RHINELANDER - Some Rhinelander kids are keeping the learning going through the summer at the Old School Arts and Learning center here in town.
"Since 1957... I was selling some Watkins products, you know, from house to house. And I sold some things to an old man in his 80's. He said, 'I've got four hives of bees and they're making too much honey for me. Why don't I just give you two hives?'" says Paul Goossen.
Fifty five years later beekeeper Paul Goossen is sharing his expertise with local kids. Today he explained why bees are so important to our ecosystem.
"One third of our food is directly responsible to beekeeping and pollination. Ninety percent of our food is enhanced as a result of pollination. So you and I would go hungry if it wasn't for the bees," says Goossen.
But it's not all flowers and honey. The U.S. lost a third of its bee population in the last year. Reasons included pesticides, viruses and mites.
The kids also learned about the social structure of a hive, and the duties of the queen.
"They're making two queens here. They will fight until one's left alive. She will be the mother of all the worker bees that are in here. The rest of them are workers or drones. The workers and the queens are female," says Goossen.
Goossen helped found the Oneida County Beekeepers Association. He says the the real stinger is that every flower produces pollen for different tasting honey.
TOMAHAWK - Workers at Daigle Brothers in Tomahawk can build almost anything out of steel. Most of their business is creating custom parts and putting up buildings, but more recently, they've been building a new invention.
Daigle Brothers began in 1987. Back then they did a lot of construction related jobs like painting. Later they focused on steel construction.
"In the 90's we did a lot of school buildings, there was a lot of schools being built, so we supplied structural steel for these building projects... Currently our biggest markets are universities, hospitals, office buildings... we do a lot of fire stations," said Steve Daigle President of Daigle Brothers Inc.
MERRILL - Farmers in Lincoln and Langlade Counties may need to make a longer drive or call a different office for USDA services.
The Merrill Service Center will be temporarily split up between Rhinelander, Wausau, and Medford.
The Farm Service Agency will move to the Wausau Service Center and the Natural Resources Conservation Service will be relocated to the Rhinelander and Medford Centers.
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