For most people, insect stings are a painful annoyance, but they can be deadly for those who are allergic to them, researchers warn.

Each year in the United States, more than half a million people have to go to emergency departments after suffering insect stings, and at least 50 die, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, which recently released updated guidelines for diagnosing and treating people with hypersensitivity to insect stings.

Its three key recommendations for people who are allergic to stings:

Comments sought for trail plan
Times Daily
Shoals residents will have two opportunities this week to give input on a plan that creates a series of bike and pedestrian trails linking Florence, Muscle Shoals, Sheffield and Tuscumbia. A pair of public involvement meetings will be ..... Read More

SCA employees and Barton Environmental Awareness Team members Robert Alsobrooks, Karen Beahm and Joseph Rickard handed out reusable recycling bags April 9 at Walmart in Muscle Shoals. The event was part of an Earth Day Celebration hosted by PALS (People Against a Littered State) of the Shoals Chapter.