submitted by Gordian Raacke

CLICK HERE - White House Council of Economic Advisors - Incorporating Renewables into the Grid: Expanding Opportunities for Smart Markets and Energy Storage (40 page .PDF report)

whitehouse.gov - June 16, 2016

. . The Administration is announcing new executive actions and 33 state and private sector commitments that will accelerate the grid integration of renewable energy and storage.  Together, these announcements are expected to result in at least 1.3 gigawatts of additional storage procurement or deployment in the next five years. .

Aerial view overlooking landscaping on April 4, 2015 in San Diego, California.  Photo: Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images

by Sarah Ferris and Peter Sullivan - April 25, 2016

The United States is on the verge of a national crisis that could mean the end of clean, cheap water.

Hundreds of cities and towns are at risk of sudden and severe shortages, either because available water is not safe to drink or because there simply isn’t enough of it.

The situation has grown so dire the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence now ranks water scarcity as a major threat to national security alongside terrorism.

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Photo: El Paso Times - (CLICK HERE to view additional photos)

texashillcountry.com - by Spring Sault - May 30, 2016

The existence of a number of aerial photos showing flood-related oil spills on a state-run website was revealed in an El Paso Times story by Marty Schladen last month, followed shortly by state officials ordering the photos removed from the website operated by the University of Texas at Austin.

Until the Times’ story was published, the photos weren’t common knowledge to the public and identified possible environmental damage caused by flooding in oil drilling areas, including fracking sites. . . .

Photo: El Paso Times - (CLICK HERE to view additional photos)

texashillcountry.com - by THC Staff - May 6, 2016

The recent Texas flooding has overwhelmed oil wells and fracking sites, overflowing crude oil and chemicals into rivers statewide.

With the onset of storms finally subsiding, state officials have begun to assess the entirety of the damage caused by the flooding that occurred across the state.

As KIII reported, “state emergency management officials have taken dozens of photographs that show sheens and plumes spreading from tipped tanks and flooded production sites” of the Sabine River flood on the Louisiana-Texas border.

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CLICK HERE - kiiitv.com - Flooding Flushes Oil, Chemicals into Texas Rivers

dshs.state.tx.us - May 31, 2016

Recently reported case contracted in 2015 

The Texas Department of State Health Services has confirmed the first locally acquired case of chikungunya, a mosquito borne illness. A Cameron County resident got sick with the illness in November 2015 and was diagnosed with a lab test in January 2016. The case, however, was not reported to the local health department until last month. The investigation performed by the Cameron County Department of Health and Human Services determined the patient had not traveled, and the case was confirmed last week by testing at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Chikungunya disease is a viral illness spread by mosquitoes and was first detected in travelers returning to Texas from areas with local transmission in 2014. All previous Texas residents who contracted the illness were infected while traveling abroad. Because this case was contracted more than six months ago and mosquito surveillance has not found chikungunya in local mosquitoes, the primary risk of infection remains related to travel. DSHS encourages people to protect themselves from mosquito bites at home and while traveling to stop the spread of chikungunya, Zika and West Nile virus.

Aerial view of the Toledo Bend Dam near Burkeville, Texas, on Mar. 10, 2016. At the time, a record release of 207,644 cubic feet per second, or about 1.5 million gallons per second, was occurring.  (Vernon Parish Sheriff's Office Deputy Rusty Bailey)

AN EXPANDING LIST OF FLOOD-RELATED INFORMATION AND ASSISTANCE RESOURCES (CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW)

CLICK HERE - KFDM Special Report - A Flood of Complaints: Part 1

CLICK HERE - Brian Babin - Residents of Orange, Newton and Jasper Counties who suffered damage from the March flooding have until Wednesday, May 18, to register for FEMA assistance.

CLICK HERE - Beaumont Enterprise - Deweyville residents ask: Take buyout or rebuild?

CLICK HERE - OCOEM - Clarification - Individual Assistance - Disster Recovery Centers

Image: Anhydrous ammonia plant, ca. 1954. ROBERT W. KELLEY/TIME & LIFE PICTURES/GETTY IMAGES

wired.com - Sarah Zhang - May 16th 2016

Of all the elements that make up Earth’s atmosphere, nitrogen is by far the most abundant. It is also one of the most inert. Nothing happens when you breathe it in, swallow it, or let it suffuse your skin.

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CLICK HERE - STUDY - Pew Research Center - America’s Shrinking Middle Class: A Close Look at Changes Within Metropolitan Areas

latimes.com - by Don Lee - May 11, 2016

America's shrinking middle class, a growing concern for the economy and a central issue in the presidential race, cuts across virtually all communities from coast to coast, according to a study released Wednesday.

The report by Pew Research Center found that the share of the middle class fell in 203 of the 229 U.S. metropolitan areas examined from 2000 to 2014, including major cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, which saw a relatively sharp drop in its middle class.

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CLICK HERE - 2016 National Health Security Preparedness Index

The 2016 National Health Security Preparedness Index shows gaps in health readiness among states.

hhnmag.com - by Matt O'Connor - April 25, 2016

Summer is rapidly approaching, and so is ideal mosquito weather and the opportunity for the spread of Zika — something hospitals need to be ready for.

The 2016 National Health Security Preparedness Index, released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, shows that the United States scores 6.7 out of 10 for preparedness against public health emergencies, a 3.6 percent increase since the survey began three years ago. But, some of the regions most susceptible to the spread of Zika scored below the national level, including the Deep South.

Having many states improve their scores is a positive sign that the nation is improving, but there is concern that the South isn’t as prepared for the approaching mosquito season, says Glen Mays, professor of health policy at the University of Kentucky's College of Public Health, who leads the team overseeing the Index.

Dengue-infected tissue - CDC; Frederick Murphy, Cynthia Goldsmith

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Dengue Virus Antibodies Enhance Zika Virus Infection

Previous flavivirus infection could help explain the severity of symptoms in some people infected during the ongoing Zika outbreak, researchers report.

The Scientist - by Tanya Lewis - April 28, 2016

Scientists at Florida Gulf Coast University and their colleagues have found that human cells were more likely to be infected with Zika virus in vitro if they contained antibodies to dengue virus. Their findings, detailed Monday (April 25) in a bioRxiv preprint, could help explain why Zika infection appears to be more severe in areas where dengue is endemic, and points to a potential unintended effect of dengue vaccination.

Antibodies to dengue can increase the virus’s infectivity for certain types of immune cells through a process called antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), resulting in the production of more virus and more severe illness.

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An Aedes Aegypti mosquito photographed on human skin. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Cell Host & Microbe - Wolbachia Blocks Currently Circulating Zika Virus Isolates in Brazilian Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes

Presence of Wolbachia bacterium in the insects seen limiting their ability to transmit the rapidly spreading virus

wsj.com - by REED JOHNSON, ROGERIO JELMAYER, and BETSY MCKAY - May 4, 2016

Introducing a common bacterium into a species of mosquitoes drastically limits the insects’ ability to transmit the dangerous Zika virus that has been spreading rapidly, according to researchers at Brazil’s leading medical-research institute.

In a new study published on Wednesday in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, researchers at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), in Rio de Janeiro, said their experiments have shown that injecting Aedes aegypti mosquito eggs with the Wolbachia bacterium makes the eventual adult mosquitoes highly resistant to the Zika virus, thereby limiting their ability to spread it.

CLICK HERE - Quest Diagnostics - Zika Virus Infection - Important Testing Information and Helpful Resources

nbcnews.com - by Maggie Fox - April 28, 2016

The first commercial U.S. test to diagnose Zika virus won emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration Thursday.

It's a rare piece of good news as states and the federal government struggle to get out ahead of the Zika virus epidemic as it makes its way north to the U.S.

Quest Diagnostics says it should be able to handle any demand for the test, which uses the same method that government labs use to look for Zika virus in a patient's blood.

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Sarah Yatcko, left, holds her son Tucker Neal as they are evacuated by boat with her father Jim Yatcko, by Bossier Parish Sheriff personnel during rising floodwaters in Bossier Parish, La., Thursday, March 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

weather.com - by Quincy Vagell and Chris Dolce and Jon Erdman - March 10, 2016

Torrential rainfall continues to swamp parts of the South, smashing March records, and triggering major flash flooding and worsening river flooding in parts of Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi. Heavy rain has also spread into parts of western Tennessee, western Kentucky, and western Mississippi.

More than 20 inches of rain had fallen near Monroe, Louisiana, by Thursday morning, prompting numerous rescues. The official airport reporting station in Monroe had picked up 18.96 inches of rain in less than two days by 12 p.m. CST Thursday. This is closing in on the record wettest month for that location set in October 2009 when 20.56 inches was recorded.

Major flooding has also swamped the Shreveport, Louisiana, area where up to 16 inches of rain has fallen. Elsewhere, double-digit rainfall totals have been recorded in east Texas, southern Arkansas, and northwest Mississippi.

Dallas County Health and Human Services confirms its first case of Zika virus transmitted through sexual activity

CLICK HERE - Dallas County Health and Human Services - DCHHS Reports First Zika Virus Case in Dallas County Acquired Through Sexual Transmission (2 page .PDF file)

cnn.com - by Sandee LaMotte - February 2, 2016

The first case of locally acquired Zika in the continental United States has occurred through sexual transmission in Texas, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.

The case, announced by Dallas County health officials, involved a patient who had sex with someone who had recently returned from Venezuela infected with the mosquito-borne virus.

In a statement to CNN, the CDC said it confirmed the test results showing Zika present in the blood of a "nontraveler in the continental United States." They stressed that there was no risk to a developing fetus in this instance.

Based on that, the CDC says it will soon provide guidance on sexual transmission, with a "focus on the male sexual partners of women who are or who may be pregnant."

WHO Director-General summarizes the outcome of the Emergency Committee on Zika

who.int - February 1, 2016

WHO statement on the first meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee on Zika virus and observed increase in neurological disorders and neonatal malformations 

I convened an Emergency Committee, under the International Health Regulations, to gather advice on the severity of the health threat associated with the continuing spread of Zika virus disease in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Committee met today by teleconference.

In assessing the level of threat, the 18 experts and advisers looked in particular at the strong association, in time and place, between infection with the Zika virus and a rise in detected cases of congenital malformations and neurological complications.

The experts agreed that a causal relationship between Zika infection during pregnancy and microcephaly is strongly suspected, though not yet scientifically proven. All agreed on the urgent need to coordinate international efforts to investigate and understand this relationship better.