State says to stay out of the water at 2 more MS Coast beaches, for a total of 6
The same bacteria that has endured for weeks at several Mississippi Coast beaches appeared in two new spots on Tuesday, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality said.
Routine water quality testing found bacteria at Pass Christian West Beach and Edgewater Beach in Biloxi. The state issued water contact advisories for the beaches this week and encouraged swimmers to avoid the water.
The bacteria is a common nuisance on shorelines across the country and not worrisome enough to close beaches. But scientists say it means there could be stormwater runoff in the water that might cause digestive problems or infections.
Six beaches are testing for higher-than-normal levels of bacteria.
Six of the Mississippi Coast's 21 beaches now have higher-than-normal levels of bacteria, according to the Department of Environmental Quality. Pass Christian East Beach, Long Beach, Gulfport West Beach and Gulfport Harbor Beach are still under water contact advisories issued earlier this year.
It is not always clear where the bacteria, called Enterococcus, come from. But researchers say faulty septic tanks and sewers can leak through the stormwater system and drain into the Mississippi Sound. Wind can even stir up waves that unearth bacteria buried in sediment underwater. The advisories often increase in summer and are also common after rain.
The state also has a standing advisory against swimming after heavy rain because runoff from drains south of the railroad tracks inevitably washes pollutants into the water.
This Coast team tests for the trouble that keeps turning up on our beaches
Here is the full list of advisories in 2025:
April 18: The state issued an advisory for Gulfport East Beach. That advisory lifted April 23.
April 17: The state issued an advisory for Pass Christian West Beach, Gulfport Harbor Beach and Gulfport Central Beach. The advisory for Gulfport Central Beach lifted April 23. The Pass Christian West Beach advisory lifted April 24.
March 20: The state issued advisories for Pass Christian East Beach and Gulfport West Beach.
March 13: The state issued an advisory for Bay St. Louis Beach and Pass Christian Central Beach. A day later, it issued an advisory for Biloxi East Central Beach. Mississippi lifted the advisories at Bay St. Louis Beach and Biloxi East Central Beach on March 19. The advisory for Pass Christian Central Beach lifted April 23.
Feb. 13: Mississippi issued an advisory in Long Beach, Pass Christian Central Beach and Bay St. Louis Beach. The advisories in Pass Christian and Bay St. Louis lifted Feb. 26.
Feb. 6: The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality issued a water contact advisory at Gulfport West Beach. The advisory lifted Feb. 12. The agency also issued an advisory at Waveland Beach, which lifted Feb. 26.
Jan. 17: The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality issued an advisory at Front Beach in Ocean Springs. The advisory ended Jan. 29.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Growing number of Americans 55 and older are experiencing homelessness
Homelessness in America has been steadily ticking up in recent years. In 2024, the United States saw an 18% increase in the homeless population from the year before — and those providing essential services like health care and housing assistance say they're most concerned about the aging population. More than 140,000 Americans who are 55 or older are experiencing homelessness on any given day, and that number is estimated to nearly triple by 2030, according to a 2019 report. Rose Del Rosario is among the aging homeless population growing across the United States. The 65-year-old has high blood pressure and lifelong asthma. One morning, she received an atypical house call from Daniel Speller, a physician associate with Healthcare in Action, a nonprofit providing assistance to people like Del Rosario across California. Speller took her vitals inside a medical van parked across the street from her RV in San Pedro. Del Rosario doesn't have health insurance, so she would sometimes purchase inhalers from people or find them in the trash. While she said she doesn't feel safe using them, she had no money left after her husband died several years ago — and that's how she wound up on the streets. When asked how she feels about navigating homelessness at this age, she said it makes her feel older. "I feel like it's aging me. I feel like it's aging me a lot," Del Rosario told CBS News. "It's just hard to live like this." Approximately 20% of the more than 771,000 people who were unhoused in the U.S. as of January 2024 were 55 and older, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development's data. Homelessness is often caused by the death of a spouse, divorce, joblessness, eviction or mounting medical issues, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness says. "These are folks entering the stage where they're starting to have multiple complex chronic medical conditions that need to be met, and they're just not being met," Speller told CBS News. "They're also the most vulnerable." Dennis Culhane, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania whose research focuses on homelessness and assisted housing policy, told CBS News that the aging trend in the homeless population has been going on for 30 years. The second half of the Baby Boomers generation — those born between 1955 and 1964 — have constituted the largest subsegment of the U.S. population since 1990, Culhane explained on "CBS Evening News." Because there are more of them, it puts them at higher risk of homelessness, Culhane said, but there are also other factors. "They came of age in the early 1980s at a time when there was very high unemployment and housing costs were rising," he said. "A lot of these folks were unable to get into the labor market by their mid-20s, so they've struggled for years trying to get a toehold in the workforce." When asked about the impact of the trend of public policy, Culhane said the major impact is on health care systems. "They end up hospitalized at very high rates. They often can't be discharged in a timely fashion because they have no place to go back to and no family to support them. So they often will end up in nursing homes, even though in those nursing homes they will often get discharged right back into homelessness," Culhane said. Healthcare in Action CEO Dr. Indu Subaiya said she fears the impact rising costs and potential cuts to government programs like Medicaid will have on seniors. "I don't believe we should be cutting Medicaid for those populations. We should leave those intact. And that will be so, so helpful to people not falling further into the hole," Subaiya told CBS News. At 65 years old, Del Rosario says she thought she'd be somewhere else for retirement. "On a nice comfortable rocking chair waiting for the casserole to come out of the oven," she said. "I didn't think it would be like this." Harry Chapin: Songwriter, activist and father How the U.S. Army was born Consumers warned about "gas station heroin"
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Raymond James bullish on biotech firms on favorable valuation
-- Raymond James started coverage on biotechnology companies, rating Avidity Biosciences and Disc Medicine at Strong Buy and assigning Outperform ratings to Dyne Therapeutics, Tectonic Therapeutic, and Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE), pointing to a sector-wide opportunity amid 'suppressed valuations.' Recent market weakness has created an attractive setup for investors willing to take on risk in high potential clinical-stage names, with upcoming catalysts likely to re-rate shares across several of its covered companies. Raymond James initiated Avidity Biosciences at Strong Buy with a $65 price target, calling its AOC (antibody oligonucleotide conjugate) platform 'ready for prime time.' The firm sees high conviction in Avidity's lead candidate del-zota for Duchenne muscular dystrophy and highlighted significant upside from potential first-mover drugs targeting DM1 and FSHD, both of which have large market opportunities. Disc Medicine was also rated Strong Buy, with an $89 target. Raymond James expects upside from bitopertin, its lead program in erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP) and X-linked protoporphyria (XLP), and said the broader pipeline provides 'two free call options.' For Dyne Therapeutics, the firm assigned an Outperform rating with a $37 target, arguing that the market is undervaluing DYNE-101, its DM1 program. It believes regulatory clarity could lift sentiment. Tectonic Therapeutic, rated Outperform with a $76 price target, was described as having one of the most attractive risk/reward profiles in the firm's coverage. Its TX45 asset is being tested in pulmonary hypertension and has shown early clinical activity. Wave Life Sciences was rated Outperform with a $14 target, with Raymond James citing favorable risk/reward into key Phase 2 data updates in obesity and alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency in the second half of 2025. Related articles Raymond James bullish on biotech firms on favorable valuation U.S. private equity firm Advent in exclusive talks for Reckitt's home unit BCA flags risks for BOTZ ETF as robotization pace may disappoint Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Sage, following Setbacks, to sell to Supernus for $561M
This story was originally published on BioPharma Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily BioPharma Dive newsletter. Sage Therapeutics, a brain drug developer that's dealt with a series of clinical setbacks, has agreed to be acquired by Supernus Pharmaceuticals in a deal worth $561 million. Supernus on Monday said it would pay $8.50 per share for Sage, an offer valuing shares at a roughly 27% premium to their previous closing price. The deal also includes a contingent value right worth up to $3.50 per share if certain sales and commercial milestones related Sage's lone product, the postpartum depression drug Zurzuvae, are met. Sage earlier this year turned down a $7.22-per-share offer from Zurzuvae development partner Biogen and sued the company, arguing it was being undervalued. The company has been evaluating 'strategic alternatives,' a process that included a search for a buyer, ever since. Sage has gone through a roller coaster ride since its founding more than a decade ago. Launched by Third Rock Ventures and run for many years by biotech veteran Jeff Jonas, the company aimed to develop brain drugs for a variety of conditions, from epilepsy and tremors to Huntington's disease. The company went public in 2014 to support that work and saw its share price swell to nearly $200 apiece a few years later as a pair of depression medicines advanced through testing. It brought to market not only the first medicine for postpartum depression, Zulresso, but the first pill for the condition, called Zurzuvae. It cut a multibillion-dollar partnership deal with Biogen, too. But Zulresso, a 60-hour infusion, never generated significant sales and Sage stopped marketing it at the end of the year. And the company had initially hoped to bring Zurzuvae to market for major depressive disorder — a much larger opportunity — but changed course and laid off staff after U.S. regulators asked for additional testing. Sage has suffered setbacks elsewhere, too, with experimental drugs failing studies in epilepsy, tremors, Alzheimer's, Huntington's and Parkinson's disease over the years. Company shares closed on Friday at $6.70 apiece and have fallen so low in recent months that Sage's board accused Biogen of lowballing the company with an earlier bid. The deal with Supernus feels 'like an unremarkable outcome for a company that was once one of the hottest stories' in brain drug research, wrote Stifel analyst Paul Matteis in a note to clients Monday. Matteis added that, for investors, though, the acquisition 'is a good end to the Sage story given the host of challenges facing the company.' In a separate note, RBC Capital Markets' Brian Abrahams called Supernus' offer 'fair' given the 'considerable time' it would have taken for Sage to become profitable. Abrahams also wrote that there is a 'very low likelihood' that Sage hits the majority of the sales targets that would bump up its sale price. Sage stockholders would get $1 per share if Zurzuvae hits $250 million in sales in the U.S. by 2027, and similar payouts if U.S. drug sales reach $300 million by 2028 and $375 million by 2030. Zurzuvae generated $72 million in U.S. sales in 2024. Biogen and Sage split U.S. profits. Recommended Reading Moderna inks another gene editing deal Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
