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Louisiana teachers' union concerned about educators' future; Supreme Court hears arguments in Trump immunity case; court issues restraining order against fracking waste-storage facility; landmark NE agreement takes a proactive approach to CO2 pipeline risks.

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Speaker Johnson accuses demonstrating students of getting support from Hamas. TikTok says it'll challenge the ban. And the Supreme Court dives into the gray area between abortion and pregnancy healthcare, and into former President Trump's broad immunity claims.

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The urban-rural death divide is widening for working-age Americans, many home internet connections established for rural students during COVID have been broken, and a new federal rule aims to put the "public" back in public lands.

Stink Bugs Spread Wings, Reach Arizona

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Tuesday, April 19, 2011   

PHOENIX - The exploding U.S. population of stink bugs has spread into Arizona. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the pests are now in 33 states, having reached Arizona in just the past year.

Doug Inkley, senior scientist with the National Wildlife Federation, says the potentially smelly insects didn't even exist in this country 20 years ago, and probably hitchhiked on container ships from Asia.

"The brown marmorated stink bug is an invasive species from another part of the world; it's actually from China or Japan. Somehow, around the turn of the century, it found its way into eastern Pennsylvania, and in the last ten or twelve years the population has just exploded."

Inkley says the stink bug practically has free range in the United States, because none of its natural predators are here. He says research is being done to see if one such predator might be introduced safely.

"Under study right now is a very small parasitic wasp, about the size of a gnat. It's non-stinging. It lays its eggs in the eggs of the brown marmorated stink bug and might be able to help control the population that way."

Inkley says the stink bug problem brings to light the need to head off invasive species before they can establish themselves.

"No longer allowing wooden pallets to be used; that's often a source of insects getting into the country. It could require, perhaps, a longer quarantine period of products when they come into the country, so that perhaps whatever pests they're carrying would die."

Stink bugs don't bite or sting, but when disturbed, they emit a smell that some liken to the herb called cilantro. However, Inkley says more serious than their aroma is the agricultural damage stink bugs do by laying their eggs in the spring on the undersides of leaves. He says stink bugs can wipe out crops ranging from sweet corn to grapes, and even tomatoes.


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