Photo courtesy of www.homes.com

MIAMI – Booker T. Washington Senior High School’s Space Hub program just received a big financial boost.

The Black historically school in Overtown, 1200 N.W. Sixth Avenue was awarded $100,000 to bolster the program which is expanding since it has become popular among students.

The Space Hub program was designed to address the aerospace workforce gap, inspire students to pursue STEM studies and increase awareness of careers in science-related fields.

State senators, representatives, students and new Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Rafael Villalobos were on hand to stree the importance of the new program.

The funds will also support technology and equipment upgrades, renovations to the school’s current planetarium and the development of state-of-the-art discovery and aerospace research labs.

“This is the future. So beyond today, which is powerful and amazing, and their incredible work, it is that character, those morals, those values that are being instilled in our children. And they’re going to go out and lead our communities into a new frontier,” said new Miami-Dade Public Schools Superintendent Rafael Villalobos.

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Pierre Damas Bel (Photo courtesy of Instagram)

By David L. Snelling
South Florida Times

Rather than be deported to gang-torn Haiti and face imminent danger, a desponded young immigrant who lost his Temporary Protection Status (TPS) took his own life.

According to the Washington Post, 20-year-old Pierre Damas Bel, a college student and former high school honor student who was planning to pursue a career in medicine, walked into an onslaught of traffic on the interstate in Springfield, Ohio and was struck and killed by a semi-truck.

The incident occurred on August 31, 2026.

His parents and the police believed he committed suicide.

After the U.S. Supreme Court gave U.S. President Donald Trump the green light to end TPS for roughly 350,000 Haitians nationwide, his parents said he was fitted with an ankle monitor and feared being deportated.

They said he felt humiliated and like a criminal which is a sharp contrast to Bel’s desire to build a better life and become a doctor.

Bel was studying psychology and neuroscience at Wright State University and planned on attending medical school.

Bel fled Haiti in 2024 due to the gang violence and reunited with his parents in Ohio, where he graduated from high school in the top 10 percent of his class.

The Trump administration stripping Haitians of their TPS and returning to Haiti apparently took a toll on Bel.

According to his father, Pierre Ronal Bel, his son begged ICE officers to remove the tracking device but they refused and he was being bullied because of the ankle monitor.

He gave up playing soccer because the device was uncomfortable and shared on social media about the humiliation he was suffering walking with a GPS tracker attached to his leg.

“I came here to study, not commit crimes,” he said on social media. “I came to this country to pursue my education. I didn’t come here to commit a crime or hurt anyone. Yet now I’m walking through the streets of the United States with a GPS monitor on my leg, carrying a feeling of shame and humiliation that I never imagined I would experience.”

Bel had a pending asylum case and was scheduled for another court hearing in October.

His family said that he feared for his left returning to Haiti with the gang violence that is spiraling out of control.

On Monday, Bel called his father and said he was not feeling okay.

His father urged him to come home so they could talk.

Hours later, police arrived with the news that his son had been struck and killed by a vehicle on Interstate 70, bringing an end to a promising life and the cruel treatment of Haitians who fled their homeland which has drifted into a whirlpool of violence and anarchy.

“Everything was fine with him before this happened,” his father told the New York Times. “They put an ankle monitor on him and everything changed.”

Trump ending TPS for Haitians is part of a broader plan for his mass deportation operation to send people in this country illegally, visas or TPS have expired to their homelands despite seeking asylum and earning an honest living and attending school.

Innovation Ohio, a non-profit advocating for Haitians to remain in the U.S., blames Trump and Make Amerian Great Again (MAGA) allies for Del’s suicide.

“Pierre Damas Bel was betrayed by a system that promised him shelter, a system run by Trump and MAGA bullies who only care about billionaires,” it said on social media. “Congress must stop financing their war on our cities, healthcare, and kids. Demand that ICE keep their Hands Off Our Neighbors now!

Springfield, Ohio Assistant Mayor Tracey Tackett said Del should not have been treated like a criminal and instead granted deportation protection based on his college academics and his career plans.

“What occurred in Springfield this week reflects an ongoing failure of the government to live up to America’s founding ideals and its responsibilities to the people it serves,” she said on social media. “The U.S. House has already passed a bipartisan three-year extension of TPS for Haiti with the votes of Ohio Republicans.”

Tackett said Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said TPS should not have been canceled by the Trump administration.

She is urging the U.S. Senate to pass legislation to restore TPS.

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U.S. Congresswoman Carrie P. Meek (Photo courtesy of ourcompaigns.com

MIAMI – The Florida Civil Rights Museum, Inc. (FCRM) will honor the extraordinary life and enduring legacy of the late Congresswoman Carrie P. Meek with a Florida Historical Marker Unveiling Ceremony on Saturday, September 5, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. at the Carrie P. Meek Entrepreneurial Education Center, 6300 NW 7th Avenue in Miami.

Presented in partnership with the Florida Division of Arts and Culture, the ceremony will permanently recognize one of Florida’s most consequential educators, public servants and political trailblazers.

Born in Tallahassee, Florida, on April 29, 1926, Carrie Pittman Meek dedicated her life to education and public service.

Before being elected to polt.S. office, Meek built a distinguished career as an educator and administrator, including service at Florida A&M University and Miami-Dade Community College, where she worked to expand educational opportunities for students.

Meek entered the Florida House of Representatives in 1979 and was elected to the Florida Senate in 1982, becoming the first African American woman elected to the Florida Senate since Reconstruction.

Her historic career reached the national stage in 1992 when she was elected to the United States House of Representatives.

Meek became one of the first African American Floridians elected to Congress since Reconstruction and represented South Florida in Washington for a decade.

Throughout her congressional service, Meek was a forceful advocate for the people of Miami-Dade County.

She championed federal investments in education, affordable housing, healthcare, economic development, immigration and programs benefiting working families and underserved communities.

Her work helped bring critical federal resources to South Florida while ensuring that the concerns of her constituents were heard at the highest levels of government.

Beyond the offices she held, Meek became an institution in South Florida.

Her influence extended across generations of elected officials, educators, community leaders and young people whom she encouraged to pursue education, leadership and public service.

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Miami-Dade County Commissioner Keon Hardemon (Photo courtesy of Miami-Dade County)

MIAMI – Miami-Dade County Commissioner Keon Hardemon will be one of the featured panelists for the 2026 OIC of South Florida Middle Class Summit, which is set for Wednesday, September 9, 2026 at 10:25 a.m. at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood.

The summit’s theme this year is “From Legislation to Livelihoods: How Public Policy Shapes Economic Mobility.”

The two-day summit will bring together more than 500 business executives, policymakers, workforce innovators, educators, and national thought leaders for discussions on economic mobility, artificial intelligence and the evolving workforce, affordable housing, healthcare access, and other issues impacting working families.

During the panel discussion, Hardemon, a lawyer by trade and has sat on the County Commission since 2020, will join other leaders in exploring ideas legislation that can strengthen talent pipelines, support employers, and expand access to economic mobility.

As a County Commissioner, one of Hardemon’s focus is workforce and economic mobility, workforce development and talent pipelines, often aligning with organizations like the OIC of South Florida, which operates a Brownsville location in his district.

OIC of South Florida expanded its services into Miami-Dade County with the opening of its Brownsville location in District 3 in 2021.

The organization provides workforce training and career development services aimed at creating pathways to employment and economic advancement.

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Photos courtesy of BRITANNICA.COM

By ANTONIA WILLIAMS-GARY
Special for South Florida Times

Here is my quick take on the history of Blacks in the USA from before Columbus to today: how to survive at all costs! I am in awe of a tactic used by Harriet Tubman when she famously threatened to shoot anyone who wanted to turn back while she attempted to rescue them from slave owners.

There are several other examples of Black freedom fighters, including Denmark Vessey, Nat Turner, The Black Panthers, Malcolm X, and so many others who understood that achieving freedom was not necessarily devoid of violence.

Even Frederick Douglass, best known for his use of persuasive oratory, was not opposed to John Brown, the white abolitionist, who unsuccessfully raided Harper’s Ferry. Douglass just felt the timing was not right.

Our ongoing fight for freedom is threaded throughout the narratives of US history.

James Baldwin, an outspoken proponent for the freedom of Black folk in the USA, once said “to be Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a state of rage almost all of the time.”

I know that freedom looks different to everyone.

I like the concept of having freedom to breathe, create, evolve, form unthreatened communities and institutions, rather than just freedom from bondage, segregated situations, unjust and immoral laws, or individual hatred.

Contrary to the popular narrative that describes how formerly enslaved people were emancipated by a proclamation in 1863, Blacks have been emancipating themselves since the beginning of this country’s recorded history..

Stories of self-emancipation are liberally documented and easily re searched; the Underground Railroad was only a tip of the iceberg of self emancipation efforts.

Living under the US Constitution is inherently living under codified barriers which have always protected white, male, property owners. Despite the limitations of the governing documents and the various tacked-on amendments that offered limited protection of Blacks (13th, 14th, 15th, and various Civil Rights Acts, some recently rescinded, freedom to be unmolested in this coun try, to prosper and function as full citi zens, was never guaranteed.

So, the Black fight to remain in the USA and seek the unspecified benefits of centuries-long free labor-reparations; to continue to live free of daily and ubiquitous forms of harassment, including disproportionate rates of incarceration for just being Black, continues.

Enraged? Of course we are! I am eager to see how the emergence of a democratic socialist movement will address the historical plight of Black folk.

Can the results temper Black rage?

Perhaps.

Some. For a little while.

Until. Minimally, I propose that during this political season- and beyond- that we stop going high.

It’s time for some below the belt blows; not to kill, but to maim the aggressive onslaught of policies and practices designed to keep Black and Brown necks compressed under the heels of those who wave the constitution as a shield, and who have ripped up that so-called sacred document, only to replace it with an army of goons wearing masks and carrying badges (but no body cameras), and who have been authorized to round up anyone suspected of not “loving” this country!

Enraged? “Love of country” cannot be the litmus test to determine who is a good citizen.

Remember, the 1776 Patriots did not love this country while they were living under the tyranny of Britain.

No, they rebelled, declared war against their oppressor, formed a new nation using poetic and inspired words, and the rest is history: A nation born in violence, sustained by an ironclad document which codified a supremacist class, and built on free labor including enslaved Africans, indentured servants, Native Americans.

Enraged?

On July 4th, Nolan Wells, an eighteen year-old Black male in Mississippi, died while vacationing with his friends; he was the only Black person at the party.

To date, no one has a definitive answer about who is legally responsible.

In the meantime, accusations, recriminations, mud-slinging, and racialized opinions have been flying around a legitimate inquiry.

But a small mercy for Nolan’s family, Ben Crump, one of the nation’s sharpest Civil Rights/personal injury attorneys, is on the case.

We wait.

Regardless of the outcome of Nolan’s case, Black emotions are raw because a young Black male body washed up on the shores in a part of the country that has never held Black bodies in high esteem, except at times on the athletic fields.

We are enraged, still and again. Is there a healing soothing salve for this rage?

I’m not interested in anything we paste over our wounds to hide them from ourselves.

Hold your prayers.

As Langston Hughs warned in his poem “Harlem,” our wounds should remain open, festering sores like a raisin in the sun, until our dreams of total freedom are realized, or lest we continue sagging under the heavy load of Black rage.

Toniwg1@gmail.com

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General Dan Caine (Photo courtesy of WIKIPEDIA)

By Ben Finley
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The highest ranking officer in the U.S. military says there are no plans to send troops to polling places during November’s midterm congressional elections, addressing concerns among Democrats that the Trump administration could use the military to interfere with the vote.

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the statement in a letter to Michigan Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who recently asked Caine and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to con firm they won’t send troops to the polls.

“The Joint Force has no plans to send Federal military personnel or Federalized members of the National Guard to polling places during the 2026 elections,” Caine said in the letter to Slotkin, which was obtained Monday by The Associated Press. “Likewise, the Joint Force has no plans to use such personnel to seize ballots, voting machines, or other election-related material.”

Caine, who advises Hegseth and President Donald Trump on military matters, also wrote: “I have neither received nor anticipate receiving any unlawful order concerning the role of the Joint Force in the upcoming November 2026 midterm elections.” Anxiety among Democrats that the Trump administration could try to meddle in the midterm elections has grown, particularly after the president deployed federal agents in Democratic-led states over the objections of local leaders.

Slotkin told the AP earlier in August that Trump has been laying the groundwork to claim the elections were stolen.

She noted that Trump contemplated using the military to seize voting machines after his loss in 2020 and has deployed the National Guard to cities against the wishes of Democratic leaders.

He also deployed active duty Marines to Los Angeles during his immigration crackdown in 2025. Federal law prohibits the deployment of armed federal forces to election locations unless “necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States.”

If any element of the military were to get involved, it would likely be the National Guard under state control. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles denied in a Vanity Fair interview last year that Trump would use the military to sup press voting in the midterms.

Sonja Thrasher, Slotkin’s press secretary, said Hegseth has not replied to the letter asking him to confirm troops won’t be deployed to the polls in November.

Slotkin had asked for a response by last Thursday.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to an email from the AP asking for the status of Hegseth’s response to Slotkin.

The Pentagon previously said it would respond directly to the senator.

Slotkin asked Hegseth during an April congressional hearing if he would follow orders to seize ballots.

Hegseth called the question a “gotcha hypothetical,” but said, “I’ve never been ordered to do anything illegal, and I won’t.” In 2020, Gen. Mark Milley, then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, responded to a similar letter from Slotkin, then a congresswoman.

“I believe deeply in the principle of an apolitical U.S. military,” Milley wrote. “In the event of a dispute over some aspect of the elections, by law U.S. courts and the U.S. Congress are required to resolve any disputes, not the U.S. military.

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Photo courtesy of STOCK

By REV. DR. BENJAMIN F.
CHAVIS JR.

Every month, mothers in Southeast Washington, DC, as well as other mothers from across the nation, open their electric bill.

They do the math they have done a hundred times before: What gets paid, and what gets pushed to next month.

Throughout this country, in underserved Black, Brown, and White communities from Anacostia to Newark, to Raleigh-Durham, to Detroit, St. Louis, and to Los Angeles, electricity costs are quietly becoming one of the most regressive taxes in America. And now is the time for the leaders who are best positioned to exercise carpe diem “seize the day.”

That is why I have to say, as a lifelong Democrat and someone who has spent decades fighting for economic justice in underserved communities: our party must rethink and put forward bold proposals that build the energy infrastructure this country needs.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently voted, unanimously and on a bipartisan basis, to help address the rising electricity cost crisis.

FERC’s reform would modernize its “blanket certificate” program, a permitting shortcut that lets natural gas projects under a defined limit move forward without the years long case-by-case review required for major pipelines.

The cost caps that define what counts as a blanket certificate project have not been updated since 2006.

Construction costs have risen dramatically since then. FERC’s fix simply brings those caps in line with today’s costs, so routine upgrades like compressor station expansions and storage improvements do not get stuck in the same slow lane as massive new pipelines.

This is basic maintenance of a regulatory system that stopped making sense.

Notably, it was not just Republican commissioners who signed off.

Climate-focused commissioners like former undersecretary of energy and climate solutions for Massachusetts Judy Chang, nominated by President Biden, voted for it too because she understands that getting more supply online, safely and efficiently, is part of how you keep prices in check for working families.

Unfortunately, a group of Democratic attorneys general, led by Washington and Massachusetts, has filed comments opposing this reform.

I understand their rationale and where they are coming from. Nobody wants to see corners cut on environmental review.

I am also a lifelong advocate for environmental justice. I take environmental matters seriously because pollution and infrastructure burdens have been borne disproportionately by underserved communities.

In this case a comprehensive look at the actual record is warranted.

The reform keeps full environmental review in place for any major project. It only speeds up the routine work.

And look at the results in the very states raising the alarm. Since 2020, residential electricity prices have risen 73.7 percent in Washington, D.C., 65.3 percent in Maine, 59.1percent in California, 49.7 percent in Maryland, and 43.7 percent in New York.

These are almost entirely blue states, many of them home to the same officials now advocating, rightfully so, for faster infrastructure build-out.

Meanwhile, Michigan, a swing state carrying real weight for working-class and Black families, has seen a painful 23.1 percent increase in electrical power costs.

President Donald Trump’s economic record has been a disaster for working families, from tariffs that raised costs on everyday goods to policies that have done nothing to bring down the price of energy, housing, or groceries.

Democrats have a real opening to be the party that delivers affordability, not just the party that promises it.

That means supporting a comprehensive and bold energy strategy- gas, renewables, nuclear, and offshore wind- that gets supply moving to meet rising demand instead of an older model during a pre-technology era where being cautious against anything with the word “gas” in it had some merit.

I respect and appreciate the attorneys general raising these concerns. Debating is healthy.

So, I hope they will be open to debate and look again at what this reform does.

Underserved communities cannot afford another decade of good intentions and rising bills. Our leaders from these communities must continue the fight for lower prices with the same energy we bring to fighting for justice. Working families have the same fight to improve the quality of life for all.

Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr, is President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) and is Executive Producer/Host of The Chavis Chronicles (TCC) on PBS TV network across the nation, and can be reached at dr.bchavis@nnpa.org

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Photo courtesy of STOCK

BY RON KLINK

Healthcare costs are crushing Americans.

The average premium for an employer-sponsored family health plan now exceeds $26,000 a year — and families are then still on the hook for ever-higher deductibles and out-of-pocket bills.

Nearly four in 10 Americans have delayed or skipped care because they couldn’t afford it.

When I served in Congress in the 1990s, I heard a familiar refrain from union members, retirees, and working families: they had coverage on paper, but when they needed care, they felt stuck fighting a system designed to wear them down.

Back then, many Americans still remembered a health system where the roles were clearer: doctors made medical decisions, pharmacies filled prescriptions, hospitals delivered care, and insurers paid claims.

That system was never perfect — yet compared to today, it seems almost utopian. A handful of companies now control nearly every aspect of healthcare.

They are increasingly denying claims, delaying critical patient care, and forcing providers and patients into a costly and time-consuming appeals process simply to generate profit.

That’s why it’s time for my fellow Democrats to dispense with half-measures — and simply break up the big insurers that have a stranglehold over the entire healthcare sector.

Historically, insurance companies focused on managing risk and negotiating with providers to bring down the cost of care.

But today’s largest insurance companies have a different focus.
They own doctor groups.

They own clinics.

They own pharmacies and pharmacy benefit managers.

In short, they own a piece of every level of the healthcare system.

And then they steer patients through that system in ways that maximize their own profits — not what’s best for the patient.

UnitedHealth Group, for example, rakes in billions moving patients back and forth between its 2,700 subsidiaries.

Its insurance arm funnels about 50 million Americans toward the 90,000 physicians it employs or controls, who, in turn, refer patients to UnitedHealth-owned clinics and facilities.

Its pharmacy benefit manager directs patients to affiliated pharmacies that mark up the price of treatments.

Most of the other big healthcare conglomerates have adopted that same business model.

And they’ve proven deviously smart at evading regulations and legislation meant to curb their profiteering.

For instance, when Democrats passed the Affordable Care Act, they required insurers to spend at least 85% of premium dollars on actual medical care.

But the industry adapted — by essentially buying up providers and then paying out the required funds to their own subsidiaries.

By shifting money through the web of companies they now own the big conglomerates can artificially inflate profits in one subsidiary, minimize them in another, and make it look like they’re spending money on care, when in reality they’re maximizing their profits, minimizing their tax liability, and bilking patients.

It’d be virtually impossible to carefully untangle this web of self-dealing. So Democrats ought to simply cut through this Gordian knot of healthcare policy.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) recently introduced legislation to do exactly that.

The Break Up Big Medicine Act would prohibit the same company from owning the insurance plan, the pharmacy benefit manager middleman, and the doctors or clinics that provide care.

Breaking them up would be a winning platform for the midterms.

Former Democratic Congressman Ron Klink served four consecutive terms representing Pennsylvania’s 4th Congressional District. This article originally appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

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Pierre Damas Bel (Photo courtesy of Instagram)

By David L. Snelling
South Florida Times

Rather than be deported to gang-torn Haiti and face imminent danger, a desponded young immigrant who lost his Temporary Protection Status (TPS) took his own life.

According to the Washington Post, 20-year-old Pierre Damas Bel, a college student and former high school honor student who was planning to pursue a career in medicine, walked into an onslaught of traffic on the interstate in Springfield Ohio and was struck and killed by a semi-truck.

The incident occurred on August 31, 2026.

His parents and the police believed he committed suicide.

After the U.S. Supreme Court gave U.S. President Donald Trump the green light to end TPS for roughly 350,000 Haitians nationwide, his parents said he was fitted with an ankle monitor and feared deportation.

They said he felt humiliated and like a criminal which is a sharp contrast to Bel’s desire to build a better life and become a doctor.

Bel was studying psychology and neuroscience at Wright State University and planned on attending medical school.

Bel fled Haiti due to the gang violence and reunited with his parents in Ohio, where he graduated from high school in the top 10 percent of his class.

The Trump administration stripping Haitians of their TPS and returning to Haiti apparently took a toll on Bel.

According to his father, Pierre Ronal Bel, his son begged ICE officers to remove the tracking device but they refused and he was being bullied because of the ankle monitor.

He gave up playing soccer because the device was uncomfortable and shared on social media about the humiliation he was suffering walking with a GPS tracker attached to his leg.

“I came here to study, not commit crimes,” he said on social media. “I came to this country to pursue my education. I didn’t come here to commit a crime or hurt anyone. Yet now I’m walking through the streets of the United States with a GPS monitor on my leg, carrying a feeling of shame and humiliation that I never imagined I would experience.”

Bel had a pending asylum case and was scheduled for another court hearing in October.

His family told the Washington Post that he feared for his left returning to Haiti with the escalating gang violence that is spiraling out of control.

On Monday, Bel called his father and said he was not feeling okay.

His father urged him to come home so they could talk.

Hours later, police arrived with the news that his son had been struck and killed by a vehicle on Interstate 70, bringing an end to a promising life and the cruel treatment of Haitians who fled their homeland which has drifted into a whirlpool of violence and anarchy.

“Everything was fine with him before this happened,” his father told the New York Times. “They put an ankle monitor on him and everything changed.”

Trump ending TPS for Haitians is part of a broader plan for his mass deportation operation to send people in this country illegally, visas or TPS have expired to their homelands despite seeking asylum and earning an honest living and attending school.

Innovation Ohio, a non-profit advocating for Haitians to remain in the U.S., blames Trump and Make Amerian Great Again (MAGA) allies for Del’s suicide.

“Pierre Damas Bel was betrayed by a system that promised him shelter, a system run by Trump and MAGA bullies who only care about billionaires,” it said on social media. “Congress must stop financing their war on our cities, healthcare, and kids. Demand that ICE keep their Hands Off Our Neighbors now!

Springfield, Ohio Assistant Mayor Tracey Tackett said Del should not have been treated like a criminal and instead granted deportation protection based on his college academics and his career plans.

“What occurred in Springfield this week reflects an ongoing failure of the government to live up to America’s founding ideals and its responsibilities to the people it serves,” she said on social media. “The U.S. House has already passed a bipartisan three-year extension of TPS for Haiti with the votes of Ohio Republicans.”

Tackett said Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said TPS should not have been canceled by the Trump administration.

She is urging the U.S. Senate to pass legislation to restore TPS.

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Photo courtesy of dreamstime.com

Scientists have discovered a new cancer drug that may give patients nerve pain relief.

According to Knowridge, a medical and science organization which shares reports and health studies, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center focused on a protein called BRAF.

Their study found that BRAF helps start, strengthen and maintain abnormal pain signals after nerves are damaged.

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center focused on a protein called BRAF.

Their study, published in Science Signaling, found that BRAF helps start, strengthen and maintain abnormal pain signals after nerves are damaged.

Chronic nerve pain, also called neuropathic pain, develops when nerves themselves become injured or stop working normally.
Unlike the temporary pain caused by a cut or sprain, neuropathic pain can continue long after the original injury and may last for months or years.

People often describe this pain as burning, stabbing, electric or shooting. Even gentle contact from clothing or a light touch can sometimes become painful because damaged nerves send exaggerated signals to the brain.

Many conditions can cause neuropathic pain. Diabetes, shingles, spinal injuries and some cancer treatments, including chemotherapy, can damage nerves and leave patients with long-lasting pain.

Treating the condition can be difficult because ordinary pain medicines often provide limited relief. Stronger drugs may also cause side effects, which is why researchers are looking for treatments that act more directly on the biological processes creating abnormal pain signals.

The MD Anderson team investigated BRAF because it controls important signals inside cells.
Changes in the BRAF gene are already well known in cancer, and medicines that block BRAF have been developed to treat certain tumors.

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