TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A county in Florida’s Big Bend area told its residents who did not evacuate for Hurricane Helene to write their name and birthday on their body with a permanent marker. 

The Taylor County Sheriff’s Office emergency management division posted the advice on social media Thursday. 

“If you or someone you know chose not to evacuate, PLEASE write your, name, birthday and important information on your arm or leg in A PERMANENT MARKER so that you can be identified and family notified,” the post read. 

At a Thursday night briefing in Tallahassee, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis responded to the advice given by the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office. The governor said Florida state policy does not ask people to write on their bodies, but he also reminded residents that, as of around 6 p.m., they still have time to leave the area. 

“Our state policy is not saying people have to use marker to do whatever,” he said. “If you do hunker down, I don’t think you’re going to have the local sheriff’s department. I don’t think you’re going to see state resources brought to there for the rescue until it’s safe to do so.”

DeSantis said residents who chose not to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Helene’s landfall will likely face wait times if and when emergency responders are needed.

The National Hurricane Center is calling Hurricane Helene an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 hurricane. As of 6:20 p.m. on Thursday, the NHC reports Helene’s maximum sustained winds have increased to 130 mph.

“It’s a very real possibility that this storm will make landfall in Taylor County,” DeSantis said.

Even 10 feet of water rise could have “really serious consequences” to the county, he added. 

GILBERT, Ariz. — A Gilbert second grader who suffered a rattlesnake bite is recovering after she went 30 hours before receiving proper treatment.

7-year-old Allie Brasfield spent several days in the hospital. She has had two surgeries and received 40 vials of antivenom, according to her mom Amber Brasfield. 

“There was no puncture wounds, no one saw a snake, no one heard a rattle,” Brasfield said.

It happened earlier this month when Allie and her dad were walking in Gilbert Regional Park and she fell. 

“It didn’t hurt right away,” Allie said.

Allie walked home, according to Brasfield, but then she noticed that Allie’s ankle looked bruised. Allie’s parents took her to the hospital and were told it may be a sprained ankle.

“They said ‘everything is fine, go home’,” Brasfield said.

When they did, Allie became ill and the bruise on her ankle grew darker and started to crawl up her leg.

“It was very shocking,” Brasfield said. “It was just something abnormal, like, you don’t usually start throwing up from a sprained ankle.”

Brasfield claims they went to multiple hospitals where she said doctors conducted multiple scans and x-rays but couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Then when they went to Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Brasfield said her husband asked if it could be from a rattlesnake bite. She said doctors ran a toxicology report and found there was rattlesnake venom in her blood.

“It was all that much scarier knowing what the reality was,” said Allie’s older sister Kendra Nadler.

Doctors then rushed the second grader into emergency surgery to treat the 7-year-old more than 30 hours after she was bitten.

“She had multiple blood transfusions and 40 vials of antivenom,” Brasfield said.

Brasfield believes the reason why so many vials were needed is because of how long it took to properly treat the bit. In the end, it worked. Allie’s life, and her leg, were saved.

“We’re very grateful, Phoenix Children’s was amazing,” Brasfield said.

Allie is now back home and resting. Brasfield said her daughter still can’t put weight on the leg or stretch it normally. Allie has another surgery coming up next week and then will undergo physical therapy.

“You can do it, we’re going to get you back playing,” Brasfield said to her daughter.

At the same time, the family is concerned with how much all those vials will cost. Brasfield said their insurance does not cover it and said one vial can cost anywhere from $1,000 to $17,000.

“We are so grateful that they saved her life, that they gave her the antivenom, but it’s very overwhelming to think you might be leaving with a $400,000 bill,” Brasfield said.

While they wait to see what happens, the family is focused on Allie’s recovery.

The family also has set up a GoFundMe for medical bills. You can find it by clicking here.

DULUTH, Minn. — From polluted to pristine. This is a story of a new waterfront recreation area in Duluth that opened, or rather reopened, this summer.

It took millions of dollars, coordinated efforts, and lots of hard work to help it come back to life. 

“I think we’re all proud of what this has become,” said Cliff Knettel with Duluth Parks and Recreation.

Cliff is talking about Spirit Lake in the St. Louis River area of Duluth. It’s likely you haven’t visited before, because there wasn’t much to see.  Long ago it was a stopping point for the Anishinaabe people. It became a central part of trading and led to the industrialization of the city of Duluth.

Along with that came US Steel. The company operated a plant there until 1981. However, decades of production contaminated the water and land with heavy metals, putting the St. Louis River on the EPA’s area of concern list. In 2010, through the Great Lakes Legacy Act, a plan was hatched to clean it up.

“All in, it was $185 million to get through all those phases of design, investigation, feasibility, actually implementing, so it’s a very large investment from EPA and US steel, those are the two entities that were contributing financially,” said Mark Loomis, with the U.S. EPA – Great Lakes National Program Office.

Remediation started in 2020. Dredging, capping and restoring habitat all while maintaining water depth for the fisheries. Loomis said the work was nearly 24/7 for 38 months.

“We built over two miles of trails, ADA accessible, dedicated fishing areas, pause points, there’s a landing area for kayaks,” He says. “There was a large area, actually a mud flat, that we actually excavated, removed material to create open water. It’s a very unique part of this project.”

The city of Duluth owns much of the shoreline and this project has opened up access for many people who didn’t have it before. If you’re not familiar with the area, this is on the west side of town, not near the lakefront.

“We’re actually working with the St. Louis River alliance and our own parks and rec staff to offer programs that we couldn’t offer before like fishing, like paddling, like nature hikes, like educational opportunities, so those are happening right now and we’re super excited about that,” said Knettel.

The cleanup will eventually lead to the St. Louis River being delisted as an area of concern, but the biggest win for those involved is seeing the space go back to what it should be.

“Watching the people come back to the site, kind of breathing life into it and the river is there and wildlife is responding.  Those are the things that really kind of drive me professionally and personally,” said Loomis.

 The E-P-A said it worked closely with tribal communities to preserve the cultural significance during the project. Signage that explains the history and process of the project will go up next summer.