Latest news with #EAB
Boston Globe
08-07-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
Nature's warning sign of democracy's fragility
Advertisement Leafless and forlorn, it stands there like a reminder of the fragility of everything that surrounds us: A small green beetle comes and lays its eggs in the bark, a few seasons pass, and what seemed invulnerable, the very definition of life and strength, now awaits the chain saw. The author's three ash trees. Amanda S. Merullo I did some research and read about a new treatment that could save some of the trees — or at least prolong their lives — if administered before too much damage has been done. Yesterday a young arborist from a local company came for an inspection and gave us the good news that our three ash trees might be saved by the injection of a special pesticide, noxious only to the EAB. I love those trees — they have a special meaning for me, as if they're emblems of the history we've made in this place — and so, without any hesitation, we signed up for the program. Advertisement My wife, Amanda, and I spent two months in southern Italy last winter, way down in the heel of the boot. The land there is so different from where we live in Western Massachusetts, flat as a tabletop and a stranger to snow and ice. There are said to be 60 million olive trees in that part of Italy — some of them, according to locals, more than 500 years old. But 20 years ago some of those gorgeous trees started to become infected with the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa , carried by insects with cute names like spittlebug and meadow froghopper. So far, 20 million olive trees have died. When you ride the train south from the beautiful city of Lecce, all you see out the window is a landscape of devastation, row after row of dead olive trees, thousands of them, their thick, beautifully twisted old trunks holding up nothing but a canopy of withered gray branches. The price of Italian olive oil more My late mother, who had a philosophical side, liked to compare trees to the human body. Some of them thrive and live long lives, she said, and some of them die young. Some are healthy and some diseased, but eventually they all go back into the soil, food for new life. Advertisement Lately, I've been thinking of trees more in terms of whole societies, of nations, of democracies. Healthy for a long stretch of time, seemingly invulnerable, they're attacked by an invasive beetle or bacterium that feeds on them from the inside. The damage is invisible at first, but it doesn't take long for the leaves to wither, the trunks to weaken, the once-vibrant branches to morph into skeletal arms. Next week the experts are coming to inject our three beautiful ash trees with a substance that's supposed to prove fatal to most or all of the emerald borers. I hope we didn't wait too long to begin the treatment.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Emerald Ash Borer confirmed in Milbank
SIOUX FALLS S.D. (KELO) — Emerald Ash Borer has been confirmed in Milbank, a news release from the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources said. DANR has expanded the existing State Plant Pest Quarantine to include Grant County. The updated quarantine area includes all of Brookings, Minnehaha, Lincoln, Turner, Union and now Grant County. Sioux Falls Humane Society calls for help The pest has also been identified in 13 communities including Baltic, Brookings, Brandon, Canton, Crooks, Dakota Dunes, Hartford, Humboldt, Lennox, Sioux Falls, Tea. Worthing and now Milbank, a news release said. The Department has established an external embargo on untreated firewood entering South Dakota from all states east of the eastern border of South Dakota and all counties where EAB is known to exist in other states. Treatments made early in the season can kill the young larvae before they are able to injure the tree. Property owners within a 15-mile radius of Milbank wanting to save their ash trees should contact a commercial applicator as soon as possible, the DANR said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Social Security commissioner admits anger at Maine governor over Trump clash was behind change to newborn policy
In an extraordinary admission, Social Security Administration acting Commissioner Lee Dudek told the New York Times that his decision to require parents of newborns in Maine to apply in person for a Social Security number in an office rather than by simply filling out a form at the hospital came about because he "was ticked" at the state's governor, Janet Mills. 'I was ticked at the governor of Maine for not being real cordial to the president,' Dudek told the paper in reference to a testy White House exchange between Mills and President Trump over his executive order banning transgender women from competing in women's sports. 'I screwed up. I'll admit I screwed up.' On March 5, Maine's Department of Health and Human Services sent out an email notifying hospitals and birth centers that 'effective immediately, the option for parents to participate in the enumeration at birth process will be suspended,' the Portland Press Herald reported, adding that the agency was following guidance given to it by the Social Security Administration. The suspension of the program in Maine drew swift rebukes from health care providers in the state. 'It makes absolutely no sense to me at all to do this,' Dr. Joe Anderson, advocacy chair of the Maine chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told the Press Herald. 'I see no logical explanation for forcing parents and newborns — with 11,000 babies born in Maine every year — to sit in a crowded waiting room, when we have done this easily, securely and efficiently for decades.' On March 7, Dudek reversed his decision to suspend the decades-old policy that is in place in all 50 states, calling it a mistake. 'I recently directed Social Security employees to end two contracts which affected the good people of the state of Maine. The two contracts are Enumeration at Birth (EAB), which helps new parents quickly request a Social Security number and card for their newborn before leaving the hospital, and Electronic Death Registry (EDR) which shares recorded deaths with Social Security,' Dudek said in the statement posted to the Social Security website. 'In retrospect, I realize that ending these contracts created an undue burden on the people of Maine, which was not the intent. For that, I apologize and have directed that both contracts be immediately reinstated. EAB and EDR continue in place for every state and were not affected. As a leader, I will admit my mistakes and make them right.' On Saturday, Trump demanded that Mills offer him a "full-throated apology" for challenging the legality of his executive order on trans athletes. "While the State of Maine has apologized for their Governor's strong, but totally incorrect, statement about men playing in women's sports while at the White House House Governor's Conference, we have not heard from the Governor herself, and she is the one that matters in such cases," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform Saturday morning. Mills responded to Trump's demand on Monday at an event in Bangor. "If the current occupant of the White House wants to protect women and girls, he should start by protecting the women and teenage girls who are suffering miscarriages and dying because they can't get basic, lifesaving health care in states across this country," Mills said. "If he truly cares about women and girls and people of this country, let's see the economic plan. Let's see the health care plan. Let's see the education plan." For now, the enumeration at birth procedure remains in place in Maine. On its website, the Social Security Administration describes the process as one of convenience. 'The Enumeration at Birth (EAB) program eliminates the need for a parent to gather the necessary documents, complete an Application for a Social Security Card (SS-5), and take or mail original documents to a local Social Security office for processing,' SSA states. Citing his missteps as commissioner and Trump's current pick to head the SSA, Dudek told the Times that he did not expect his tenure at Social Security to last very long. 'I can't imagine the nominee would want to keep me after the way I've been doing things here,' Dudek said.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Social Security commissioner admits anger at Maine governor over Trump clash was behind change to newborn policy
In an extraordinary admission, Social Security Administration acting Commissioner Lee Dudek told the New York Times that his decision to require parents of newborns in Maine to apply in person for a Social Security number in an office rather than by simply filling out a form at the hospital came about because he "was ticked" at the state's governor, Janet Mills. 'I was ticked at the governor of Maine for not being real cordial to the president,' Dudek told the paper in reference to a testy White House exchange between Mills and President Trump over his executive order banning transgender women from competing in women's sports. 'I screwed up. I'll admit I screwed up.' On March 5, Maine's Department of Health and Human Services sent out an email notifying hospitals and birth centers that 'effective immediately, the option for parents to participate in the enumeration at birth process will be suspended,' the Portland Press Herald reported, adding that the agency was following guidance given to it by the Social Security Administration. The suspension of the program in Maine drew swift rebukes from health care providers in the state. 'It makes absolutely no sense to me at all to do this,' Dr. Joe Anderson, advocacy chair of the Maine chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told the Press Herald. 'I see no logical explanation for forcing parents and newborns — with 11,000 babies born in Maine every year — to sit in a crowded waiting room, when we have done this easily, securely and efficiently for decades.' On March 7, Dudek reversed his decision to suspend the decades-old policy that is in place in all 50 states, calling it a mistake. 'I recently directed Social Security employees to end two contracts which affected the good people of the state of Maine. The two contracts are Enumeration at Birth (EAB), which helps new parents quickly request a Social Security number and card for their newborn before leaving the hospital, and Electronic Death Registry (EDR) which shares recorded deaths with Social Security,' Dudek said in the statement posted to the Social Security website. 'In retrospect, I realize that ending these contracts created an undue burden on the people of Maine, which was not the intent. For that, I apologize and have directed that both contracts be immediately reinstated. EAB and EDR continue in place for every state and were not affected. As a leader, I will admit my mistakes and make them right.' On Saturday, Trump demanded that Mills offer him a "full-throated apology" for challenging the legality of his executive order on trans athletes. "While the State of Maine has apologized for their Governor's strong, but totally incorrect, statement about men playing in women's sports while at the White House House Governor's Conference, we have not heard from the Governor herself, and she is the one that matters in such cases," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform Saturday morning. Mills responded to Trump's demand on Monday at an event in Bangor. "If the current occupant of the White House wants to protect women and girls, he should start by protecting the women and teenage girls who are suffering miscarriages and dying because they can't get basic, lifesaving health care in states across this country," Mills said. "If he truly cares about women and girls and people of this country, let's see the economic plan. Let's see the health care plan. Let's see the education plan." For now, the enumeration at birth procedure remains in place in Maine. On its website, the Social Security Administration describes the process as one of convenience. 'The Enumeration at Birth (EAB) program eliminates the need for a parent to gather the necessary documents, complete an Application for a Social Security Card (SS-5), and take or mail original documents to a local Social Security office for processing,' SSA states. Citing his missteps as commissioner and Trump's current pick to head the SSA, Dudek told the Times that he did not expect his tenure at Social Security to last very long. 'I can't imagine the nominee would want to keep me after the way I've been doing things here,' Dudek said.
CBS News
21-03-2025
- Science
- CBS News
Emerald ash borer, now confirmed in Aitkin County, continues to spread in Minnesota
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has confirmed emerald ash borer has spread to three new locations in Minnesota, including in Aitkin County for the first time. Emerald ash borer – or EAB – is an invasive tree pest that kills trees by tunneling underneath the bark and feeding on the part of the tree that moves nutrients up and down the trunk. EAB was first discovered in Minnesota in 2009. A telltale sign of EAB is woodpecker holes, as they like to feed on the EAB larvae. If advanced enough, the tunneling can cause the bark to split open, revealing an S-shaped pattern underneath. The MDA now says there are 54 counties in the state with EAB. Due to continued spread, the department has extended quarantine areas in Pine and St. Louis counties, as well as in Mille Lacs County, due to the proximity to the Aiktin county find. According to their website , MDA has also enacted a quarantine to limit the movement of firewood and ash material into Minnesota, and out of infested counties. Residents can attend a virtual informational meeting with tree care professionals on Wednesday, March 26 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. to learn more about how to prevent the spread of emerald ash borer. To attend, register here .
