July 26, 2016
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Public Health & Healthcare Preparedness
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NEWS San Juan Sues CDC to Stop Aerial Spraying that Might Thwart Zika. The city of San Juan has filed a lawsuit hoping to prevent federal health officials from proceeding with plans to begin aerial spraying on Puerto Rico in order prevent the spread of the Zika virus. The move comes amid heated debate over the extent to which spraying an insecticide called Naled will have a negative effect on human health and wildlife. (STAT News, 7/25/16)
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BLOG Using the Law to Prepare for Global Health Emergencies. When laws are not clearly defined, responders can have a hard time figuring out what to do during a public health emergency and who has the authority to take action. When a deadly disease outbreak hits, this can have devastating consequences. Liberia knows firsthand what can happen when laws don't match the needs in the field. Their experience with the recent Ebola epidemic exposed gaps in legal authority during the response. (CDC, 7/25/16)
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PRESS RELEASE CDC Awards $60 Million to Help States and Territories Battle Zika. The funding, distributed through CDC's Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Infectious Diseases Cooperative Agreement (ELC), will support activities to protect the health of the American public, especially pregnant women, including epidemiologic surveillance and investigation, improving mosquito control and monitoring, and strengthening laboratory capacity. (CDC, 7/21/16)
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BLOG Securing Health at Our Nation's Most Symbolic Events. The work that goes into protecting the health of those attending and working at major events is extensive, and we take many variables into consideration, such as estimated crowd size, demographics, weather conditions, the type of event, and potential man-made threats. (ASPR, 7/15/16)
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CALL FOR APPLICATIONS Global Health Fellows II. USAID's Global Health Fellows II program is currently accepting applications for several fellowships and internships. (USAID, 7/16)
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CALL FOR APPLICATIONS Epidemic Intelligence Service. EIS officers are selected from among highly qualified applicants drawn to public health service and interested in practicing applied epidemiology. EIS officers may be assigned to work in the areas of infectious or noninfectious diseases, chronic disease, injury prevention, environmental health, or occupational health. We are particularly interested in applicants whose coursework and experience indicate flexibility to a variety of topical areas and geographic placements in the US and who have a record of high academic achievement, teamwork, innovation, and leadership. (CDC, 7/16)
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Homeland Security & Disaster Preparedness
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NEWS Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate Marks 10 Years. If you can imagine a disaster involving explosives or the release of nuclear, biological, chemical, or radioactive material, there's a pretty good chance a group of subject-matter experts within the FBI has built an elaborate scenario around it and tested how well emergency responders face up to it. (FBI, 7/25/16)
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NEWS FEMA Looks to Shift More Disaster Costs to States. Ballooning spending on disasters such as hurricanes, floods and wildfires that has some members of Congress calling for FEMA to look for ways to tighten its belt, while still covering essential disaster-mitigation and recovery costs. In response, FEMA is proposing that states pay a still-undetermined amount-similar to an insurance deductible-before receiving federal disaster aid, and the states could earn credits toward the amount by better preparing for a disaster. (Wall Street Journal, 7/21/16)
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BLOG NNSA Labs Fight Fire with Simulation. NNSA's labs are perfectly suited to support emergency response related to fire. A long history of adapting to climate change has prepared NNSA researchers at NNSA labs for a cascade of climate related impacts: drought, wildfires, and historic flooding. (NNSA, 7/19/16)
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INTERVIEW Advice on Leading High-Risk Projects in Government. Jason Matheny is the director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, or IARPA, which conducts scientific research and develops technologies for national intelligence. In this interview, Matheny talked about helping the intelligence community engage in better forecasting, funding high-risk, high-reward research and accepting failure as part of the process. (Washington Post, 7/14/16)
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Radiological & Nuclear Disaster Preparedness
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MEETING NRC Staff Seeks Public Input July 27 on Strategic Plan. The current Strategic Plan covers 2014-2018 and provides a blueprint for the NRC to plan, implement and monitor the work needed to achieve its mission. It establishes strategic goals, strategies, and performance expectations, as well as providing a basis for the agency's annual budget and performance plans. (NRC, 7/22/16)
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Science & Technology Policy
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There are no hearings scheduled for this week.
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