Dengue, Protect Public Lands, and more
September 19, 2026 Weekly Newsletter
Dengue's Florida surge and why it matters here
Florida logged 111 locally acquired dengue cases by Sept. 5, up from 73 a week earlier. Hillsborough County accounts for 95 of them, having jumped from 59 in a single week. That's what an established transmission cycle looks like once it gets going.
The reason to pay attention locally isn't the case count (Indian River has none) but how we'd find out. Our own mosquito control district says there's no useful early-detection program for dengue, chikungunya, or Zika. The sentinel chicken flocks and trap counts that flag West Nile and EEE circulating before people get sick don't work for dengue, because the virus moves mosquito-to-human-to-mosquito rather than through birds. The first indication the virus is here will be a human case, confirmed after the fact.
Florida has recorded 136 travel-associated dengue cases this year, in residents infected abroad who came home before symptoms hit. Indian River has shown up on that list in past years. All it takes is one of those people getting bitten in their own yard by the right mosquito during the week they're contagious, and the cycle is running locally. Hillsborough almost certainly started from a single imported case.
We're not blind to mosquito activity, though. A horse in Indian River County tested positive for Eastern equine encephalitis in late August, which tells you the vectors are out and surveillance is picking things up.
The practical piece is close to home. The Aedes mosquitoes that carry dengue don't breed in ditches, swales, or the marsh impoundments. They breed in containers (buckets, tires, plant saucers, birdbaths, rain barrels, clogged gutters, abandoned pools), usually within a few yards of a front door. Dengue control is less about aerial spraying than about what's sitting in your yard after an afternoon storm.
So: dump standing water weekly, scrub the saucers rather than just tipping them (eggs stick to the sides), use repellent with DEET or picaridin, and call the district if a neighboring property has an abandoned pool. Symptoms show up three to 14 days after a bite, and look like sudden fever, bad headache, pain behind the eyes, and deep joint and muscle aches.
The newsletter will be on a short break for the next few weeks, but we won't be quiet. Look for the candidate questionnaires for City Council in your inbox during that time (their answers on the issues that matter most to our community). Regular issues resume in early October.
PFAS Well Water Testing
IRNA is offering free, certified lab testing for PFAS ("forever chemicals") in private drinking water wells. Sign up, submit your water sample, and get your results, plus learn what they mean for your health.
We are especially searching for wells at or near Blue Cypress Lake, Fellsmere, Gifford, and Wabasso. There are only a few tests left! Reach out today!
Open to Indian River County home and business owners on private wells only (not connected to municipal water). Questions? Contact Missy@IndianRiverNA.com
Protect Wild Places on Public Lands
The Roadless Rule is on the chopping block, and comments close September 21.
For 25 years, this rule has kept road construction and commercial logging out of the wildest parts of our National Forests. The U.S. Forest Service now wants to repeal it outright, stripping protection from tens of millions of acres and handing those decisions to individual forest supervisors, one project at a time.
Florida has three national forests in the crosshairs: Ocala, Osceola, and Apalachicola. Ocala is the one closest to home for us. It sits on the Floridan Aquifer recharge, holds the springs that feed the St. Johns, and its undeveloped areas are a big part of why that river still functions.
Here is the Indian River County connection. There is no national forest land in our county, but the St. Johns River starts here. The headwaters are in our western marshes (Blue Cypress Lake, the Fort Drum and Blue Cypress conservation areas, the Upper St. Johns River Basin project that Indian River County taxpayers helped build). We spend real money restoring the top of that river. Ocala protects a stretch of the middle of it. Weakening one end of a river system while paying to fix the other end is not a strategy, it is a waste.
The agency's argument is that a national rule is too blunt and local officials should decide. In practice that means protections won once, nationally, now have to be defended over and over by communities with a fraction of the resources of the industries asking for access.
More than 220,000 comment letters came in during the scoping period last year. Volume matters here.
Comment by September 21, 2026 at regulations.gov, docket FS-2025-0001 (or RIN 0596-AD66). Tell the Forest Service to leave the Roadless Rule alone.
Sebastian Pines gets land use and zoning | (Hometown News) - The Sebastian City Council unanimously approved residential land use and planned unit development zoning for the annexed 204-acre Sebastian Pines property despite neighboring residents raising concerns regarding density, stormwater runoff, and municipal communication.
Vero Beach Regional Airport's terminal makeover (TCPalm) - Vero Beach Regional Airport has finished a 1.9 million dollar terminal renovation project that added covered passenger walkways, a covered baggage-claim area, and improved ADA-compliant restrooms.
August temps on Florida's Treasure Coast hottest in over a century (TCPalm) - Twelve Florida counties, including Indian River, St. Lucie, and Martin, recorded their hottest August in recorded history as the state overall logged its second-warmest August on record.
City OK’s $1.76M contract to at last rebuild boardwalk (Vero News) - The City of Vero Beach has awarded a 1.76 million dollar contract to Ferreira Construction to rebuild the Humiston Beach Park boardwalk destroyed by 2022 hurricanes, with construction slated to begin in November and conclude before the spring sea turtle nesting season.
Sheriff's Sgt. on paid leave amid investigation into misuse of Flock system - Vero News (Vero News) - An Indian River County Sheriff's sergeant has been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into suspected misuse of the Flock Safety license plate reader database amid broader regional audits and a state order to remove automated tag readers from Florida highways.
Do you support Amendment 3?
Now that the new ballot language is finalized, we're curious. We're running an informal straw poll of IRNA readers on Amendment 3, the property tax measure on the November 3 ballot. Three questions, less than thirty seconds: which way are you leaning, are you homesteaded, and what is your zip code. We'll keep it open for a few weeks and let you know the results in October. These three questions will give us some interesting data on our readership. Thank you for your participation!
Septic fix could cost you $25K in Florida. Meetings canceled | OpInion (TCPalm) - Laurence Reisman argues that Florida's state mandate requiring homeowners to replace septic tanks or connect to sewer systems by 2030 imposes severe, unfunded financial burdens on local residents and counties, necessitating legislative deadline extensions and state-provided financial assistance.
Vero Beach Airport flights in Florida to enjoy this September (TCPalm) - Vero Beach Regional Airport continues to offer multiple nonstop flight options across six states through carriers like Breeze Airways, JetBlue, and American Airlines, even as JetBlue discontinues its New York City route and American Airlines prepares to launch seasonal service to Philadelphia.
How to Steal a Tree (Legally, From Audubon) (Vero Minute) - The Pelican Island Audubon Society distributes free native trees three times weekly from its Oslo Road location in Vero Beach to promote local environmental and economic benefits while advancing its long-term goal of planting 100,000 native plants across Indian River County.
Florida election 2026 for US House District 9: Darren Soto v Dan Green (TCPalm) - With Indian River County now part of Congressional District 9, TCPalm asked incumbent Rep. Darren Soto (D) and challenger Dan Green (R) the same questions about their backgrounds and priorities ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
Aging US Water Systems Are No Match for Climate Change (Bloomberg) - A catastrophic water main rupture beneath West Hollywood alongside several other major leaks across Los Angeles highlights how extreme heat waves are straining and exposing the vulnerability of century-old urban water infrastructure.
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