Insects
FILE - In this March 24, 2017 photo, a tick is displayed in Plainville, Mass. A late-summer drought virtually eliminated ticks in parts of New England but they’re back with a vengeance this spring. Dog ticks, which do not carry Lyme disease, have been especially active since early spring in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont in 2021. (Paul Connors/The Sun Chronicle via AP)
After an absence, New England's ticks are back — and hungry

May. 22, 2021 09:03 AM EDT

FILE - In this March 22, 2010, file photo, workers, from left, Johan Du Preez, Susan Dupreez and Rouxle Crafford clear honey from dead bee hives at a bee farm east of Merced, Calif. California's Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing spending $11 billion on programs to combat climate change amid a drought that followed a year of historic wildfires exacerbated by a warming planet. The windfall will fund everything from charging stations for electric cars to preparing communities for disasters ranging from fire, flooding and earthquakes to creating habitat for threatened bumble bees that are essential to pollinating crops in the nation's most productive farmland. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
Newsom's green budget has something for everyone — even bees

By Brian Melley May. 14, 2021 08:23 PM EDT

Tick populations on the rise in Connecticut

May. 02, 2021 05:11 PM EDT
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut’s tick population is increasing this season, due to a variety of factors that include shorter and warmer winters and longer...

A camera trap installed by biologist Claudio Monteza is fastened to a tree just off the forest floor in San Lorenzo, Panama, Tuesday, April 6, 2021, amid the new coronavirus pandemic. Monteza hopes his series of cameras will provide insights into which animal species steer clear of highways and which ones are more apt to check them out. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)
Scientists get creative to carry on research during pandemic

By Kathia Martínez Apr. 22, 2021 10:20 AM EDT

FILE - In this May 7, 2020, file photo, a person looks inside the closed doors of the Pasadena Community Job Center in Pasadena, Calif., during the coronavirus outbreak. A state report released Tuesday, March 2, 2021, details the pandemic's toll on California workers and shines light on who was most affected by job losses and layoffs. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
US jobless claims tick up to 745,000 as layoffs remain high

By Paul Wiseman Mar. 04, 2021 08:37 AM EST

FILE - This Aug. 19, 2015, file photo, shows a monarch butterfly in Vista, Calif. The number of western monarch butterflies wintering along the California coast has plummeted to a new record low, putting the orange-and-black insects closer to extinction, researchers announced Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021. A recent count by the Xerces Society recorded fewer than 2,000 butterflies, a massive decline from the millions of monarchs that in 1980s clustered in trees from Marin County to San Diego County. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)
Monarch butterflies down 26% in Mexico wintering grounds

By Mark Stevenson Feb. 25, 2021 04:20 PM EST

Here is the latest news from The Associated Press at 12:40 p.m. EST

Dec. 15, 2020 12:57 PM EST
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has finally acknowledged that Democrat Joe Biden won the presidential election. Six weeks after the...

After downward tick in virus, Burgum says stay vigilant

Nov. 26, 2020 12:36 PM EST
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum implored the state to remain vigilant in preventing infections on the Thanksgiving holiday as the state...

FILE - Bags of personal protective equipment for staff attending to patients in a COVID-19 treatment unit at UW Health in Madison, Wis. share a wall Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020. Faulting inaction in Washington, governors and state lawmakers are racing to get needed pandemic relief to small businesses, the unemployed, renters and others affected by the widening coronavirus outbreak. In some cases, they are figuring out how to spend the last of a federal relief package passed in the spring as an end-of-year deadline approaches and the current COVID-19 surge threatens their economies once again. (John Hart/Wisconsin State Journal via AP)
Wisconsin coronavirus infections tick downward

By Todd Richmond Nov. 25, 2020 03:55 PM EST

Beekeeper James Cook works on his hives in an almond orchard in San Joaquin County, Calif., on Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. Cook and wife Samantha Jones, who are based in Wisconsin, are among the many commercial beekeepers who travel extensively with their hives to pollinate many of the nation's crops. In the days and weeks after this photo was taken, the coronavirus hit the United States and caused a shutdown in California and other states, just as Cook and Jones, ages 35 and 38, were launching their business after working for several years for another beekeeper. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)
'Crazy' beekeepers determined to make it in tough times

By Martha Irvine And Carrie Antlfinger Oct. 19, 2020 01:36 AM EDT

Beekeepers Sean Kennedy, right, and Erin Gleeson, left, pack up a bee box full of honeybees they removed from a fence line in a neighborhood in Anacostia, Monday, April 20, 2020, in Washington. Over the last year, beekeepers in the U.S. lost 43.7% of their honeybee colonies, according to the Bee Informed Partnership. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Even during pandemic beekeeping remains an essential service

By Andrew Harnik Jul. 11, 2020 11:22 AM EDT

FILE - In this July 1, 2019, file photo, a monarch butterfly lands on a penta plant in the front yard of Tom Carroll and Hermine Ricketts in Miami Shores, Fla. Homeowners can attract butterflies to their gardens with a multitude of plants that include fennel, dill, and milkweed. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
Simple design steps can take your garden to the next level

By John Raby Jun. 23, 2020 08:39 AM EDT

UMaine Extension to help Mainers avoid ticks this summer

Jun. 16, 2020 01:30 AM EDT
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — University of Maine Cooperative Extension is holding a free online event about avoiding Lyme disease during the coronavirus pandemic,...

FILE - This April 7, 2020 file photo shows barbed wire in front of the Cook County Jail and the Leighton Criminal Courthouse in Chicago. On Friday, May 8, 2020, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly asserting that there is plenty of room in Chicago’s jail after the city’s Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who threatened to arrest people for violating stay-at-home orders, released rapists from it. The mayor doesn’t have the power to release detainees or inmates from jail or prison, including the Cook County Jail in Chicago, which is run by county officials. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, signed an order in April allowing furloughs for elderly inmates because of COVID-19. Since then, the state’s prison population has declined by about 1,300 inmates. (Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn't happen this week

By Beatrice Dupuy, Arijeta Lajka And Amanda Seitz May. 08, 2020 05:08 PM EDT

Editorial Roundup: US

By The Associated Press May. 06, 2020 04:14 PM EDT
Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad: ___ May 6 The Dallas Morning News...

AM-Prep: Cooler Copy

May. 05, 2020 03:05 AM EDT
BIG, SCARY HORNETS MAKE THEIR WAY INTO U.S. SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — The world's largest hornet, a 2-inch killer dubbed the "Murder Hornet"...

Rhode Island warns of active tick season after mild winter

Apr. 26, 2020 03:53 PM EDT
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island health officials are reminding residents that even in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, tick season is fast...

In this May, 2019, photo provided by the Vanuatu Cricket Association Selina Solman bowls during a women's cricket match in Port Vila, Vanuatu. The tropical island in the South Pacific is very likely to be the only venue in the world hosting a competitive cricket final on Saturday, as most international sport remains shuttered around the globe. (Ron Zwiers/Vanuatu Cricket Association via AP)
A rarity: cricket goes live in Vanuatu in the South Pacific

Apr. 25, 2020 02:33 AM EDT