Bee Revival for the Wall Street Journal

Recent rains have provided relief from Texas' drought conditions and led to a resurgence of bees as wildflowers and other plants have made a rebound. A 40-year-old warehouse worker was stung more than 300 times after disturbing a massive colony of bees in Pflugerville on August 8. In a separate incident on August 6, a man was stung while attempting to remove bees in his home with a vacuum cleaner. He went into shock while driving himself to the hospital and crashed into a pedestrian, several cars and a house in west Austin.

Keith Huddle is the man they call to remove these hives. Business has been booming since late spring with Huddle doing 4-5 removals a day. Needless to say, it's hot in those suits. Think I dropped 5 pounds in 45 minutes. Whew.


Archive (2012-03-24)>BlogPhotos>Bee - Images by Julia Robinson

Bad Dogs for the Wall Street Journal

I had a string of dog-related assignments a few weeks back. One of them took me to San Antonio where a new court system dedicated to dog offenses is getting mixed reviews. City officials appreciate the focused attention on canine violations which they hope will reduce the 3,000 residents a year that are bitten by dogs and the more than 150,000 dogs roam city streets on any given day.  Residents say the system targets family pets, not strays, and levies exorbitant fines for minor offenses.

I spent some time with the pups and their owners caught up in the system. You can read the article here and see the WSJ slideshow here.



San Antonio Dog Court for the Wall Street Journal - Images by Julia Robinson