pollinators

The sign-up deadline for 2008 and 2009 benefits for emergency assistance for livestock, honey bees and farm-raised fish program (ELAP) is Dec. 10. ELAP provides emergency assistance to eligible producers or livestock, honey bees and farm-raised fish that suffered losses from disease, colony collapse, and adverse weather including wind or flood damage. The program does not cover drought-related damage.  

Vicki Wiess' students know bees. What was meant to be a one-time project for Weiss' City School fifth-graders turned into a yearlong study of honeybees that filtered into almost every lesson throughout the year — earning Weiss an award from the Entomological Society of America. "It seemed like all of our hard work on bees paid off," fifth-grader Macy Lariviere said of finding out her teacher won the award.  

BEEKEEPING is buzzing again after a Hampshire club reported a surge in membership. Hampshire Beekeepers' Association (HBA) recorded an increase of 250 members this year on top of its 900-strong base. The boost comes a year after bee colonies across the county were reported to have plummeted by a third.

Bees are an essential part of the ecological system that enable us to survive.   -Chris Huhne

 

THE November meeting took the form of our AGM in common with all WIs countrywide. The normal meeting was dealt with efficiently and arrangements made for a short walk at Saul Junction on November 12 (weather permitting). The walk in October proved popular on a sunny morning, and it was decided to repeat this.  

The Bonita Springs Nature Place is a perfect location for experiments on the local environment, said Billy Gunnels, an assistant professor of animal behavior at Florida Gulf Coast University. Gunnels and about 30 students in his animal behavior class were at the new nature center on Kent Road last week to conduct a series of experiments on honeybees. "We're surrounded by this incredible environment, but we're really quite a ways away from it," said Gunnels, noting the distance between the Gulf of Mexi  

Once again, the Moose Lodge 16 and the Connellsville Lions Club have teamed up with the Falcon Foundation to allow Connellsville Area School District children to participate in school spelling bees. The spelling bees will take place in each elementary and junior high school in January and February, leading up to the Fay-West Spelling Bee at the end of February. Falcon Foundation member Becky McLuckey, chairwoman of the spelling bee committee, said the contributions will allow schools to register so stud  

There's quite a buzz developing about the Bolingbrook Park District's Hidden Oaks Nature Center. That's because bee hives may be coming. Brian Loomis, president of Bolingbrook Honeybee Farms Inc., is engaged in negotiations with park staff members to use bee hives for environmental, educational and business reasons at the center.  

There's no denying that both Upperman basketball teams lost a lot of talent over the offseason. For the Bees, they lost their top six players -- roughly 70 points and 40 rebounds a game. The Lady Bees lost a lot of production too as their top two offensive producers graduated.

Our senior leadership is one of our strengths   -Dana McWilliams

 

The opener of the firearm deer season got off to a good start Sunday, with cool weather in the mid-40s keeping the whitetails moving. Yet it was not so cold to prevent hunters from staying out. L and J Meat Packaging of Dowagiac, one of the area's largest deer processors, took in 130 whitetails opening day, compared to 78 on the same day a year ago, according to owner Les Herter.