Peter Borst has been a beekeeper since 1974 and takes a longer view of the industry’s recent struggles. In 2006, beekeepers began reporting the widespread loss of seemingly healthy bee colonies. It led to the naming of a new disease: Colony Collapse Disorder.
But Borst says the issue’s been blown way out of proportion.
“And the thing that was odd about this colony collapse disorder was that the bees just seemed to vanish," says Borst. "But bees disappearing, we don’t know why, has been a recurring theme."
The rest of the story and video of Borst checking his bees can be found after the jump.
Andrew Cuomo announces details of a deal between New York state and the Saint Regis Mohawk tribe.
Fresh off a deal with the Oneida Nation, today Governor Cuomo announced a deal to resolve gaming issues with the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe.
The Mohawks will resume paying the state 25% of the revenues from its Akwesasne Mohawk casino near Massena. The tribe will also pay back 30 million dollars it has withheld over the last three years. St. Lawrence and Franklin counties will once again see their shares of that revenue, including immediate payments of 3.75 million dollars each.
The devastating disease, fire blight, targets the most popular apple varieties. Researchers are trying to work on expanding the range of defenses available to combat the bacteria in upstate.
New York is the second biggest apple producing state in the country. But, last year production dropped dramatically due to a warmer winter, early blooms, and harsh spring frosts. The total production from the state plummeted from 1.2 million pounds in 2011, to just 710,000 pounds in 2012.
But, weather isn’t the only challenge growers are contending with.
An energy company is looking into building a natural gas pipeline from near Binghamton to the Syracuse area.
Millennium Pipeline Company is currently soliciting feedback from natural gas suppliers about their proposal to connect three supply lines running east-west across upstate New York, with a north-south line.
The Upstate Pipeline would connect the company's Millennium Pipeline - which runs from Corning to Rockland County, near New York City - with the Tennessee Pipeline in the Town on Onondaga, crossing the Dominion Pipeline in between.
A group of western New York high school students toured the Gates Vascular Institute in Buffalo to learn about medical science.
“They’re putting a tube up the vein to get rid of leakage in the brain. It looks cool,” said Nicholas Altemoos, a 9th grader at Bennett High School.
Twenty freshman and sophomore students watched a recorded medical procedure on the human eye during their tour of Gates Vascular Institute, University at Buffalo’s Clinical and Translational Research Center and the Jacob’s Institute.
