The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wednesday cautioned pregnant women to avoid Brownsville, Texas, where mosquitoes are believed to have infected five people with the Zika virus.

Brownsville is now a “cautionary area,” federal health officials said, after the south Texas city last week became home to the second Zika outbreak in the continental U.S, WSJ reported. The CDC says a cautionary area is one where Zika has been transmitted locally, but health officials don’t see evidence of “widespread, sustained local spread” of the virus.

“With the new information that there has been local spread of Zika for at least several weeks, we conclude that pregnant women should avoid the Brownsville area,” said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden. Pregnant women who live in the area should take precautions to avoid mosquito bites, he said.

The virus can cause birth defects to a fetus when a woman becomes infected during pregnancy.

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Source: WSJ

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Vision Properties announced that the Charlotte operations of Rentokil North America will relocate its Charlotte-area regional headquarters to the Davie Building in Carmel Crossing Office Park.

Rentokil North America is the parent company for Rentokil Steritech, a full service pest control firm serving commercial clients, as well as local pest control brand, JC Ehrlich, which serves residential customers; Ambius, the world leader in interior landscaping; and Steritech, specializing in food safety and operational excellence assessments for the restaurant, supermarket, and convenience store industries.

Rentokil North America’s companies vacated the Quail Plaza building and another privately owned property to merge their operations into one location, now occupying 22,836 square feet of office space in the Davie Building, located at 6701 Carmel Road. The Davie Building is a four-story 123,000 square foot Class A building within Carmel Crossing office park.

The JLL team of Barry Fabyan and Stephen Woodard represented Vision Properties in the lease negotiations with Rentokil North America.

“We are thrilled that the Rentokil family of companies chose to office at Carmel Crossing. The recent upgrades throughout our park, our owner’s attention to detail, and the convenience and multitude of amenities in the heart of South Charlotte will continue to attract tenants to Carmel Crossing,” JLL’s Fabyan said.

Source: Skyline, A Wilbert PR Company

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Monsanto shareholders have approved the merger with Bayer AG. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Monsanto shareholders will receive $128 per share in cash at the closing of the merger.

The merger, which was announced in September, is expected to close by the end of 2017, pending regulatory approvals. The merger calls for Bayer to pay $57 billion to Monsanto shareholders and assume $9 billion in Monsanto debt.

“We are pleased we received such strong support from our shareholders,” Hugh Grant, Monsanto chairman and chief executive officer said in a statement. “This is an important milestone as we work to combine our two complementary companies and deliver on our shared vision for the future of agriculture. By bringing together our expertise and our resources to drive this shared vision, we can do even more together to benefit growers around the world and to help address broad global challenges like climate change and food scarcity.”

A preliminary count of the shareholder vote showed approximately 99 percent of all votes cast were in favor of the merger. That represents about 75 percent of all outstanding shares. Monsanto shareholders also approved the proposal to approve certain compensation for the company’s named executive officers in connection with the merger. The final voting results will be filed with the SEC and will also be available here.

“The acquisition of Monsanto is driven by our strong belief that this combination can help address the growing challenges facing farmers and the overall agriculture industry today and in the future,” Werner Baumann, CEO of Bayer AG said in a statement. “Together, Bayer and Monsanto will be able to offer the new, innovative solutions that our customers need. We look forward to completing the transaction and working closely with Monsanto to ensure a successful integration.”

For more on the Monsanto deal, click here.

The author is managing editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine, PCT's sister publication.

FULTON, Md. — American Pest announced the acquisition of GreenStar Termite & Pest Control, a family-owned pest control firm located in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.  

GreenStar was founded in 2007 and has a solid reputation among its residential customers for offering high quality pest control and termite services. 

“With the acquisition of GreenStar Termite and Pest,” says Matt Nixon, CEO of American Pest, “we will significantly strengthen our market position and increase our presence in Northern Virginia. We are excited to be teaming up with the team at GreenStar and welcome them to the American Pest family.”

The acquisition of GreenStar Termite and Pest Control is American Pest’s second expansion in northern Virginia within the past five years. The company previously acquired Barrier Termite & Pest Control in November, 2011.

Paul Giannamore of The Potomac Company represented and acted as exclusive financial advisor to GreenStar Pest Control.