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Phil AmmannJuly 5, 2016

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 Thursday. The House and Senate have just eight legislative days before their break, and lawmakers […]

Keith MorelliJune 28, 2016

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 […]

Associated PressJune 24, 2016

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 […]

Larry GriffinMay 26, 2016

At the Bronson Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Kissimmee, trained scientists will work this summer to stop the spread of the Zika virus before it becomes a problem in Florida. At a news event Thursday morning, Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam said no Zika cases have originated in Florida yet. Although there are currently 158 cases of […]

Associated PressMay 26, 2016

Florida has received less than half of the special traps it has ordered to help detect the Zika virus in mosquitoes, and nationwide the only U.S. distributor of the traps has a backlog of almost 1,950 orders from governments and private businesses, officials said Thursday. State workers in Florida had ordered more than 300 of […]

Larry GriffinMay 20, 2016

As an afternoon storm blew through downtown Orlando, Florida Sen. Bill Nelson addressed a group of reporters at his regional office Friday and called for more funding from the government to fight mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus that can come with such storms. The Zika virus has been spreading in a way Nelson and other worried officials call […]

Scott PowersMay 19, 2016

Declaring that the Zika virus “threatens the entire family, the entire community, and the entire state of Florida,” U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson blasted Republicans Thursday, saying their anti-Zika plan is “Don’t get bit.” It echoes his most infamous partisan statement in a long history of such, when he declared on the floor of Congress in 2009 […]

Scott PowersMay 16, 2016

Florida’s outgoing Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio suggested Monday he may be ready to endorse the Republican he wants to follow him into the office. “I’ll have something to say about that in the next couple of days,” Rubio said Monday after meeting in Orlando with Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs to discuss Central Florida’s heroin crisis. […]

Scott PowersMay 12, 2016

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Florida’s Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio jointly declared Thursday that they consider the latest U.S. Senate bipartisan $1.1 billion plan to combat the Zika virus to be inadequate, so they are putting forth their own bipartisan plan seeking $1.9 billion. Florida’s senators jointly announced that they are introducing an […]

Scott PowersMay 6, 2016

Florida’s U.S. Senator Bill Nelson said Friday that Puerto Rico faces a Zika virus public health emergency and he believes the $1.9 billion emergency fund he sponsored will get through the Senate. The Democrat from Orlando also said he is working side-by-side with Florida’s Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio to convince Congress that the mosquito-borne […]

Tag: Zika virus
Debate party at Sports Grill Kendall. Image via AP.

Guns, immigration and Zika top agenda as Congress returns

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

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

Adam Putnam talks about traps for mosquitoes to test for Zika virus

Nationwide backlog of traps to detect Zika virus

As summer arrives, Bill Nelson calls for more funding for mosquito control

Alan Grayson adapts his GOP health care line for Zika mosquitoes: ‘Don’t get bit’

Marco Rubio may be ready to endorse in U.S. Senate race, defends his own pace

Bill Nelson, Marco Rubio, offer $1.9 billion Zika-fight alternative to Senate’s $1.1billion compromise

Bill Nelson says Puerto Rico faces Zika emergency