Latest news with #Shook
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
The Trump Administration Is Tempting a Honeybee Disaster
It was early January when Blake Shook realized the bees were in trouble. Shook, the CEO of a beekeeping outfit called Desert Creek, was coordinating California's annual almond pollination, the largest such event in the world. The affair requires shipping nearly 2 million honeybee colonies from all across the country to California orchards. But this year, Shook's contacts were coming up short. Their bees were all dead. From June 2024 to February 2025, the United States suffered its worst commercial honeybee crash on record. An estimated 62 percent of commercial colonies perished, according to a survey by the nonprofit Project Apis m. As Shook and other beekeepers were struggling to fill their contracts, they notified the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which promptly collected samples of pollen, wax, honey, and dead bees from both live and lost colonies to analyze at its five bee-research laboratories around the country. The USDA has long been the country's frontline response to honeybee die-offs, using its labs to characterize threats to the insects. But this year, before the researchers could uncover what exactly had killed the bees, the Trump administration's sweeping federal funding cuts scrambled the operation. Now scientists, farmers, and beekeepers alike are racing to recover and prevent the next massive die-off before it's too late. Honeybee colonies in the U.S. have occupied a precarious position for nearly two decades. Since official recordkeeping started in 2007, approximately 40 percent of honeybee colonies kept by both commercial and hobbyist beekeepers have died off each winter. Keepers have still managed to keep the total U.S. honeybee population relatively stable by breeding new queens, and by relying on the USDA to quickly identify what caused any given die-off so they can prevent it from happening the next year. Quickly is the operative word. Identifying which killer—or, more likely, combination of killers—is responsible for a colony's death is crucial for beekeepers as they restock and adjust for new threats. They need to know whether they should provide their bees with supplemental food, or treat their gear with chemicals to kill specific parasites, viruses, or bacteria. 'Until they have results from the samples that were taken, they don't know if it's safe to rebuild with that equipment,' Danielle Downey, the executive director of Project Apis m., told me. [Read: The last thing bees need right now] After a major winter die-off, the USDA usually returns its verdict by late March or early April, Downey said. But several beekeepers and the American Beekeeping Federation told me they are still waiting on this year's report. 'It's a little frightening,' Russell Heitkam, a commercial beekeeper in Northern California, told me. In addition to delivering its report on a given year's die-off, the agency offers financial aid for beekeepers to offset the costs of replacing their stock during years with particularly high losses. But Heitkam and Shook both told me that after they applied for the funds this year, they received a notice from the USDA's Farm Service Agency that said they should expect to be paid less than usual. If beekeepers don't have answers—or money—before summer begins, they will have missed their window to rebuild. The Department of Agriculture seems hard-pressed to return answers in time. In February, the agency approached Cornell University and asked its bee experts to take on pesticide testing 'due to government staffing cuts and the high expense involved with testing samples for pesticides,' according to a university press release. The university was able to take on the job because it already had the necessary equipment, and because of a $60,000 donation from an anonymous donor. Scott McArt, the program director of Cornell's Dyce Lab for Honey Bee Studies, told me that he and his team are close to wrapping up their analysis, but they will need to run their results by the USDA before they can be shared. (A university spokesperson declined to comment further on how the partnership was worked out.) Because of widespread government cuts, it's unclear to what extent the USDA is equipped to test for any other potential killers. An agency spokesperson told me, 'USDA Agricultural Research Service scientists are working closely with federal partners, stakeholders, and impacted parties to identify the source of this agricultural challenge,' but did not answer my questions about what, exactly, that work comprises. In February, The New York Times reported that roughly 800 employees had been fired from the Agricultural Research Service, the branch in charge of the agency's honeybee labs (among other services). Before that round of layoffs, each bee lab employed 10 to 20 researchers, each with their own highly specialized skill set. About a dozen of them were fired in February, according to a USDA bee-lab researcher who asked to remain anonymous to protect their job; some were rehired temporarily, then placed on administrative leave. The exact scope of the layoffs remains unclear—as of this week, none of the five labs has any listings under their websites' staff pages—and any loss of staff could prove debilitating as the deadline for beekeepers to rebuild approaches. John Ternest, an expert in bee pollination, told me he was abruptly let go in mid-February, just as he was helping select which tests for environmental contaminants to run on dead colonies at the USDA's Stoneville, Mississippi, bee-research unit. [Read: The NIH's most reckless cuts yet] Without fully funded and staffed USDA labs, experts fear that beekeepers won't know why their colonies are dying the next time disaster strikes. Beekeepers are relieved that Cornell has stepped in this year, but asking outside labs to pick up the agency's slack 'isn't sustainable in the long run,' Katie Lee, a honeybee researcher at the University of Minnesota, told me. For one thing, Cornell is one of a small handful of institutions in the country that have the equipment to test dead colonies for pesticides. Plus, the USDA has years' worth of data and well-established partnerships with beekeepers, universities, and nonprofits; nongovernmental agencies would have a hard time coordinating, communicating, and responding at the same scale. And aside from Cornell's anonymous benefactor, deep-pocketed donors have not exactly been coming out of the woodwork to fund entomology research. The Department of Agriculture still has a few precious weeks to finish its research and distribute funds before many American beekeepers will be in real trouble. At the very least, the Trump administration is making beekeepers' jobs more complicated at a precarious moment. One chaotic year will likely not spell the end of American beekeeping, but if the upheaval continues, it will bring real risks. More than 90 commercial crops in the U.S. are pollinated by bees, including staples such as apples and squash. Even a modest reduction in crop yields, courtesy of honeybees dying off or beekeepers quitting the business, would force the U.S. to import more produce—which, with tariffs looming, is unlikely to come cheap. The responsibility to keep food production stable through the ongoing bee crisis is putting immense stress on commercial beekeepers, most of whom operate relatively small family businesses. Every year for the past two decades, they have had to rebuild from some level of mass bee death. Carrying on is beginning to feel Sisyphean. 'We're seeing a lot of commercial beekeepers quitting the field,' Nathalie Steinhauer, an entomologist at Oregon State University, told me. Shook said that many of the beekeepers he works with now face bankruptcy. Still, a number of them plan to hold out for one more year, in hopes that this winter was a fluke, that federal funding will stabilize, that researchers will somehow figure out what killed their bees so it doesn't bring the American food system down too. Article originally published at The Atlantic
Atlantic
20-05-2025
- General
- Atlantic
The Trump Administration Is Tempting a Honeybee Disaster
It was early January when Blake Shook realized the bees were in trouble. Shook, the CEO of a beekeeping outfit called Desert Creek, was coordinating California's annual almond pollination, the largest such event in the world. The affair requires shipping nearly 2 million honeybee colonies from all across the country to California orchards. But this year, Shook's contacts were coming up short. Their bees were all dead. From June 2024 to February 2025, the United States suffered its worst commercial honeybee crash on record. An estimated 62 percent of commercial colonies perished, according to a survey by the nonprofit Project Apis m. As Shook and other beekeepers were struggling to fill their contracts, they notified the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which promptly collected samples of pollen, wax, honey, and dead bees from both live and lost colonies to analyze at its five bee-research laboratories around the country. The USDA has long been the country's frontline response to honeybee die-offs, using its labs to characterize threats to the insects. But this year, before the researchers could uncover what exactly had killed the bees, the Trump administration's sweeping federal funding cuts scrambled the operation. Now scientists, farmers, and beekeepers alike are racing to recover and prevent the next massive die-off before it's too late. Honeybee colonies in the U.S. have occupied a precarious position for nearly two decades. Since official recordkeeping started in 2007, approximately 40 percent of honeybee colonies kept by both commercial and hobbyist beekeepers have died off each winter. Keepers have still managed to keep the total U.S. honeybee population relatively stable by breeding new queens, and by relying on the USDA to quickly identify what caused any given die-off so they can prevent it from happening the next year. Quickly is the operative word. Identifying which killer—or, more likely, combination of killers—is responsible for a colony's death is crucial for beekeepers as they restock and adjust for new threats. They need to know whether they should provide their bees with supplemental food, or treat their gear with chemicals to kill specific parasites, viruses, or bacteria. 'Until they have results from the samples that were taken, they don't know if it's safe to rebuild with that equipment,' Danielle Downey, the executive director of Project Apis m., told me. After a major winter die-off, the USDA usually returns its verdict by late March or early April, Downey said. But several beekeepers and the American Beekeeping Federation told me they are still waiting on this year's report. 'It's a little frightening,' Russell Heitkam, a commercial beekeeper in Northern California, told me. In addition to delivering its report on a given year's die-off, the agency offers financial aid for beekeepers to offset the costs of replacing their stock during years with particularly high losses. But Heitkam and Shook both told me that after they applied for the funds this year, they received a notice from the USDA's Farm Service Agency that said they should expect to be paid less than usual. If beekeepers don't have answers—or money—before summer begins, they will have missed their window to rebuild. The Department of Agriculture seems hard-pressed to return answers in time. In February, the agency approached Cornell University and asked its bee experts to take on pesticide testing 'due to government staffing cuts and the high expense involved with testing samples for pesticides,' according to a university press release. The university was able to take on the job because it already had the necessary equipment, and because of a $60,000 donation from an anonymous donor. Scott McArt, the program director of Cornell's Dyce Lab for Honey Bee Studies, told me that he and his team are close to wrapping up their analysis, but they will need to run their results by the USDA before they can be shared. (A university spokesperson declined to comment further on how the partnership was worked out.) Because of widespread government cuts, it's unclear to what extent the USDA is equipped to test for any other potential killers. An agency spokesperson told me, 'USDA Agricultural Research Service scientists are working closely with federal partners, stakeholders, and impacted parties to identify the source of this agricultural challenge,' but did not answer my questions about what, exactly, that work comprises. In February, The New York Times reported that roughly 800 employees had been fired from the Agricultural Research Service, the branch in charge of the agency's honeybee labs (among other services). Before that round of layoffs, each bee lab employed 10 to 20 researchers, each with their own highly specialized skill set. About a dozen of them were fired in February, according to a USDA bee-lab researcher who asked to remain anonymous to protect their job; some were rehired temporarily, then placed on administrative leave. The exact scope of the layoffs remains unclear—as of this week, none of the five labs has any listings under their websites' staff pages—and any loss of staff could prove debilitating as the deadline for beekeepers to rebuild approaches. John Ternest, an expert in bee pollination, told me he was abruptly let go in mid-February, just as he was helping select which tests for environmental contaminants to run on dead colonies at the USDA's Stoneville, Mississippi, bee-research unit. Without fully funded and staffed USDA labs, experts fear that beekeepers won't know why their colonies are dying the next time disaster strikes. Beekeepers are relieved that Cornell has stepped in this year, but asking outside labs to pick up the agency's slack 'isn't sustainable in the long run,' Katie Lee, a honeybee researcher at the University of Minnesota, told me. For one thing, Cornell is one of a small handful of institutions in the country that have the equipment to test dead colonies for pesticides. Plus, the USDA has years' worth of data and well-established partnerships with beekeepers, universities, and nonprofits; nongovernmental agencies would have a hard time coordinating, communicating, and responding at the same scale. And aside from Cornell's anonymous benefactor, deep-pocketed donors have not exactly been coming out of the woodwork to fund entomology research. The Department of Agriculture still has a few precious weeks to finish its research and distribute funds before many American beekeepers will be in real trouble. At the very least, the Trump administration is making beekeepers' jobs more complicated at a precarious moment. One chaotic year will likely not spell the end of American beekeeping, but if the upheaval continues, it will bring real risks. More than 90 commercial crops in the U.S. are pollinated by bees, including staples such as apples and squash. Even a modest reduction in crop yields, courtesy of honeybees dying off or beekeepers quitting the business, would force the U.S. to import more produce—which, with tariffs looming, is unlikely to come cheap. The responsibility to keep food production stable through the ongoing bee crisis is putting immense stress on commercial beekeepers, most of whom operate relatively small family businesses. Every year for the past two decades, they have had to rebuild from some level of mass bee death. Carrying on is beginning to feel Sisyphean. 'We're seeing a lot of commercial beekeepers quitting the field,' Nathalie Steinhauer, an entomologist at Oregon State University, told me. Shook said that many of the beekeepers he works with now face bankruptcy. Still, a number of them plan to hold out for one more year, in hopes that this winter was a fluke, that federal funding will stabilize, that researchers will somehow figure out what killed their bees so it doesn't bring the American food system down too.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Iowa schools tweaking cell phone policies due to new law
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — For many Iowa students, there's only a couple more weeks till school is out. However, when they return next fall, some may find their schools' policy on phones has changed due to a law going into effect this summer. Governor Kim Reynolds signed the law on April 30; it directs Iowa schools to develop policies that restrict the use of electronic devices during class and setting up ways they will securely store students' phones. Story continues below Top Story: Rob Sand announces run for Iowa governor Lights & Sirens: Crash temporarily blocks traffic from I-29 to Virginia Street Sports: Explorers defeat Cougars 4-3 in ten-inning thriller The superintendents of Westwood Community Schools and Lawton-Bronson Community School District both say they've had these policies in place before the Governor's law. 'In the elementary, students are not to have them out during the day. They leave them in their bags and in their lockers. High school differs. Some of them have baskets, and when you walk in the room, you have to deposit your phone in the basket, and when you walk out of the room at the end of class, you can pick your phone up. And, you know, if it's not a basket, it's some other container,' said Chad Shook, the superintendent with Lawton-Bronson Community School District. Due to the new law, both school districts are making a few changes to comply with it. 'A lot of it is looking at our policies and see how they match up, and one of the things that I know right now our policies don't include wearable devices as much as it probably should. So that is one thing that the governor put in there is wearable technology needs to be addressed, and so we'll be addressing that this summer,' said Jay Lutt, the superintendent with Westwood Community Schools. 'We're talking about methods of collecting cell phones when kids come to class that are consistent from classroom to classroom. Right now, that's kind of in the hands of our teachers, but we want to be consistent. You know, when we're talking about adapting the model policy put about put out by the Department of Education,' said Shook. Rob Sand announces run for Iowa governor Lawton-Bronson's superintendent says he doesn't see why this needed to become a law when many schools were already tackling the issue. 'I feel like this is something that our teachers, parents, students, school board are very capable of handling. I'm not sure that we needed legislation to address this, but it's here. So, we'll make sure where we fall in line like all the other schools,' said Shook. Iowa schools need to have some sort of cell phone policy in place by July 1 when the law goes into effect. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Look deeper into Monroe Public Schools' funding, enrollment, future plans
— In an effort to reduce its general fund expenditures by approximately $2 million for the 2025-26 school year, recently cut 25 district staff positions and plans to implement other changes, including changes to custodial cleaning. Andrew Shaw, MPS superintendent, said the efforts will help the district balance its budget and prevent it from having to spend more of its fund balance. Here's what officials had to say: The fund balance is essentially a district's savings fund. The balance fluctuates depending on the district's financial situation. According to slides presented during an April 28 financial update to staff, MPS expects to end this school year with $7,731,360 in fund balance. Shaw provided a recording of the call to The Monroe News. MPS's total budget for this year is approximately $75 million. 'We are set to spend approximately $3 million out of fund balance this year. And, the last couple years, we've been spending out of fund balance,' Shaw told staff on the call. 'That $3 million, if we make no changes, would go to next year, and then next year, we'll still be in the same spot because we have pay increases and normal increases due to all expenses out there and inflation, and then we also budgeted for a student loss. So, that's another $2 million to $2.5 million loss. We'd be looking at $5 million more of expenditures verses revenue. It just continues to multiply itself." 'Our conservative estimate at the end of this year is $7.7 million, using $3 million fund balance. Continuing to use that much of our fund balance is not sustainable, so we have to look at how we can prevent that from continuing,' said Cassandra Shook, the district's executive director of business and finance. "Our ultimate goal is a balanced budget," Shaw said. Shaw said in pervious years, Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund money helped with COVID-related issues, such as student achievement. It's federal money given to schools to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. 'ESSER helped us with summer school, interventions and (upgrades to improve) air quality,' Shaw said. 'We've used those funds up. We don't have that additional funding anymore,' Shook said. The State of Michigan provides school districts funds for every student each year. Shaw said the per pupil rate has been flat for two years. 'It sets the district behind. We get the same amount per pupil, but expenses go up because we have legacy costs with staff contracts and natural increases in the cost of items,' Shook said. For 2025, Michigan gave a per-pupil allowance of $9,608. That was a zero increase from the previous year, Shaw said. He said for next school year, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Republicans are discussing increasing the allotment by just over $400 per pupil. 'We're waiting on the Democrats for their number,' Shaw said. 'We fully expect that we'll see a nominal increase in our foundation this coming year. We need $600 a year (per pupil) just to break even. $400 is a big step in the right direction. With that, and changes we're making, we have the potential to get back to having a balanced budget." He said the district is also waiting to hear about federal funding. 'The fed, we get a nice amount through title funds. What will that look like? It's hard to say where that's going to land,' Shaw said. Shook and Shaw said declining enrollment is an issue for most schools in Michigan because of lower birth rates and families moving out of areas. Lower enrollment means less funding. 'This is the first year since 1942 with less than 100,000 live births in Michigan,' Shaw said. "It's a huge shift. These are numbers we're going to continue to watch.' Shaw said the district budgets each year for a 150-student loss. Last year, MPS saw only an 80-student loss. 'The sinking fund is a beautiful gift the community has given to MPS. The sinking funds get used for a lot of projects. If we didn't have the sinking fund, those costs would have come out of the general fund,' Shaw said. The current updates to Waterloo Elementary, for example, were funded by a bond and sinking funds. Previous Coverage: 'Waterloo's coming back' 'The technology milage (part of the general fund) ... is a gift from the county. We have two gifts in our community that have a huge impact on what we can do," Shaw said. Shaw said there is always a need to invest in the district, including buildings and staff. 'We have to always continue to move forward. All the work we've done since COVID, student achievement, behavior, social/emotional; we see all this great work that is happening. That work still must continue," he said. "We still have to invest in staff and programs. All the investment in professional development, if all of these great employees we have are not getting pay increases, they're going to another district. Then, it's all for not and it rolls us back. We have to continue to move forward." Support local news: Subscribe for all the latest local developments, breaking news and high school sports content. Shaw said the district is likely heading into some lean years. 'I wish that wasn't the case, but there are a lot of indictors. I would love to be wrong. I hope I am," he said. "We have to plan for what appears to be on the horizon.' — Contact reporter Suzanne Nolan Wisler at swisler@ This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Look deeper into Monroe Public Schools' funding, enrollment, future plans
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Atlanta looks at layoffs, cuts to new city budget as it faces $20 million deficit
The Brief Layoffs are on the table for Atlanta's new budget for Fiscal Year 2026. Much of the $20 million shortfall is due to city worker overtime pay. The mayor is set to propose a new budget next week. ATLANTA - Atlanta's finances are $20 million in the red, and city officials say layoffs and tough cuts may be on the way. Mayor Andre Dickens plans to propose a new budget next week. What they're saying "It's going to be a contraction from prior years," said Council member Howard Shook, Atlanta City Council Finance Committee Chairman. "We're going to have to undergo the same belt-tightening that you're seeing so many people in both the public and private sectors go through." The new fiscal year begins July 1. The current fiscal year has sent the city into a deficit. "Steps have been taken by the administration and finance department to try to skinny that down as much as possible as that fiscal year comes to an end," said Shook. "The administration I know is looking to reduce the workforce and what form that takes. We will see." What we know Atlanta is working to fill a $20 million shortfall in this year's budget, Shook said. Mayor Andre Dickens will present his proposed budget to the City Council next week. The city must pass a new balanced budget by the end of June. Shook said he believes the focus will be on cutting some of the city's workforce. Michael Smith, Mayor Dickens' press secretary, told FOX 5 the city's position is not unique. "The Mayor is committed to a safe, thriving Atlanta built for the future with opportunity for all of our communities," Smith said. "Once introduced, the public will see the proposed FY26 budget reflects those values while protecting the City's financial health and resilience. The backstory According to Shook, several recent events led to the budget gap, including snowstorms, President Jimmy Carter's funeral, and providing security for the new Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, which has been the target of vandals and activists opposed to the project. These costs piled up quickly, pushing the city into the red, Shook said. The council is required to pass a balanced budget by the end of June. What's next Each city department will have to justify its budget requests in detail, Shook said. The new fiscal year begins July 1. Until then, hiring for vacant positions now reportedly requires special approval from the Mayor's office. Officials are also waiting to confirm whether expected federal funding will still be available, after the Trump administration's own cost-cutting initiative, DOGE. The city has to plan for major events over the course of the next year, which include preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Shook expects public safety costs for the event to be high. The Source This article is based on original reporting by FOX 5's Rob DiRienzo. Additional information from Council member Howard Shook and the Office of Mayor Andre Dickens.
