The Coachella Valley Number ‘One’ Desert Local Newspaper
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STAR W E E K L Y
PRESORTED STANDARD US POSTAGE PAID
Marsha Stephanie Blake stars as Lady Macbeth of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, see page 19. Photo by Jim Cox.
Desert Hot Springs, CA PERMIT NO 00005
July 6, 2016 Vol. 9 No. 54
Fight the Bite! By Desert Star Staff INDIO, Ca, Saint Louis encephalitis virus (SLE) is back in the Coachella Valley this summer after reappearing last August for the first time in more than a decade. Mosquito samples from two traps in different locations in Mecca have tested positive for SLE. The mosquitoes were collected from a trap near the corner of Lincoln Street and Avenue 72 and a trap near Hayes Street and Avenue 72. The
virus testing was done at the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District lab. West Nile virus (WNV) was also detected in four more samples of mosquitoes collected from traps in Palm Springs near the corner of Mesquite Avenue and Gene Autry Trail, the same location where WNV was detected in trapped mosquitoes in May and June. This brings the total number of WNV-positive mosquitoes to 12 for 2016.
Last year at this time, the district had detected 55 WNVpositive mosquito samples. “With the July 4th long weekend upon us, the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District urges Coachella Valley residents and visitors to be extra vigilant as they go about celebrating,” says District General Manager Jeremy Wittie, M.S. “Please remember to wear repellent on exposed skin if you are out at dawn and dusk when
By Desert Star Staff Though the FBI found that Hillary Clinton and her staff were “extremely careless” with State Department emails hosted on a private server, no criminal charges will be brought against the former secretary and current presidential candidate. “No reasonable prosecutor” would bring criminal charges in this case, FBI Director James Comey told reporters Tuesday morning, after going into the details of the bureau’s twoyear investigation, which he described as a “painstaking undertaking requiring thousands of hours of effort.” “Three of those
were classified at the time,” he added. Clinton used “several different serversand numerous mobile devices” to send and read emails on her personal domain during her tenure as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, Comey explained. The FBI set out to investigate any intentional or grossly negligent handling of classified information, as well as whether any hostile actors gained access to the files, after the intelligence community InspectorGeneral requested a probe. Of the 30,000 emails turned over to the State Department, the FBI found that 110 messages in 52
chains contained information that was classified at the time, of which eight were Top Secret, 36 were Secret and eight were Confidential. Another 2,000 messages were later deemed to have contained classified information based on their subject matter, in a process called “up-classification.” The FBI also found “several thousand” workrelated emails that had been deleted over the years. Three of those were classified at the time. However, the bureau concluded that none of them were intentionally deleted to hide
local virus-transmitting mosquitoes typically bite.” SLE is transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected mosquito just like WNV. In the Coachella Valley, the mosquito species that carry SLE – the Culex quinquefasciatus and the Cx. tarsalis – are the same mosquitoes that are able to transmit WNV. The viruses share the same symptoms. Most people infected will have no apparent illness.
Initial symptoms of those who become ill include fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, and tiredness. Severe neuroinvasive disease (often involving encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain) occurs more commonly in older adults. In rare cases, longterm disability or death can result. People should contact their health care provider if they have symptoms. Continues on Page 6
Clinton hid thousands of emails, but shouldn’t be charged
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FBI Director James Comey