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ARCADIA - The cold weather is a shock to many people's system, and an even bigger shock to the state's lucrative orange crop. And after Sunday night's deep freeze, damage reports are starting to come in from citrus growers throughout the state. Growers say that overnight freezing temperatures partially destroyed their citrus groves, but it will be days before they know the extent of the damage. Growers spent Monday slicing fruit with knives to check for damage. "You could get it from a quarter of an inch to all the way through the fruit...you would see ice crystals." Carlton says...

Several blasts of arctic air have gripped the eastern two-thirds of the country since the beginning of the new year. In the South, the extreme cold has been threatening crops, and temperatures tonight could be the most damaging for some. While temperatures will rebound throughout the upcoming week, a late-week rain storm could cause even more damage to Southern crops. Tonight Will Be Most Damaging in Florida So far, citrus-growers in Florida have gotten by with only light damage following several nights of sub-freezing temperatures over the past week. Tonight will likely prove more destructive as temperatures drop to the...

Florida orange growers are bracing for possible crop damage as an arctic blast plunges temperatures to record lows Saturday and Sunday nights. Sleet and snow mixed with rain has been reported Saturday from the Tampa Bay area to near and north of Orlando, the first time snow or sleet has occurred in west-central Florida since Jan. 8, 1996, the National Weather Service in Tampa said. The immediate Tampa Bay area hasn't seen snow since Dec. 23, 1989. While citrus growers fared well on Friday night as temperatures remained above critical levels in the heart of the citrus belt, worries are...

In the summer of 1984, 10th-grader Irwin Nanofsky and a friend were driving down the Apalachee Parkway on the way home from baseball practice when they were pulled over by a police officer for a minor traffic infraction. After Nanofsky produced his driver’s license the police officer asked permission to search the vehicle. In less than two minutes, the officer found a homemade pipe underneath the passenger’s seat of the Ford Aerostar belonging to the teenage driver’s parents. The minivan was seized, and the two youths were taken into custody on suspicion of drug possession. Illegal possession of drug paraphernalia...

Years after state agriculture workers cut down thousands of orange and grapefruit trees to eradicate citrus canker, Broward County homeowners Thursday won a crucial victory in their fight for compensation. Broward Circuit Judge Ronald Rothschild ruled that the destruction of about 130,000 residential citrus trees constituted a "taking" under the state constitution and therefore required the Florida Department of Agriculture to compensate homeowners for their lost property. The ruling came in a class-action suit filed on behalf of about 70,000 Broward homeowners whose uninfected trees were destroyed because they stood within 1,900 feet of infected trees. In his 54-page order,...

California citrus farmers would get $20 million, spinach growers $25 million and salmon fishermen $60.4 million in an emergency war spending bill that passed a House committee Thursday. The money for citrus and spinach growers is part of $3.7 billion for farm disaster relief in the bill, including $1.8 billion for crop loss assistance and $1.48 billion for livestock compensation. Farmers in California and other states would be able to apply for that crop and livestock money. The relief comes as part of a $124 billion war spending bill - including $95.5 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq...

FRESNO As the chill air descended on California last weekend, citrus farmers were already prepared for the worst. Past freezes in 1990 and 1998 taught the state's growers to insure crops that are one frigid night, hail storm or pest infestation away from disaster. State agriculture officials said Thursday that they were still assessing the damage from five consecutive nights of subfreezing temperatures in California's fertile Central Valley, and they could not yet estimate how much would be paid out by insurers. With losses to the state's citrus crop alone totaling an estimated $1 billion, the tally is certain to...

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked the federal government Tuesday for disaster aid because of an ongoing cold snap that has destroyed nearly $1 billion worth of California citrus, and industry officials said shoppers will feel the sting through higher prices for oranges, lemons and other produce. Visiting a Fresno orange grove, Schwarzenegger said he was asking the U.S. government for disaster status, which would allow California to seek aid from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Small Business Administration to offset losses to growers and other businesses. "This is not just about the crop this year. It...

Three nights of freezing temperatures have cost California up to three-quarters of its billion-dollar citrus crop, according to an industry estimate given Monday as forecasters warned the cold weather could batter groves through midweek. Other crops, including avocados and strawberries, also have suffered damage in the cold snap, state agricultural officials said. "This is one of those freezes that, unfortunately, we'll all remember," California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura said. Damages from the latest freeze will likely surpass those caused by a three-day freeze in December 1998 that destroyed 85 percent of California's citrus crop, a loss...

California's $1 billion citrus industry suffered a second night of record-low temperatures this weekend, and agriculture officials continued to worry about widespread crop destruction. Counties where most of the state's oranges, lemons and tangerines are grown saw temperatures plummet into the teens to mid-20s both in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday and Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. "It was a very bad night," said Nancy Lungren, spokeswoman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Damage to citrus groves in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California was "widespread" and "significant," Lungren said. But the full impact would...

Fruity headache for cafe ownersBy Samantha Williams and Karina Dunger 03jul06 Cafe workers ... Julie Hanssens and Jodie Lee / Troy Bendeich BAD weather is set to affect the price of oranges after already crippling Australia's banana industry. The worst frost in 24 years has destroyed 40,000 tonnes - about 25 per cent - of the citrus fruit produced in southern Australia. "They won't hit skyrocketing prices of bananas but there will be some price hike due to the reduction of fruit on the market," Riverina Citrus CEO Peter Morrish said. Oranges currently sell for $2.50kg, with experts predicting rises...

Ellis Hunt's family has made a living growing citrus since the 1920s, when his grandfather went into the business with two brothers. The industry is all they know. Today, the third-generation farmer wonders how long he can maintain his company's share of Florida's $9 billion industry after one of the worst growing seasons in recent memory. "My personal goal is to have our 100th year anniversary in 2022, so I guess I've got to make it 16 more years," Hunt said. "We're trying to stay in the business unless we're forced out." Four hurricanes that struck or brushed Florida in...

ORLANDO - Florida grapefruit may be scarce in stores, and the price of orange juice may inch up slightly for consumers this winter, commodities analysts said Monday after a growers group estimated Hurricane Wilma had knocked 17 percent of the citrus crop off trees. Last week's Category 3 storm will cause the loss of $180 million worth of Florida citrus, or about 35.7 million boxes of fruit, according to preliminary estimates released Monday by Florida Citrus Mutual.The estimates are limited to crop damage and don't take into account the loss of infrastructure, such as packing houses and equipment.The early estimates...

A deadly new citrus disease is spreading through southeast Florida, creating a fresh threat to the citrus industry and raising the possibility of another costly and disruptive eradication program. Citrus greening, a bacterial disease carried by an Asian insect, stunts growth, leads to bitter, misshapen oranges and grapefruits, and eventually kills the tree. Agriculture officials and growers say the disease could pose a greater threat than citrus canker, still widespread despite a $500 million campaign to eradicate it. State and federal inspectors have found citrus greening on at least 160 trees in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, and they're...

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — For more than 40 years, grapefruit grew juicy and ripe on this 1,200-acre grove inland from the Atlantic. Now there is little left but the jagged branches of torn-up trees, and spicy smoke fills the hot midday air as one by one, they are burned to powdery ash. Last year's hurricanes dropped a bacteriological bomb on Florida's already sorely challenged citrus industry, widely dispersing a virulently contagious germ that causes citrus canker — a disease harmless to humans and animals but ruinous to oranges and grapefruit. Florida officials say the possibility that hurricanes could further scatter...

Tuesday, April 12, 2005 By Bill O'Reilly As you may know, 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford (search) was kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and murdered. Convicted sex offender John Couey (search) has confessed to the crime. In the days before Jessica's body was recovered, police visited a trailer close to Jessica's house and asked three people who were living there if they knew anything about the little girl's disappearance. The cops went back to that place three times. But it wasn't until the third time, after Couey had fled the state, that the three individuals, Dorothy Dixon, Madie Secord and Matthew Dittrich admitted Couey...

PETALING JAYA: Next year when revellers throw mandarin oranges into the lake at Taman Jaya here to celebrate Chap Goh Meh, bachelor Chin Choon Keat will be among those there, hoping to find a soul mate. He's been doing this for the last four years, hoping that the Chinese version of Valentine's Day would bring him true love. It has been nearly three weeks since the 26-year-old contractor picked up an orange with a phone number on it, but his attempt to build a relationship with the girl has not been fruitful. They had exchanged a few SMS messages and...

For the more than 20 million Americans suffering from asthma (including 6.1 million children), a cure may be looking no farther than the lemons in your refrigerator. According to a study at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, a key to preventing asthma might be found in a lemon, a rose or a pine tree. In the study, inhalation of limonene, the main component found in the essential oil of citrus, prevented asthma symptoms in animals. The findings were published in the journal Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry.

Scientists funded by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), used Landsat 5 satellite data to look at changes in wetlands areas in south Florida, particularly south and west of Lake Okeechobee. Using satellite data, land-cover change history, computer models, and weather records, the researchers found a link between the losses of wetlands and more severe freezes in some agricultural areas of south Florida. In other areas of the state, changes in land use resulted in slightly warmer conditions. They concluded, based on the study, the conversion of wetlands by itself may be enough of a trigger to enhance damage...

FREE TRADE Citrus industry fears for survival Free trade could be a fatal blow to Florida's signature crop if it means reducing a tariff that now makes Brazilian orange juice more expensive. BY NANCY SAN MARTIN AND RICHARD BRAND nsanmartin@herald.com ARARAQUARA, Brazil - The oranges that weigh branches down on row after row of trees as far as the eye can see make a beautiful sight. But immersed in the intoxicating scent of citrus is a death threat to Florida's signature industry. The sweet fruit has turned into a sour battle between the two giants of the orange world, Brazil...