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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina s congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Myorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Court Voids EPA Approval of Bee-Killing Pesticide

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Friday, September 11, 2015   

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - An agricultural pesticide that has been linked to the collapse of bee colonies soon may be off the market.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that the Environmental Protection Agency was wrong to approve sulfoxaflor because the agency's studies couldn't prove the pesticide is safe for bees.

Farmers in Florida use sulfoxaflor to combat greening disease and aphids, said Michele Colopy, program director of the Pollinator Stewardship Council, one of the groups that filed the suit.

"Sulfoxaflor might have been another tool to help them," she said. "But we have to change the tools. We've got to get new tools, and that doesn't always mean chemicals."

The EPA states on its website that sulfoxaflor is acutely toxic to bees, but says farmers can lessen the harm by avoiding its use when bees are most commonly present - during the day and when flowers are in bloom. But Colopy said chemicals should only make up a small part of integrated pest management, and that toxic pesticides have to be retired altogether.

"Beekeepers want to protect their bees. Citrus growers need to protect their crops," she said. "So there are ways to work together, but we do need to protect our pollinators because they make a third of our diet possible."

Sulfoxaflor will become illegal in 45 days unless the manufacturers request a new hearing or ask the Supreme Court to intervene.

The National Honeybee Advisory Board, American Honey Producers Association, American Beekeeping Federation and several individual beekeepers filed the suit, represented by Earthjustice. The full court opinion is online at earthjustice.org.


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