Melaleuca

Invasive, exotic, water-sucking trees like the melaleuca have long threatened the Everglades as they swallowed up precious marshes, mangrove forests, and tree islands.
But the U.S. Agricultural Research Service thinks it now has a solution — let loose the beetles.
Their idea is to let mass swarms of hungry “bio-control agents” like the melaleuca snout beetle gobble up the leaves of the invasive plants, according to the Miami Herald. The federal scientists will rear tens of thousands of the snout beetles and other useful insects over the next few years.
The lab has already released dozens of other bugs, including a moth with an insatiable appetite for the invasive climbing fern. Unfortunately, that bug had trouble surviving the cold.

The scientists have higher hopes for the snout beetle and its ability to gobble up the leaves of the disastrous melaleuca trees.

Americas Got Talent

It’s Season six of the glorified THE GONG SHOW now calledAMERICA’S GOT TALENT and it hasn’t gotten any better from the first time I watched it five seasons ago. It still is painfully droll and boring. Most of the “so called” talent is lame and, just likeAMERICAN IDOL, simply there for shock purposes in these early audition rounds  – in other words it’s so bad it’s good. The only problem – you have to find this kind of TV programming to find this kind of a train wreck entertaining.
Nick Cannon comes off as an affable host of the contest that offers up a $1 million prize, especially compared to the talent that surrounds him. Cannon looks really good. Judges Piers Morgan, Sharon Osbourne and Howie Mandel are back showing their strengths as critical and comedic judgers for the show and yet for more than half the show they are the only talent shown. Even with the in between video segments giving tidbits of who these new contestants are and where they came from, the show falls flat. Nobody cares because nobody knows these people.
With “Audition Show #1”, occasionally some actual talent is showcased between the dribble. Three young boys (5,6,7) showed their rapping skills and cute appeal and easily got through to the next level – Las Vegas. Team iLuminate, a dance group in fluorescent glow in the dark lighting, were by far the most talented of the bunch. Unfortunately, we had to wait two hours to see them since they ended the show. They, too, are moving on to Las Vegas. As for the rest, yeah, a couple of magicians are moving on including an impressive Latin dance group is as well and a juggler who juggles stun guns while standing in water. That’s pretty death defying, but not very engaging once you get over the shock value of it all.

Ala AMERICAN IDOL many were there to make a fool of themselves and to do it in front of millions of Americans for fun. Some didn’t understand why they didn’t get through and copped a little attitude. Another actually fell off the stage attempting to “dance.” Are these people for real? I am not sure. I don’t care and I desperately miss DANCING WITH THE STARS where people wanted to do well and  are not there to make a fool of themselves intentionally. It seems with AGTthe joke is on America. Now somebody please get rid of this show! If I had a big X buzzer I would be pounding on it for AMERICA’S GOT TALENT to exit the stage. Oh, if only.

Citizens Bank

Gainesville-based Florida Citizens Bank must enact new procedures to detect and report suspicious account activity in order to comply with federal and state regulations as the result of a routine bank examination.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Florida Office of Financial Regulation issued a consent order April 20 after the bank board of directors agreed to new procedures April 12. The FDIC announced the consent order Friday.
The bank must enact new policies and procedures to detect and report high-risk and suspicious activities to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 that requires banks to assist federal agencies to prevent money laundering, tax evasion and other criminal activities.
Florida Citizens must monitor and report wire transfers or cash deposits of significant amounts, said Gainesville lawyer James Quincey, the bank's board chairman.
An independent auditor will review high-risk accounts and transactions going back to Jan. 1, 2008.
Quincey said the examination found no evidence of money laundering.
Florida Office of Financial Regulation spokeswoman Flora Beal confirmed that the order was the result of a routine examination but said any information regarding specific activity is confidential.
Quincey said one example of what regulators criticized included the bank not reporting wire transfers that board member Terry Crawford made for his company, Ocala-based Conimar Corp., a plastic placemats and household items manufacturer that does business in China.
“They criticized us for not reporting those wire transfers as a suspicious activity even though we knew what the transfer was about,” Quincey said.
Crawford could not be reached for comment.

Quincey said Florida Citizens had been doing business the same way for 10 years through twice yearly inspections.
“I think the FDIC got blasted pretty good about being too lax on banks, which they think contributed to the downturn, and a lot of banks are getting in trouble, so I think they decided they're going to over-regulate,” he said. “They're not going to get the blame the next time something happens.”
The FDIC does not comment on open and operating banks, said spokeswoman LaJuan Williams.
Florida Citizens bank has four branches in Alachua County and four in Marion County.

Letter Of Resignation

As we all know, Jim Tressel resigned as the head coach of the Ohio St. University football team on Monday. We now have the resignation letter he sent to athletic director Gene Smtihfrom Ozone.net. The most interesting part is probably the end.
After meeting with university officials, we agreed that it is in the best interest of Ohio State that I resign as head football coach.

The recent situation has been a distraction for our great university and I make this decision for the greater good of our school.
The appreciation that  Ellen and I have for the Buckeye Nation is immeasurable. We have been blessed to work with the finest group of young men in America and we love them dearly. In addition, we cannot thank you enough ... the high school coaches we have worked with over these many years.
We know that God has a plan for us and we will be fine. We will be Buckeyes forever.
That's kind of an interesting notion. It will be interesting to see how the Ohio St. family treats Tressel in the future, and how they remember his tenure. He had plenty of success there, but all of that could get wiped out in the coming months and years. Interesting indeed.

Planet Fitness

Planet Fitness gyms nationwide, including the one on Southfield Road in Southfield, donated $370,200 to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation through a special Mother's Day promotion that took place from May 1-10.
For every new member that signed up at Planet Fitness, $10 was donated to BCRF. More than 200 Planet Fitness gyms participated in the promotion. During the sale, memberships cost just $10 down, and then $10 a month.
“We all know someone who has been affected by breast cancer so this was a great opportunity for us to participate in a cause that touches us personally,” said Bryan Rief, one of three Detroit area Planet Fitness franchisees. “The Breast Cancer Research Foundation does an outstanding job funding research worldwide and we are proud to support their efforts to prevent and find a cure for breast cancer.”
Planet Fitness gyms in the Detroit area raised a total of $31,180 for the charity.
This is the second straight year that Planet Fitness has supported The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Through last year's Mother's Day sale, Planet Fitness' donated $213,000 to BCRF.

The Breast Cancer Research FoundationÆ was founded in 1993 by Evelyn H. Lauder as an independent, not-for-profit organization dedicated to funding innovative clinical and translational research. In 2010, BCRF awarded $33 million to 172 scientists across the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Australia.

Blake Lively

Blake Lively

Nothing to see here, folks.

Photos that are surfacing online purportedly showing Blake Livelynaked are "100 percent FAKE," the actress's rep tells PEOPLE. "Blake has never taken nude photos of herself."

Lively, 23, the star of Gossip Girland movies including The Townand Green Lantern, plans to fight the dissemination of the images.

Says the rep: "Blake will pursue legal action against the publication which initially published these photographs and any other outlets that republish them in any manner."

Marilyn Monroe

Talk about a garage sale find - a New Jersey man recently rediscovered an envelope of negatives he bought for $2 in the 1980s, which turned out to be rare pictures of Hollywood icons Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield.

Anton Fury didn't do anything with them at the time, according to reports, but he found the negatives again earlier this year after a flood at his studio forced him to clean out his belongings.

Pictures: Marilyn Monroe

Fury, a photographer, told the New York Daily News that 33 of the images are of Monroe (you can see some of them here), and another 71 are of Mansfield. He took the images to David Streets, a Beverly Hills art dealer and appraiser, who thinks the Monroe images were taken around 1950.

"This is before she became the iconic Marilyn Monroe," Streets noted.

Monroe would have been 24 in 1950, a big year for the then-still-unknown actress due to her roles in "The Asphalt Jungle" and "All About Eve." According to CNN, she wore two bathing suits (one of them a bikini) and short pants for the poolside shoot.

The mystery surrounding the photos - including who took them - is what Streets said drew him in.

"The fun part about it is we're all kind of sharing in the beginning stages," Streets told the Daily News. "The adventure is going to be finding out where, who, what, why and when."