Bees

Question: I am looking to the L.A. Times for help in trying to find out what is causing the orange/yellowish spots that are appearing on our cars in increasing numbers. I have lived here for 24 years and have owned white cars for all of that time. In the past four or five years I have noticed dark orange/yellow droppings on my car, about the size of a pencil eraser. Within the last two years they have increased in number. Once dried, it is very difficult to get them off.

SAN FRANCISCO - The Los Angeles Times and Sacramento Bee filed suit Wednesday against the University of California Board of Regents, demanding the release of police officers' names removed from a critical report on the controversial pepper spraying of UC Davis students. The lawsuit, filed in Sacramento County Superior Court, contends that when university officials agreed in a court settlement last month to redact all but two names, they "failed to represent the interests of the press and public," leaving the newspapers with "no choice but to bring this petition to protect the public's right of access to this important information.

Scientists have identified a new suspect in the mysterious die-off of bees in recent years - a class of pesticides that appear to be lethal in indirect ways. The chemicals, known as neonicotinoids, are designed to target a variety of sucking and chewing insects, including aphids and beetles. Bees are known to ingest the poison when they eat the pollen and nectar of treated plants, though in doses so tiny that it was not seen as a threat. But two reports published online Thursday by the journal Science indicate that the pesticides are not altogether benign.

Robin Gibb, a singer and songwriter who joined two of his brothers in forming the Bee Gees pop group that helped define the sound of the disco era with the best-selling 1977 soundtrack to"Saturday Night Fever," has died. He was 62. Gibb died Sunday after battling cancer and while recuperating from intestinal surgery, family spokesman Doug Wright announced. This spring Gibb had been hospitalized in London with advanced colorectal cancer. He had intestinal surgery in March and, after contracting pneumonia, was unable to attend the April 10 premiere in London of "The Titanic Requiem," a classical composition he wrote with his son, Robin-John, to coincide with the 100th anniversary observance of the luxury ocean liner's sinking.

See once again the connectedness of everything: Central California's almond crop is threatened by the high price of corn in places like North Dakota. And the connection, of course, is bees. Billions and billions of bees. We have previously commented on this blog about the overwhelming importance of a series of little-discussed programs under the Conservation Title XII of the Farm Bill that preserve the nation's flora and fauna. One example is the Conservation Reserve Program, or CRP, which pays farmers a fee to keep portions of their acreage out of crop production for a number of years; this set-aside aids ground-nesting birds and other critters, helps restore the soil and gives farmers an option to make a few bucks from less-than-optimal cropland or when crop prices are low. National Public Radio came out with a terrific story yesterday showing how that CRP program in North Dakota is vital to the almond crop in California's Central Valley.

You could say that the West Valley League baseball opener between Chatsworth and Lake Balboa Birmingham high schools created quite a buzz. Literally. The game was suspended in the top of the first inning Tuesday when bees swarmed the field and eventually locked onto a chain-link fence down the third base line at Chatsworth. Observers found it hard to BEE-lieve. "I've heard of all kinds of cancellations, but never a bee-out," Birmingham Coach Matt Mowry said.

Israel is referred to repeatedly in the Bible — 17 times, in fact — as the "land of milk and honey," but until three years ago, archaeologists had discovered little firm evidence that beekeeping was ever practiced there. Many scholars, in fact, assumed "honey" referred to a nectar from dates or other fruits. Then, three years ago, researchers found a 3,000-year-old apiary in the Iron Age city of Tel Rehov in the Jordan Valley, the oldest known commercial beekeeping facility in the world, suggesting that the word "honey" likely referred to the real thing.

Martin-Marietta engineers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory are designing a tiny prototype silicon chip to track the migration of Africanized bees. The micro-miniature transmitter shown above mounted for testing on a European drone bee eventually will be glued to an Africanized "killer bee." The signals, detectable up to a mile, will enable scientists to locate and track the intruders that are expected to migrate into Texas from Mexico by next year.

The Africanized honeybee has officially made its home in Los Angeles County. After DNA testing of bees found in Palmdale and Long Beach, state and county agriculture officials deemed that all 4,083 square miles of Los Angeles County had been colonized. County Agricultural Commissioner Cato Fiksdal said this week that the announcement should serve as a warning to all residents to avoid contact with swarms of bees or hives. "People ask if this is a disaster," Fiksdal said. "The answer is, no.

Colony collapse disorder, a killer of billions of honeybees, isn't likely to affect the country's crops this year, the American Beekeeping Federation said, pointing to a forecast for a record almond harvest in California. Production of almonds, the ninth-largest U.S. crop by value and the crop that uses the most honeybees for pollination, may reach 1.46 billion pounds this year, according to a survey of growers released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That would be the most ever and 5.8% more than last year, when the harvest was valued at $2.4 billion.

Robin Gibb has awoken from a nearly two-week-long coma as the former Bee Gees star continues to surprise in his battle with colorectal cancer.  As The Times reported about a week ago, Gibb was hospitalized -- gravely ill with pneumonia and in a coma -- with his wife, children and brother Barry Gibb standing vigil at his bedside.  But on Sunday, his family was celebrating. An update on Gibb's Facebook page detailed the latest developments, saying: "The remarkable Robin Gibb has confounded" his doctors "with his indomitable fighting spirit and remarkable physical endurance.

Mindy Newman was enjoying a peaceful night at home Saturday in Holmby Hills, reading a biography of the late Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs. Then at 10:30 p.m., the kids began arriving on her street "like a swarm of bees," she said. "They were coming in cars. They were coming in cabs. " Beverly Hills police had shut down a party nearby, and it was now migrating and growing by the minute — news spreading via social media and smartphones — to the apparently unoccupied Holmby Avenue house next to Newman's.

Scientists have identified a new suspect in the mysterious die-off of bees in recent years - a class of pesticides that appear to be lethal in indirect ways. The chemicals, known as neonicotinoids, are designed to target a variety of sucking and chewing insects, including aphids and beetles. Bees are known to ingest the poison when they eat the pollen and nectar of treated plants, though in doses so tiny that it was not seen as a threat. But two reports published online Thursday by the journal Science indicate that the pesticides are not altogether benign.

Almond trees are exploding with pink and white blossoms across the vast Central Valley, marking the start of the growing season for California's most valuable farm export. Toiling among the blooms are the migrant workers that will make or break this year's crop: honeybees. The insects carry the pollen and genetic material needed to turn flowers into nuts as they flit from tree to tree. It's a natural process that no machine can replicate. But it can't be left to chance. Bees are too integral to the fortunes of California's nearly $3-billion-a-year almond industry.

Matt Kuchar , who shot a second-round 69 to put him at four under par and in a tie for third, played through some sudden pain. While he was standing on the sixth green, Kuchar was stung in the forearm by a bee. "I haven't been stung in probably 20 years," said Kuchar, 33, who trails leader Phil Mickelson by two shots. "I had stopped being scared of bees as a matter of fact. The thing got me and it was really painful. " After the sting, Kuchar missed a short birdie putt on the sixth hole.

See once again the connectedness of everything: Central California's almond crop is threatened by the high price of corn in places like North Dakota. And the connection, of course, is bees. Billions and billions of bees. We have previously commented on this blog about the overwhelming importance of a series of little-discussed programs under the Conservation Title XII of the Farm Bill that preserve the nation's flora and fauna. One example is the Conservation Reserve Program, or CRP, which pays farmers a fee to keep portions of their acreage out of crop production for a number of years; this set-aside aids ground-nesting birds and other critters, helps restore the soil and gives farmers an option to make a few bucks from less-than-optimal cropland or when crop prices are low. National Public Radio came out with a terrific story yesterday showing how that CRP program in North Dakota is vital to the almond crop in California's Central Valley.

Bees swarming in front of a Target department store trapped customers inside while the Fire Department tested a "bee response" policy designed to neutralize Africanized "killer" honeybees. Store manager Tim Hollister said the incident began about 3:30 p.m. when he saw that a swarm of bees had begun to build a hive on a pillar at the store entrance. He called a beekeeper, and the bee response team went into action. Three firefighters were stung, as was a pest control employee.

They're heeeere. Africanized honey bees--the so-called killer bees that have been inexorably marching toward urban Southern California for years--are finally showing up. One swarm of the aggressive bees arrived in Lawndale without wearying their wings, presumably stowing away on a cargo ship from South America to the Port of Los Angeles and hitching aboard a local freight train, county agricultural officials said.

Muhammad Ali turns 70 on Tuesday, and for many of those 70 years, he has had us all on the ropes. To say he is merely a famous boxer is to say the sky is always blue. There are so many sides to him his nickname should be Octagon. Now, he is revered. Passage of time softens and endears. He is ill, and has been since 1984, when he first received a diagnosis of Parkinson's. That was just three years after his final fight, when he made one last, mostly pathetic, effort to convince the world he was still "the Greatest.

A 95-year-old man was in stable condition Wednesday evening after being stung more than 400 times by bees in Redondo Beach, police said. "Most men would have died, but he's taking it in stride," Sgt. Phil Keenan of the Redondo Beach Police Department said. He said the man was expected to be released Wednesday evening from a local hospital. The bees attacked the man about 2:50 p.m. in the 1700 block of Ruxton Lane. The bees apparently became agitated by a private fumigator who was trying to remove them from a nearby apartment building, police said.