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JUST ABOVE FAILING Florida earns a 'D' for its premature birth stats — Cooper Levey-Baker Florida earned a D in a recently released "premature birth report card" issued by the March of Dimes, reflecting the state's high rate of premature births. That rate has actually dipped in recent years, but not enough to get the state up to the national average. Sarasota's Healthy Start Coalition is bringing attention to the poor grade and promoting prevention with its Think 39 Weeks! campaign. The push emphasizes the health benefits of a full-term 39-week pregnancy, with a long list of positive factors for both the mother and the child. That information needs to get out. In a statewide Healthy Start survey, nearly half of respondents said deliveries earlier than 37 weeks were safe. (Full story here) FIGHTING FOR CHICKEN FEED Downtown Sarasota organizations squabble over use of $20,000 in marketing funds and their own existence — Stan Zimmerman The Downtown Sarasota Alliance put on a show of force Tuesday morning, Nov. 27. The members were out to convince the Downtown Improvement District board to continue providing a $20,000 marketing grant to the DSA. They faced stiff opposition from the new Sarasota Downtown Merchants Association, and its chairman, Ron Soto. "The whole reason we got started was because the DSA put up all kinds of hoops — some on fire — for our Dog Days of Summer [event]," he said. "The DSA recently sent out an email saying all the Christmas decorations were the work of the DSA. But we paid for them, and we repainted them, and we did that ourselves." (Full story here) For Advertising Info Sales@SarasotaNewsLeader.com (941) 227-1080 AT A GLANCE TOP STORIES