11 states sue three largest institutional investors for anticompetitive trade practicesNo. 1 South Carolina experiences rare sting of loss

The dismissal of a class-action lawsuit over rules governing the cross-border live bee trade is casting a spotlight on political division within Canada’s beekeeping community. A federal judge has ruled against awarding commercial beekeepers damages from a decades-old partial ban on shipping live honeybees across the Canada-U.S. border, which is in place out of concerns that could bring in aggressive pests and diseases. Beekeepers from Western Canada involved in the suit claim the government’s risk assessments that inform the tight restrictions are hurting their businesses and are blown out of proportion. Michael Paradis of Paradis Honey Ltd., a seven-generation family beekeeping business based in Girouxville, Alta., and one of the representative plaintiffs in the case, said he’s disappointed with the ruling, saying it puts beekeepers in a “dangerous position” since the industry is already in crisis mode. “Canada does not have enough bees and cannot replenish its own stock at all,” he said. “It’s going to mean a lot more hardship for the industry if we cannot get access to the U.S. bees.” Beekeepers were slammed during the COVID-19 pandemic, when fewer airline flights made it harder to import bees and they suffered a nightmare year of winter losses in 2022. Manitoba commercial beekeeper Brent Ash, one of the witnesses in the case, said the ruling will hamper the industry, and makes it especially tough for apiaries in colder parts of the country like the Prairies, where most of Canada’s beekeepers are located. “Climate makes the regional divide difficult to keep those bugs alive over the course of the winter,” he said, noting honeybees are not native to North America. But Steve Moore, president of the Ontario Beekeepers’ Association, said his group worries about the risks of accidentally bringing in antibiotic resistant mites, the import of Africanized honeybees commonly known as killer bees, and a small hive beetle that’s capable of damaging colonies. “In Ontario here, we feel quite strongly that we don’t want to take the risk of it becoming even more challenging if some of these new and emerging threats come into the country in packages,” he said. But he empathizes with the plaintiffs. “When we go into our apiaries, we get stung by our bees. When we come home, we might be stung by a low honey price, stung by rising cost of production or stung by high overwintering losses, with the threat of new and emerging pathogens. So, we’re all facing the same challenges and it’s a challenging time to be a beekeeper,” he said. Even though a ban on U.S. live bee imports expired in 2006, Ottawa has not issued permits for the live worker bee boxes to be brought over the border since. The plaintiffs argued Ottawa owes them duty of care—and hundreds of millions in damages. The judge disagreed. “There is no duty of care owed and no negligence,” Justice Cecily Strickland wrote in a lengthy ruling, adding the plaintiffs failed to establish that Ottawa hurt their businesses. The case has a long history, dating back to a court filing from 2012, and was only certified as a class action in 2017. The problem is even older. Headlines from the 1980s screamed about fears that deadly infectious mites from U.S. states could level Canadian bee populations. Risks to bee health have only compounded since then. A 2003 risk assessment by the regulator found that importing queen bees was less risky, since they are easier to inspect. So, Canada allows imports of queen bees and their worker-bee attendants from the U.S., Chile, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Italy and Malta. “Bee packages carry a higher risk of disease introduction because they are shipped with the contents of their hive, which may include mites, parasites and bacteria,” said a statement from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency that welcomed the judge’s ruling. Canada does, however, also allow imports of worker bee packages from Italy, Chile, Australia and New Zealand, which sent Canada some 69,364 kgs of packaged bees in 2023, according to statistics from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. But importing from these countries also dramatically drives up import costs due to transportation. One of the plaintiffs, John Gibeau, wrote to CFIA a decade ago complaining that importing more than 1,200 packages for $170,000 would have cost half that if he could have purchased them from California instead. Gibeau said he wasn’t ready to comment since he hasn’t yet digested the ruling. Paradis said the larger issue for him than cost, though, is the quality of the bee stock and the timing of when shipments arrive. “We are looking at bees in the U.S. that are spring bees—young, invigorated bees,” he said, adding that gives them longer lifespans in Canada. While he was disappointed, Paradis said one of the main reasons for the lawsuit was to “bring CFIA to the table and to actually have some discussions” on the import ban, something he said has only happened recently. Canada’s honeybee pollination is estimated to contribute $3.18 billion directly to the economy, but that rises to $7 billion a year when canola pollination is factored in. Canada has some 794,341 beehives.

Jeeno Thitikul takes home $4 million for winning the LPGA's season-ending event. Michael Reaves/Getty Images Angel Yin had a grip on the LPGA’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship since Friday afternoon, but finishing off a win for the largest prize in women’s golf isn’t supposed to be easy. Especially when a former World No. 1 like Jeeno Thitikul is chasing you down. Yin, one of the best putters on the LPGA Tour all season and had been even better this week in Naples, looked like she had locked up the massive $4 million payday when she took a two-shot lead to the 17th tee and knocked her third shot at the par-5 within five feet. But, in an instant, the momentum that had been in Yin’s favor seemingly all weekend swung back toward Thitikul. The 21-year-old knocked it on the 17th in two and drained the eagle putt from about 15 feet before Yin pushed her birdie effort. Then on 18, Thitikul threw a dart for an approach shot, landing her ball short of the hole and rolling it out to about five feet which she converted for birdie and a one-shot win at 22 under. She went eagle-birdie on the final two holes at Tiburon Golf Club for the second day in a row. It’s Thitikul’s second win of the season, but her first individual win on the LPGA Tour since her breakthrough 2022 Rookie of the Year campaign. Her other win this season came in June at the Dow Championship while teamed with Ruoning Yin. That’s also not to say Thitkul, who now has four LPGA titles, had been struggling either as she captured the Vare Trophy in 2023 before dealing with a wrist injury earlier this season. Thitkul was four back of Yin heading into the weekend but eliminated the gap on Saturday with a five-under-par finish over her last six holes. She even opened up a two-shot lead early Sunday before Yin caught her again at 16 under with a two-shot swing on the 4th hole. Yin seemed like she was pulling away once the back nine began, making long birdie putts at 10, 12 and 16, while adding another birdie at 14. But the miss at 17 loomed costly for the 26-year-old. It’s her second runner-up this season after a breakout season in 2023 where she won her first LPGA title and finished runner-up at the Chevron Championship. Thitikul takes home the $4 million first place prize, the biggest prize in women’s golf, and also won the $1 million for winning the season-long Aon Risk Reward Challenge, which she clinched before the week started. The $5 million from this week alone is nearly as much as Thitkul’s career earnings of $5.8 million entering the week and more than the $4.2 million Nelly Korda, who won seven times including a major, won all season. Latest In News Golf.com Editor Jack Hirsh is the Associate Equipment Editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his high school golf team and recently returned to the program to serve as head coach. Jack also still *tries* to remain competitive in local amateurs. Before joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but also producing, anchoring and even presenting the weather. He can be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com .Dog overlooked at adoption event, leaving shelter ‘heartbroken.’ Then came good newsRaiders will start O'Connell at quarterback when they visit the Chiefs