Erratic winter endangers Ohio honeybee colonies

Erratic winter endangers Ohio honeybee colonies

COLUMBUS

Unseasonably warm weather in Ohio this past fall and winter has created confusion for honeybees and has added to a list of problems they face as researchers investigate how to help them survive and continue their vital role in pollinating crops.

The Columbus Dispatch reports bees huddle for warmth and rely on whatever honey is stored in hives when temperatures dip below 40 degrees.

February brought higher-than-normal temperatures to central Ohio that lured bees from their hives with nothing to feed on. When wintry weather returns, as it did last month, bees are in danger of freezing to death.

Ohio farmers rely on bees to pollinate about 70 crops.

Car carrying Super Bowl trophy hits deer in Maine

FAIRFIELD, Maine

The Super Bowl trophy’s run-in with a deer was nearly as improbable as the New England Patriots’ come-from-behind win over the Atlanta Falcons.

But it happened Friday night in Maine when a Patriots employee who had the Vince Lombardi Trophy in his vehicle struck a deer in Fairfield.

Team spokesman Stacey James on Saturday confirmed the accident. James said the employee was unhurt, and the trophy was unscathed.

The trophy was on display Saturday at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, Maine, as scheduled. It has been traveling around the region to give fans a chance to see it.

Trump’s rollback of coal rules electrifies Wyoming workers

GILLETTE, Wyo.

This hardscrabble Wyoming city of about 30,000 people proclaims itself the “Energy Capital of the Nation” on the mayor’s blue blazer and even the parking ticket payment boxes.

Nearby are some of the world’s largest open-pit mines, where dump trucks the size of houses haul out more than 40 percent of the coal produced in the U.S. The windy, wide-open landscape around Gillette also has substantial reserves of natural gas, oil and uranium.

So when President Donald Trump lifted a federal coal-leasing moratorium and ordered a review of greenhouse gas regulations, the announcement electrified many workers who depend on fossil fuels for their livelihood. After years of layoffs and corporate bankruptcies, they are optimistic that jobs and a better economy will soon return.

But the skepticism expressed by many economists and energy experts throughout the campaign has not eased. They say the global coal market has little room for additional coal from Wyoming and especially from Appalachia, where mines are not just scaling back but closing altogether.

Emeralds from sunken galleon off Keys set for auction

KEY WEST, Fla.

Emeralds from a Spanish galleon that sank off the Florida Keys in 1622 are going up for auction in New York City.

Manuel Marcial de Gomar of Emeralds International in Key West owns the jewels. According to a report by The Citizen, de Gomar was paid in emeralds by treasure hunter Mel Fisher, who discovered the wreck of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha in the 1980s.

The shipwreck gems are among 20 loose emeralds and 13 pieces of emerald jewelry from de Gomar’s collection that will be auctioned April 25 at Guernsey’s auction house. Bids also will be accepted online .

Associated Press