Tick-tock: A live Doomsday Clock update set for Jan. 27

THE DAILY FRAY
January 16, 2021 10:00 am
Predicting the end of the world is a tricky business. A growing business, too. Not all doomsday clocks – and there’s a bunch out there these days – are in sync. For many folks wrestling with world events, the hard part is choosing who and what to believe. MORE-»

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Interstate fisheries bosses leave bunker on the hook

THE DAILY FRAY
November 14, 2017 11:00 pm
Menhaden, a fish at the bottom of the ocean’s food chain, is also staying put at the bottom of the menu for Atlantic saltwater fisheries management for at least two more potentially risky years, many stakeholders say. MORE-»

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State braces for Matthew's assault

THE DAILY FRAY
October 6, 2016 9:36 am
“Environmental conditions appear favorable for continued strengthening today and Matthew is expected to become an extremely dangerous category 4 hurricane while it moves over the northwestern Bahamas and approaches the east coast of Florida," the National Hurricane Center said Thursday. MORE-»

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Fears confirmed: Florida first state with homegrown Zika virus

THE DAILY FRAY
July 28, 2016 11:20 am
The Florida Department of Health and federal health officials confirm that four Zika cases in Miami-Dade and Broward counties are the first in the continental United States spread by local mosquitoes. MORE-»

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Federal, global inattention contribute to burst in crisis

By JOHN HOWELL • The Daily Fray
July 24, 2016 3:37 pm
UPDATED | Rare tropical diseases were always part of South Florida’s scene from time to time. But Zika is an extraordinary health threat — a perplexing mosquito-borne, sexually transmitted illness linked with neurological disorders and seemingly without peer in the insect world, according to scientists and health authorities. Many, though, saw it coming for years. MORE-»

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Florida's health authorities, CDC probing possible 2nd local case of Zika infection

THE DAILY FRAY
July 20, 2016 9:30 am
UPDATED | The health threat of Zika in Florida intensified this week when the state Department of Health said a new investigation was underway into a possible second locally transmitted case involving the grim mosquito-borne illness. MORE-»

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Zika: Health authorities slow to acknowledge sex connection

By JOHN HOWELL • The Daily Fray
February 3, 2016 9:16 am
For weeks, world and U.S. health authorities were saying there are five things everyone needs to know about Zika. Here’s No. 6: sex. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention knew about the potential blockbuster health threat involving Zika and sexual intercourse since at least 2008. MORE-»

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Zika in Florida; spread by mosquitoes, potentially sex

THE DAILY FRAY
January 17, 2016 11:58 am
UPDATED (1/20) | Zika, a debilitating illness spread by mosquitoes and potentially through sex, was confirmed in three Florida patients Tuesday and is producing an extraordinary threat in the Americas, health officials say. “We didn’t feel we could wait,” a scientist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week. MORE-»

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Diablotin: A new chapter for black-capped petrel | Video

THE DAILY FRAY
August 5, 2015 8:39 pm
The black-capped petrel, a prolific nocturnal seafarer and among the world's rarest birds, was recently rediscovered in Dominica. A film, "Save the Devil," highlights struggles faced by petrels and people who share habitat in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. MORE-»

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Mosquito alert: Zika, hurts like dengue, can spread through sex

THE DAILY FRAY
June 9, 2015 5:12 pm
Zika arrived in the Caribbean this week and is definitely not your garden-variety tropical illness caused by mosquitos. Unlike dengue and chikungunya, a person with Zika can spread the disease through sex, health officials say. MORE-»

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Rare seabird losing fight to gain federal attention

THE DAILY FRAY
April 13, 2015 9:17 pm
The black-capped petrel, a prolific nocturnal seafarer, is fighting extinction on several manmade fronts and could even use some protection from itself. A big help is some techy advances. A huge enemy is time. That fight may be settled in court, a St. Petersburg conservation attorney said. MORE-»

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Birds apparently ticked off at no-feeding policy in Melbourne

THE DAILY FRAY
March 27, 2015 12:54 pm
Move along. Nothing to see here. That’s the message a group of seemingly ticked-off ducks, geese, seagulls, ibis and other birds are sending in a Melbourne park where people are fond of their feathered friends. MORE-»

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Precarious maternity season for Florida's 13 species of bats

THE DAILY FRAY
March 23, 2015 9:54 pm
Bat exclusions typically require a professional or at least a consult. As a word to the wise the FWC has a story about a bat exclusion gone wrong. "When the workers finished, they assumed that most of the bats had escaped and that those that didn’t would simply perish unnoticed inside the walls of the courthouse. They were wrong." MORE-»

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Skateboarders, some on a mission, united in Bradenton competition

THE DAILY FRAY
February 28, 2015 2:12 pm
Waivers? Skateboard nation don't need no stinkin' waivers. They want freedom from park fees and traffic tickets. "We are off to a great start but still have a long way to go yet," says Tim Payne, an organizer for Free Florida Skateparks, a group trying to change state law. MORE-»

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Bob Simpson: scientist who ranked hurricanes

By JOHN HOWELL • The Daily Fray
December 20, 2014 8:30 am
Bob Simpson was head of the National Hurricane Center in Miami when Camille bulldozed into Mississippi Aug. 17, 1969. Under his direction, an experimental computer model was predicting a monster storm surge. When the data was combined with a report from an Air Force WC-130 estimating winds near the eye at 190 mph, last-minute evacuations were ordered. The forecast is hailed for saving hundreds of lives. MORE-»

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Florida's ranching: Butcher's perspective in black and white

By JOHN HOWELL • The Daily Fray
December 13, 2014 9:00 pm
Florida ranchers seem to be a tolerant group. Their land supports vast populations of wildlife, including the rarest. A rich mixture of habitats protect water systems that serve millions. Speculators want to buy it; activists want to save it; and the government wants to tax it. MORE-»

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Mighty, and tiny, red knot receives federal protection

THE DAILY FRAY
December 12, 2014 8:05 am
The red knot, a mighty and tiny rust-colored shorebird and Suncoast visitor known as a prolific voyager, received federal protection this week after a 14-month review by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. MORE-»

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Bald eagle nest: Tossed out at home

By JOHN HOWELL • The Daily Fray
November 15, 2014 6:00 pm
It's 333 feet down the left field line at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, a good view for eagle eyes. But the spring training home of the Orioles is a bad spot to canoodle for America's bird. MORE-»

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Manatee County prepared for ebola, officials say

By JOHN HOWELL • The Daily Fray
October 9, 2014 7:20 pm
Public safety and health officials said Thursday that Manatee County has the resources and emergency management ability to contend with a potential case of Ebola. “We are prepared [and] our hospitals are prepared,” Public Safety Director Ron Koper said at a news briefing. MORE-»

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Mistaken identity fatal for honey bee hive

By JOHN HOWELL • The Daily Fray
September 19, 2014 5:41 pm
A beehive in Bradenton was mistakenly identified as a colony of Africanized "killer bees," a bee expert said. The hive was destroyed on orders of county education officials. MORE-»

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