BARTOW Florida and Polk County are seeing record numbers of COVID-19 cases again, but Polk County Public Schools officials say there is no deadline for parents to decide whether their child should attend in-person classes or learn online from home.
Tuesday marked the first day back to school following the winter break, days after Florida saw an alarming weeklong surge in cases rising 26.4% with 90,245 cases reported last week. The previous week had 71,423 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19. As of Monday, 4,385 Polk County children, including those younger than 5, had contracted the virus.
More than 175 Polk County schools, including public, charter and private schools, have had COVID-19 cases, according to a state database. The high schools have been particularly hard hit, with Bartow Senior High reporting 44 cases, Winter Haven Senior High reporting 41, Ridge Community High at 36 cases and McKeel Academy of Technology a middle and high cha
Can CRISPR Save Florida Citrus?
Friday Jan 1st, 2021
News Reporter Here with your Southeast Regional Ag Report, I’m Tim Hammerich.
It’s nearly impossible to talk about the Florida citrus industry in 2020, without at least mentioning citrus greening disease. Otherwise known as huanglongbing, citrus greening is spread by the asian citrus psyllid which serves as a vector for the disease.
Citrus greening has done enormous damage to the Florida citrus industry despite years of research to try to develop effective management tools. Scientists are now hopeful that CRISPR can help. The tool for editing genomes, allows breeders to select for very specific traits, and iterate more quickly.