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Pregnant women receive a lot of advice while they’re with child. Much of that guidance comes from their physicians and is offered in an effort to ensure expecting mothers have healthy pregnancies.
Expecting mothers may be surprised by some of the precautionary measures their physicians recommend, while others measures, such as abstaining from alcohol, are more widely known.
One recommendation that women may be surprised by is the need to be cautious around their pets. For example, the March of Dimes, an organization devoted to ensuring the health of expecting mothers and their babies, recommends that women be careful with pets during pregnancy.
Pregnant women with cats at home must be mindful of toxoplasmosis, a disease that the Mayo Clinic reports results from infection with the toxoplasma gondii parasite. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cats get infected with the toxoplasma parasite by eating infected rodents, birds or other small animals.
Cats also can get infected if they eat anything that is contaminated with the feces of another cat that is shedding the parasite through its fecal matter.
The CDC notes that infected cats can shed the parasite for up to two weeks.
Because of the way the disease is contracted, cats may only be vulnerable to toxoplasmosis if they go outside. While that may reassure pregnant women whose cats stay indoors at all times, expecting mothers should still be vigilant even if their cats are indoor cats.
Cats that escape or go outdoors by accident, even if they’re quickly retrieved, can still be exposed to the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis.
The March of Dimes also notes that toxoplasmosis can be spread by cleaning kitty litter of infected cats or by touching dirt, such as garden soil, where infected cats may have been. That means even women whose cats stay indoors can be infected if they aren’t careful.
Protection against toxoplasmosis
Thankfully, the March of Dimes notes that expecting mothers can take various steps to protect themselves from toxoplasmosis during their pregnancies.
—Ask a family member who isn’t pregnant to clean out the litter box every day.
—Wear disposable gloves and a face mask if you clean out the litter box. Wash your hands well with soap and water immediately after cleaning the litter box.
—Keep your cat inside. In addition, make sure all guests do their part to keep the cat indoors when visiting.
—Stay away from stray cats and new cats.
—Thoroughly wash your hands with soap and water after touching cat feces or after gardening.
—Cover sandboxes to prevent cats from using them as a litter box.
—Feed your cat dry or canned foods. Don’t feed cats undercooked meat, which can make them vulnerable to infection with the parasite.
Pregnant women with cats at home must be especially careful when interacting with cats or when spending time outdoors where cats may have roamed.

President Donald Trump on Sunday signed a bill that will send $600-per-person stimulus payments to most American households, add $300 a week to unemployment benefits and fund additional Paycheck Protection Program loans.

Congress was to take up a measure Monday that would increase the stimulus payments to $2,000 per person.

The $900 billion coronavirus relief package also extends the moratorium on evictions and foreclosures into the spring.

The president had threatened to veto the bill including the $600 payments, a compromise between Democrats who had wanted something closer to $2,000 and Republicans who balked at the size of the spending measure. Trump said he wanted the payments to be $2,000 and called the bill containing the smaller payments "a disgrace."

"I am signing this bill to restore unemployment benefits, stop evictions, provide rental assistance, add money for PPP, return our airline workers back to work," Trump said Sunday, "add substantially more money for vaccine distribution, and much more."

The original bill had included new criminal penalties for copyright violations related to online streaming.

"Additionally," Trump said, "Congress has promised that Section 230, which so unfairly benefits Big Tech at the expense of the American people, will be reviewed and either be terminated or substantially reformed."

Monday's debate will test a lame duck Republican president's power in a duel with members of his own party. It comes less than two weeks before pivotal Georgia runoffs for the U.S. Senate, which could decide which party controls the upper chamber for at least the first two years of the Joe Biden presidency.

The payments to individuals are for the full $600 per adult and dependents up to age 16 in households making up to $75,000 per year. Beyond $75,000, recipients will see the aid reduced.

The $300 unemployment enhancement comes just as earlier jobless pay support was ending. As of October, more than 2,100 St. Mary people were unemployed, according to the Louisiana Workforce Commission.

The bill signed Sunday also includes another $280 billion to reopen the Paycheck Protection Program, which offers forgivable loans through local banks to companies that keep workers on their payrolls.

Employers in St. Mary borrowed more than $88 million in the first round of PPP and identified more than 7,000 jobs that were protected.

The lower Atchafalaya is under consideration for something new: a National Estuarine Research Reserve.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration runs the program, which designates some piece of land, either public or private, or some combination, as a reserve. It’s not a takeover, say program leaders. Each state’s land use rules continue to apply.
The reserves show off the natural beauty of the places where fresh water meets salt water. Scientists can do research there train college students. Younger students can take field trips there. Tourists can ooh and aah there.
One more thing: It looks like money. In addition to the tourism potential, which would be good for local hotels, campgrounds and restaurants, the federal government will pay for 70% of the operational costs. The state picks up the rest.
The Atchafalaya area is one of six prospective estuarine zones in Louisiana being considered for a reserve. The search process is in the purview of LSU-based Louisiana Sea Grant. The director of Louisiana Sea Grant is Dr. Robert Twilley.
Twilley knows the lower Atchafalaya zone, especially the Wax Lake Delta. He knows it right down to the muck and soggy water plants on the bottom.
A year ago, Twilley, a geomorphologist, led a boat tour of the Wax Lake area. The deltas of Wax Lake and the Atchafalaya are among the few places on the Louisiana coast where new coastal land is being formed. The rest of the coast is marred by land loss, which is bad for the fishing industry and for storm protection.
Being unique is good. Unique can help attract a National Estuarine Research Reserve.
Twilley has researched river deltas in South America and the Pacific in addition to Wax Lake.
The tour stopped at Camp Island, which emerged from the water in the early 1970s. The island is big enough for actual camps and even public restrooms. Yet the land is younger than some of the people who took the tour.
If you took geology in school, you’ll remember that time is the secret ingredient that explains how a small river can carve the Grand Canyon.
But in the Atchafalaya and Wax Lake, changes happen rapidly because of the sediment that pours into the system from the Red and Mississippi rivers.
From our story on the tour:
“Twilley and Alisha Renfro, a wildlife scientist with the National Wildlife Federation, dug into the water to pull out a core sample. Here, the bottom 80% of the sample was a mineral-rich mixture deposited by the river. The top and most recent portion of the core was material left behind by the living and dying of plants.
"At some point, aquatic vegetation begins to colonize the sediment. When it does, 'it starts putting down roots and putting down organic material that the plant is producing,' Twilley said.
"And as that process is repeated over and over again, the organic material begins to rise.
"'So much of the ecology out here, what we see relative to the ecology, is because of elevation,' Twilley said. 'That’s the key. For every increment of change in elevation, I can tell you which plants are going to colonize in that region.'"
After a short boat ride toward the Gulf, the outlet widens and begins to look like open water. But Twilley said the same processes that created the island are at work beneath the water.
"This is the delta,” Twilley said. “The emergent delta.”
At one point he raised his hand toward the Gulf.
“There’s a lot of delta forming out there,” Twilley said.
“You just can’t see it. It’s all underwater." But it won’t be underwater forever.
That trip through the delta, with an expert guide, was about more than science.
Yeah, we’re always looking for economic development. And, by the way, every Gulf Coast state has a reserve except for Louisiana. It would be great to get the federal money that comes along with a reserve.
But there’s magic down there where the rivers meet the Gulf. It’s what we get instead of beaches.
It deserves to be studied and enjoyed for its own sake, and for the sake of generations yet to come.
Bill Decker is managing editor of The Daily Review.

After eight years, Frank “Boo” Grizzaffi is nearing the end of his time as Morgan City’s mayor. And despite oil price slumps, declining revenue and COVID, Grizzaffi is confident he’s leaving the city in better shape than when he found it.
“We didn’t embarrass the city,” Grizzaffi said in an interview. “We represented the city in a good stance. That’s all you can ask.”
Lee Dragna, the Morgan City businessman who won the Dec. 5 runoff with former Parish Councilman Kevin Voisin, becomes mayor Jan. 11.
Grizzaffi took office in 2013 after finishing first in a primary field that included Dragna and Voisin in November 2012. The next month, Grizzaffi won 69% of the vote in a runoff with Dragna.
The city government was still feeling the effects of the BP oil spill, and before Grizzaffi’s first two years in office were done, energy prices began the long slide that has pushed up unemployment and pushed down government revenues across the parish.
The mayor pointed to some cost-cutting moves, including a reduction in bond debt from $19 million to $10 million, and going in-house with mosquito control instead of using a contractor. But the city turned to contractors for, garbage pickup and grass-cutting. The city reduced its payroll through attrition and retirements.
Still, sales taxes were down from $450,000 in better times to $250,000 per year. The city government payroll is smaller because some positions were left unfilled, but there were no layoffs or service cuts, Grizzaffi said.
“We had to do with half as much and still got some projects done,” Grizzaffi said.
The H&B Young Foundation has been a partner in some of those projects. The foundation made $150,000 worth of playground improvements possible at Lawrence Park. And the foundation.
The charitable organization also helped pay for Morgan City Municipal Auditorium improvements that included $50,000 in new appliances and a new roof that cost more than $300,000.
“All the extra amenities in this city are due to the generosity of H&B Young,” Grizzaffi said.
The auditorium also has a paved, lighted parking lot that the Port of Morgan City improved in exchange for the land on which the Emergency Operations Center now stands.
Grizzffi and H&B also worked hand in hand to bring Murphy Exploration to Morgan City, Grizzaffi said, point to one of Morgan City’s economic development wins.
Others include decision to move or stay here by G&J Marine, Electra Shipyard, Seacor, Oceaneering, InterMoor, New Industries, Fab-Con and Trojan Firearms.
The Walmart Market came to Morgan City during Grizzaffi’s tenure. And he expects construction to begin on the 44-unit Renaissance Group apartments in the next quarter.
“When we had opportunities we were able to be on the front line with the companies to make sure they stayed in or moved to Morgan City,” Grizzaffi said.
Other accomplishments during his terms include the completion of the $2 million city wharf improvements, using grant money and a help from H&B Young; three new redesigned cabins for visitors at Lake End Park; new or im-proved walking trails at the park, on Justa Street and between La. 70 and Fig; asphalt roads and sign work at Morgan City Cemetery; and a new scoreboard, s skate park and batting cages at the city Complex.
“I came in as an operations guy,” Grizzaffi said. “I worried about putting Morgan City in a good spot. I did things differently than the guy before me, and [Dragna] will do things do it differently than I did.
“As mayor, it’s always nice to leave the city in a better place..”
Grizzaffi lost a bid to become St. Mary sheriff in 2019. Now, he says, he doesn’t know yet what he’ll do after leaving office other than spend time with wife Jodi and daughters Kennedy and Addison. Being mayor cuts into family time, he said.
“They had to sacrifice,” Grizzaffi said. “If you’re going to be mayor and go to everything you get invited to, you spend a lot of time away from home.”
Grizzaffi thank the city’s employees for their service during his time in office. And he had one bit of advice for Dragna:
“In order for the city to function, you have to be on top of it,” Grizzaffi said. “I would say my advice is to stay engaged in the city so if something is going on, you’ll know about it.”
As for the future, Grizzaffi said he just wants to “take a breath and see what’s out there.”