- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
A reporter at the Arizona Republic turned to UC experts for a story on oleander leaf scorch, a disease that has killed many of California's oleander plants and is now wreaking havoc in Arizona. In California it is the glassy-winged sharpshooter that is spreading the virus Xylella fastidiosa, which causes oleander leaf scorch in oleanders plus Pierce's disease in grapes. In Arizona the culprit is the smoke tree sharpshooter.
Oleander leaf scorch begins with yellow margins or spots on the leaves before the edges and tips take on a scorched appearance.
"Right now, it's pretty hard to find a healthy oleander...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
The health advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest issued a press release May 16 announcing that it filed a lawsuit against Burger King because it is the only leading restaurant chain that had not yet committed to eliminating trans fats from its menu. Indeed, media have been reporting on trans fat bans on a regular basis. This week, Applebees, Hooters and
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
A jury in Bakersfield this week found Vincent Brothers guilty of five counts of murder. The story was widely covered in the media. Here is the report from KGET Channel 17. You might be wondering what this has to do with UC Agricuture and Natural Resources news. One of the 137 witnesses in the landmark trial was UC Davis entomology professor Lynn Kimsey.
Brothers claimed he couldn't have killed his family in Bakersfield on July 4, 2003, because he was in Ohio at the time and traveled in a rental car to Missouri the day before the prosecution said the murders took place. Kimsey examined the rental...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
I love living in the San Joaquin Valley. Almost year-round you can find roadside stands with "farm-fresh" fruit in season. A recent edition of the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center's newsletter quoted a writer, Thomas Semon, who believes the phrase "farm fresh" is helping debase the English language.
"The phrase 'farm fresh' is part of a long-established practice of advertisers to use language that doesn't really mean what it says but sounds good, and is not specific enough to be clearly deceptive," he says.
In my usage of the...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
This Saturday morning, San Diego boaters are invited to attend a UC Cooperative Extension Boat Hull Invasive Species & Water Quality Seminar. Experts will share information about research on boat hull coatings that don't pollute the bay.
According to a "UC Delivers" article by Leigh Taylor Johnson of the Sea Grant Extension Program, boat owners have been using copper paints to control "hull fouling," the buildup of aquatic plants and animals on the hull. Hull fouling slows sailboats and increases powerboat fuel consumption. Copper leached from the paints into the bay, however, harms marine life. Johnson and program...
