Rachael Zimlich, BSN, RN

Atlanta, Ga. - Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are warning consumers and veterinarians to be cautious about buying African dwarf frogs from a California breeding facility.

Denver - Applications to Morris Animal Foundation's Veterinary Student Scholars Program doubled this year, and a total of 81 students received awards.

London - Thirteen people have been convicted in what British officials are calling Europe's largest veterinary drug ring.

Schaumburg, Ill. - On the heels of an internal report advocating radical change to the way the organization serves the public and the profession it represents, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) released a new plan to govern its growth over the next several years.

Urbana, Ill. - Over the next 18 months, the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine will undergo a transformation that could reduce energy consumption by as much as 40 percent.

Oakland, Calif. - Construction is underway on Oakland Zoo's new veterinary hospital-the first on-site facility to treat the zoo's 600-plus residents.

St. Louis - Veterinary schools need to graduate veterinarians with real-world skills necessary to immediately contribute to practices or other areas of employment.

Lawmakers are forcing groups who bring animals into Connecticut for adoption to have them examined by a veterinarian within 48 hours of importation.

Blacksburg, Va. - Two new initiatives in public health have been launched at Virginia Tech with the formation of the Center for Public Health Practice and Research and a new department within the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine to support the center.

Columbia, Mo. - It's believed that 50 percent of the 2 million U.S. military personnel who have served in Iraw and Afghanistan experience combat-related psychological problems ranging form substance abuse to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Schaumburg, Ill. - Ther American Veterinary Medical Association developed a new data collection tool to help in the fight against non-DVMs performing veterinary prcedures

National Report - Kanab, Utah, just got its second stoplight. And most people living in the community leave their doors unlocked.

National Report - Ballot initatives, backed by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to change egg-production standards, were dropped in Oregon and Washington after HSUS and the United Egg Producers announced a deal to work together on new federal legislation that would apply to all egg-laying hens in the United States.

Athens, Ga. - Veterinary researchers at the University of Georgia will collborate with several universities as part of a nearly $5 million, five-year grant to study a curative vaccine for rabies that could be administered late in the disease process.

National Report - Animal-welfare groups and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have butted heads for some time about wild-horse gathers, but BLM recently announced it will work more closely with the Humane Society of the United States to develop a "new normal" for doing business in the future.

Hartford, Conn. - Animal cruelty and child abuse have now been linked in new ways.

NJVMA leaves seat unfilled to question relevance of AVMA's House of Delegates.

College Station, Texas - The Department of Defense shelled out a $900,000 grant fo Texas A&M's veterinary college can study non-invasive treatments and therapies for spinal cord injuries in dogs.

Jefferson City, Mo. - A new bill in Missouri will give the state pharmacy board authority over retail veterinary legend drugs, but also adds a licensed veterinarian to the board's advisory committee.

Timonium, Md. - CATalyst Council says an initiative rolled out in early 2011 is starting to make inroads on reversing the decline in feline visits to veterinarians.

Davis, Calif. - Bacteria that cause Lyme disease can hide in lymph nodes, triggering immune responses not quite strong enough to kill the infection, according to a new study from the University of California-Davis (UC-Davis).

Schaumburg, Ill. - Rapid growth of the veterinary technology field is forcing the American Veterinary Medical Association to make changes to the way it accredits veterinary technology program.

Fort Collins, Colo. - The United States Department of Agriculture's National Animal Health Monitoring System collected data from selected beef feedlots throughout August in an effort to identify animal-health management practices and antimicrobial use patterns.

Lincoln. Neb. - Researchers at the University of Nebraska have been awarded a five-year, $2.35 millioin grant by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to find what makes some livestock "supershedders" of food-borne pathogens.

Lansing, Mich. - While funding for higher education keeps creeping down on the priority list for cash-strapped states, at least one veterinary schools hopes it is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

St. Paul, Minn. - What resources will be needed and what therapies will work best in future animal-trauma centers?

Ponder, Texas - Dr. Phillip Henderson of Ponder Veterinary Hospital spent more than an hour-and-a-half on hold with Texas' Department of Public Safety. He was waiting to hear about the status of his controlled-substance certificate that he tried to renew months before.

Montpelier, Vt. -- Flood waters from Hurricane Irene left several Vermont towns isolated from society and without communication.

Boxmeer, Netherlands - Merck Animal Health, formerly known as Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health, is planning an $18 million expansion of a vaccine-manufacturing unit in the Netherlands.

Davis, Calif. - A protein recently identified by veterinary researchers at the University of California-Davis may be key to diagnosing and treating lymphoma in animals and humans.