Brevard County Issues Mosquito-Borne Illness Advisory After Confirmed Dengue Case
The Florida Department of Health in Brevard County has issued a mosquito-borne illness advisory after confirming a locally acquired case of dengue fever, marking at least the third such case in Brevard this year. The advisory alerts residents to the virus, which is transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, and has prompted increased surveillance and mosquito control efforts, including ground and aerial spraying.
Dengue fever, known as “breakbone fever” due to its severe muscle and joint pain, typically causes sudden high fever, headaches, eye pain, fatigue, nausea, and sometimes rash or mild bleeding. While most cases resolve within a week, severe forms can be life-threatening.
Florida reported 91 locally acquired dengue cases across 10 counties in 2024, with Miami-Dade leading the state and reporting two more cases in 2025. Dengue was once eliminated from the continental U.S. but has re-emerged due to factors like international travel, climate change, and urban development.
Health officials emphasize prevention, as there is no specific treatment beyond supportive care. Residents are urged to take precautions against mosquito bites and visit FloridaHealth.gov for more information or to report symptoms.
100 orbital rockets launched by year's end?
Florida’s Space Coast has already recorded 61 rocket launches in 2025, outpacing last year’s record launch rate. This surge is driven largely by SpaceX’s deployment of Starlink internet satellites and the global rise in satellite deployments.
Today, a Falcon 9 is scheduled to deploy Boeing’s ninth and tenth O3B mPOWER satellites into medium-Earth orbit, with a launch window from 5 p.m. to 8:13 p.m.
As clean energy incentives disappear, Winter Park ramps up EV charging stations
It’s getting faster to charge electric vehicles in Winter Park.
The city’s seven new, rapid E-V chargers are right next to the SunRail station on West Morse Boulevard.
The D-C chargers at Winter Park’s new, “mobility hub” charge electric vehicles within 20 minutes to an hour — reflecting the amount of time people usually spend in the city’s downtown Park Avenue District. Other, slower types of E-V chargers can take up to 10 hours.
Ben Pauluhn runs the Mount Dora-based company that donated the E-V chargers, Optimus Energy Solutions. Pauluhn says as federal renewable energy incentives come to an end, communities will need to foster more public-private partnerships like this one.
“It removes all of the noise from this industry, and allows consumers and businesses to have a clear, predictable path forward, and just go.”
Federal tax credits offsetting the cost of buying a new or used electric vehicle will expire at the end of this September, under President Donald Trump’s tax-spending package.
Extending social security benefits
More than five million Floridians are receiving some income from Social Security benefits.
But... that may change soon. As of now, the trust fund is scheduled to be exhausted by 2032.
Louis Jacobson is with PolitiFact.
Speaking Friday on the Florida Roundup, he says making Social Security taxes more equitable could be a solution to extending benefits.
[Look, you know, we can kind of kill two birds with one stone here. We could tax people who are wealthier anyway who are getting this break that like, ordinary people don't. And we could save some more money and make Social Security last a little bit longer.]
Jacobson says that some experts claim taxing people who earn more money could extend Social Security by up to 20 or 30 years.
More: www.floridatoday.com
