Group to vaccinate 200K Florida students for free
JACKSONVILLE — A Florida organization is helping to provide free flu vaccinations to 200,000 students this school year.
Families Fighting Flu and Healthy Schools LLC will give children around the state the opportunity to get the nasal-inhaled vaccine whether or not they have insurance. The initiative started this month.
Flu rates among children are typically higher than other populations, and they tend to spread the virus more easily. Florida’s flu vaccination rates are below the average.
The groups say approximately 20,000 children nationwide are hospitalized, and 100 children die due to influenza. Children also miss more than 38 million days of school each year because of the flu.
Healthy Schools was founded by former Jacksonville Jaguars offensive tackle Tony Boselli. Last year, the organization vaccinated 11,000 children.
Man who raised $55K for potato salad throws party
COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio man who raised $55,000 in a joking crowdfunding appeal to pay for his first attempt at making potato salad threw a huge public party Saturday that promised “peace, love and potato salad.”
PotatoStock 2014 was held in downtown Columbus and featured bands, food trucks, beer vendors and, yes, plenty of potato salad. With more than 3,000 pounds of potatoes, the charity-minded party was open to people of all ages.
Zack Brown had jokingly sought $10 on Kickstarter in July to buy potato salad ingredients, but his mission drew global attention and earned tens of thousands of dollars.
The Idaho Potato Commission and corporate sponsors donated potato salad supplies for the party.
Brown is partnering with the Columbus Foundation to support charities that fight hunger and homelessness. The account started with $20,000 in post-campaign corporate donations and will grow after proceeds from PotatoStock are added.
“His fund will have potential way after this potato salad is forgotten,” Lisa Jolley, the foundation’s director of donors and development, told The Columbus Dispatch.
Brown told the newspaper that he intends to “do the most good that I can.”
Man charged after turtles found beneath clothing
DETROIT — A Canadian man has been charged after border agents at the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel found more than 50 turtles strapped to his body and hidden between his legs.
The Detroit News reports that Windsor, Ontario, resident Kai Xu was charged Wednesday with smuggling, illegal trading and exporting. A bond hearing was scheduled Thursday in federal court in Detroit.
A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent received a tip about a large box sent to a Detroit postal center. Court documents say it was addressed to Xu and mailed from Alabama. Agents were watching the postal center on Aug. 5 when Xu arrived.
[A version of this story ran on page 3 on 9/29/2014]
