Five Cases of Zika Found in Brownsville, Pregnant Women Advised to Stay Away

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By Becky FogelDecember 16, 2016 4:32 pm

The Standard’s news roundup gives you a quick hit of interesting, sometimes irreverent, and breaking news stories from all over the state.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are urging pregnant women not to visit Brownsville – where five locally-transmitted cases of the Zika virus have been found.

As Texas Public Radio’s Wendy Rigby reports, Cameron County health officials are also telling any pregnant women who have been in the South Texas city since October 29 to get tested:

“This includes pregnant women with symptoms of Zika like rash, fever, joint pain or red eyes; pregnant women who live in or frequently travel to Brownsville or nearby Mexico and who are without symptoms in their first or second trimester; and pregnant women who are without symptoms but who have had even limited travel to Brownsville,” Rigby says.




How worried are new Americans about a Donald Trump presidency? That’s what Houston Public Media wanted to know after a campaign season that saw Trump repeatedly rely on anti-immigrant messaging. Reporter Al Ortiz spoke with Houston residents at a citizenship ceremony Wednesday:

For Danial Shaikh, a 29-year-old petroleum engineer from Pakistan, as long as citizenship applicants have all the required documents “the process is definitely, I’m sure, not gonna change,” so he thinks it will not make a difference who is in the White House.

Shaikh spoke to Houston Public Media just a few minutes before being naturalized at a citizenship ceremony held in a north Houston arena on Wednesday.

Antonia Romero immigrated to the United States from El Salvador when she was 13 years-old and had a different take than Shaikh.

“It does make difference becoming a citizen while Obama is still on, … you know, in the White House because things might get a little tougher for the people in the future that are applying to become citizens,” Romero, who is now 26 years old and studying to be a nurse, stated while attending the ceremony, also briefly before taking the oath of citizenship.

Romero said she thinks the citizenship process might become longer and require more paperwork under the Trump Administration.

Ming Cheng, a 43-year-old engineer from China that has lived in America for the past 16 years, noted he puts his faith in the Constitution.

In regards to immigration processes, Ming commented “it really doesn’t matter” who is the President.

He added the rule of law gives him peace of mind.




This week, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines announced plans to bring speedier Wi-Fi to its more than 700 plans starting next year.

Fast, in-flight Wi-Fi is one the amenities passengers request the most. Fort Worth-based American Airlines said it was increasing Wi-Fi speeds on over 200 planes earlier this year.