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A hint of crazy things to come may be playing out in the Arizona desert — and it involves a giant species of cactus. Saguaros, which can live for centuries and grow to nearly 80 feet, have erupted in spring blooms that are spreading far beyond the norm. It’s almost as if the plants are breaking out in a rash of blooms. This is happening in the Sonoran Desert and experts suspect it may be an example of how the warming environment is impacting even the oldest of plants.A rare phenomenon is unfolding in Arizona: Saguaros cacti, which live centuries,...

Leica DM4000M microscopySuper sucker. Copper needles could help remove oil from the ocean. Researchers looking for a better way to clean up oil spills are taking a cue from the humble cactus. A new study shows that synthetic needles based on those of the desert plant can take up oil droplets from the ocean much as the cactus takes up water from the air.Cactus needles have a curious effect on water. When tiny water droplets in the air land on them, the needlesÂ’ conical shape distorts them, nudging them into a clamlike shape. Because water droplets like to be circular,...

A Chicago teen was arrested in Chicago for trying to blow up a bar with a car bomb. News 9 reported: Undercover FBI agents arrested an 18-year-old American man who tried to detonate what he believed was a car bomb outside a downtown Chicago bar, federal prosecutors said Saturday. Adel Daoud, a U.S. citizen from the Chicago suburb of Hillside, was arrested Friday night in an undercover operation in which agents pretending to be extremists provided him with a phony car bomb. The U.S. District Attorney’s Office in Chicago announced the arrest Saturday and said the device was inert and...

Most cat owners will know how much a cat likes to explore. But this brave feline probably took it a step too far and was stuck on top of a giant cactus for at least three days without food or water. ... the black and brown house cat managed to climb 20ft up. Some experts claimed it would be far too dangerous to try and attempt to rescue the cat and firefighters said it would eventually come down on its own. It seems they were right, because the moggy suddenly had a change of heart and decided to make its...

I got the photos in an e-mail, but tracked it down to this original source: http://www.kpho.com/news/27463717/detail.html Pretty amazing pics of a bobcat perched on top of what has got to be 15-foot tall saguro. Do view the source and check out the slideshow.

Sixteen months ago, federal agents swept into the Panhandle town of Cactus, Texas, in Moore County as part of a massive raid of Swift & Co. beef processing plants across the country. They arrested 297 workers on immigration violations and sent hundreds more fleeing the community for fear of more raids.

State wildlife officials have told city planners that an approved development slated to be built on Bakersfield's northeast bluffs threatens an endangered cactus. The California Department of Fish and Game says a planned housing subdivision known as The Canyons would wipe out about 100 Bakersfield cactus plants, a species found only around the city. The agency said the cactus could not recover from the loss. If the project goes forward, the agency has threatened to void a 1994 agreement with the city allowing developers to destroy some endangered species in exchange for fees to conserve habitat elsewhere.

AMARILLO, Texas — Six more former workers arrested during a raid of the Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in Cactus pleaded guilty to federal charges this week and could go to prison. The six entered pleas in federal court in Amarillo on Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release issued Wednesday. Charges against them stem from a December immigration raid at the Swift plant in the Panhandle conducted as part of an investigation into the use of Social Security numbers by illegal immigrants to gain employment. Four of the defendants — Jesus Gutierrez-Ramos, Domingo Velasquez-Gutierrez, Manuel Castro-Pablo...

First it was the chaos. Then it was the confusion as to who was arrested and where they would be taken. Now, the Spanish-speaking residents of Cactus, Dumas and other neighboring communities who escaped Tuesday's raid because they either are here legally or do not work at the Swift meat plant, face an even bigger problem: what is going to happen to the more than 100 children whose parents were rounded up and arrested? "Right now the children are being taken care of by relatives or friends of those who were deported," said Orlando Gajardo, spokesman for the St. Peter...

Forget about the hair of the dog. The skin of a prickly pear cactus has been shown to reduce the suffering caused by a hangover. Volunteers who took an extract of the desert cactus Opuntia ficus indica, before a binge had fewer hangover symptoms than those who took a placebo, according to a study published yesterday by American researchers. The cactus, used in some folk medicines, could help cut the impact of hangovers, which affect the economy through low productivity and absenteeism, according to the study in The Archives of Internal Medicine. The suffering may be related to inflammation caused...

Dan Rather will be on Larry King in a few minutes to gin up interest in his full-hour interview with former pres. Clinton (7:00 sunday, cbs) "Veteran newsman Dan Rather discusses the beheading of an American hostage, and his interview with former President Bill Clinton. Tune in at 9 p.m. ET. "

Lent means it's a time of penance, abstinence, and fasting. It's a time when we abstain from eating meat on Fridays. It's a time when people prepare non-meat dishes, such as capirotada, salmon, fish, or potato patties, and nopalitos, or prickly pear. Besides capirotada, nopalitos are popular as a Lenten meal. The prickly pear, though, has many other uses. It's called prickly pear because of the plant's sharp needles and pear-shaped fruit. It has green, pulpy, needle-filled leaves. Its bloom, however, unlike the plant, is beautiful because of vivid yellow or red colors. Unlike wildflowers that grow by the highways,...

Critics fight border power line Say TEP link to Nogales will mar forest area By Mitch Tobin ARIZONA DAILY STAR With the nation's power grid suddenly in the spotlight, Tucson environmentalists vow they'll sue to pull the plug on a 66-mile power line proposed between Sahuarita and Nogales. Tucson Electric Power says its $70 million project will improve the reliability of electrical service in Santa Cruz County. Past blackouts there and the area's dependence on a single transmission line prompted the Arizona Corporation Commission in 1999 to mandate construction of another link between Nogales and the Western power grid. TEP...

  Home > Local Forecast for Crawford, TX Current Conditions    scroll down for map and 10-day forecast 102°F Fair Feels Like112°F UV Index: 10 Very High Dew Point: 70°F Humidity: 35% Visibility: Unlimited Pressure: 29.89 inches and N/A Wind: calm  As reported at McGregor, TX Last Updated Wednesday, August 6, 2003, at 2:55 PM Central Daylight Time (Wednesday, 3:55 PM EDT). Rainfall as reported at McGregor, TX: Tue., Aug. 5: 0.00 in.  Get weekly rainfall totals Today's watering need for: Crawford Mod  Your regional garden update