Thursday, August 12, 2010

Bees dropping like flies at McKinney Theatre

• Thousands of bees killed at Saddleback College theater (OC Register)

     For the second time in five years, honeybees nearly brought down the house at McKinney Theatre before the actors here could.
     A recent production of "Damn Yankees" had to be moved to the Saddleback College gym after live, dead and dying bees filled the campus theater, said Kate Realista, director of performing arts for the college.
. . .
     They are believed to have constructed a hive in the highest walls of the theater, about 65 feet off the ground. The college hired exterminators, who sprayed the colony. Two days after the treatment, dead bees littered the theater floor.
     McKinney Theatre at Saddleback College has been plagued by bees before. In 2005 the insects invaded, resulting in a $50,000 loss for a production of "Babes in Arms."
     "I know the actors were getting stung and that doesn't make for a good show," Realista said. " ... Last time we lost audience loyalty and a great deal of money in canceling shows."
     Instead of canceling again, this year the show was moved to the gym just a few hours before the curtain call, giving the audience a behind-the-scenes look at the production.
     "It was an adventure," said Nina Welch, public information officer for the college's arts department. "So many people said 'What an experience.'"
     Though they were quick to move the show, Welch said they lost about $1,800 because 60 people who did not want to see the show in the gym asked for refunds.
. . .
     "You're hearing more rumors than anything else because it's such a fascinating story," Realista said. "They're figuring it's a mega hive, revenge of the bees."….

Meanwhile, the boondoggle reduction initiative proceeds:

• Education Dept. to Offer Data on Effects of Gainful-Employment Rule (Chronicle of Higher Education)

     The Education Department will release on Friday the data it used to model the impact of its proposed "gainful employment rule." The release will include data from the department's Ipeds database as well as data about graduates' earnings from Missouri's longitudinal data system. The department will also provide an analysis of four-year loan-repayment rates, by institution, calculated using its National Student Loan Data System. The department has estimated that 5 percent of programs would become ineligible for student aid under the proposed rule, which would penalize institutions whose students carry high debt burdens and have low loan-repayment rates.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Let's not simply move the hive but spray some poisonous chemicals instead. Brilliant.

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...