quality of any major city in the world right now. #Chicago #AirQuality @WGNNews pic.twitter.com/BG0tZfWe8E— Bill Snyder (@billyweather) June 27, 202311:30 AM: AQI index has reached VERY UNHEALTHY levels. Illinois EPA has finally issued an Air Quality Alert through tomorrow nig...