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Arizona golf course worker dies after being attacked by swarm of bees
A golf course worker in southern Arizona died last month after being attacked by a swarm of bees while on the job, his employer said.
Rick Messina, 57, was a member of the agronomy team at El Conquistador Golf & Tennis in Oro Valley, just north of Tuscon, where he helped maintain the property grounds. He was stung on the morning of June 24 near the eighth hole at Pusch Ridge Golf Course, which is one of three courses run by El Conquistador, and it was “a tragic workplace accident,” according to a statement from the club’s managers.
Messina had been mowing the rough around the Pusch Ridge course when the swarm attacked. Emergency services took him to a local hospital, and he died three days later, on June 27, from complications due to the bee stings, according to the statement. Messina had been employed as a groundskeeper by El Conquistador since July 2022.
The club’s management team said that professional beekeepers were called on the afternoon of the attack to inspect the area immediately around the eighth hole at Pusch Ridge for beehives or other remnants of the swarm, which weren’t found. Citing local experts, their statement noted that summer is “peak season for bee swarms” and advised members of El Conquistador to be vigilant in the coming months. Because beekeepers did not find evidence of the bees that attacked Messina, the swarm was likely a traveling one, the team said.
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“Rick was a dedicated and cherished member of our team, known for his exceptional work ethic, positive attitude, and unwavering commitment to his duties,” the statement said. “His sudden passing is a profound loss to our work family and our community. He will be deeply missed by all.”
Darryl Janisse, the general manager of El Conquistador Golf, sent an email to members of the club notifying them of the attack and Messina’s death.
“It is with a heavy heart that I am emailing our membership with a tragic incident that took place at Pusch Ridge involving one of our work associates and a swarm of bees,” Janisse wrote in the email. He added that all 45 holes on the club’s courses had been inspected for beehives and bee activity.
Janisse said that the club would establish safety protocols in the wake of the attack, including adding signage to remind people “to always be watchful of wildlife and venomous creatures” and continuing to train staff on bee safety.
El Conquistador Golf and Indigo Sports, a golf course management company, said it was directing resources toward supporting Messina’s family and staff at El Conquistador, although further details were not provided.
Arizona is home to a number of different bee species, and experts have said that most do not typically pose serious threats to humans unless they are provoked. However, researchers at the University of Arizona and the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center, a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture based in Tuscon, have also warned that bees’ behavior may be unpredictable and potentially aggressive. Africanized honey bees, for example, which can be found in Arizona, are known as “killer bees” for their marked persistence during an attack and the potential for their toxins to severely damage the human body, sometimes fatally.
People are urged to avoid areas where there are signs of bee colonies as well as any moving swarms. The Tuscon research center noted that bees can become triggered unexpectedly and then defensively attack. Some possible triggers for bees include noisy machinery, and any clothing that is textured, dark in color or made from leather.
TRENTON, N.J. — Democratic Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver has defeated Republican small businessman Carmen Bucco in a contest in New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District that opened up because of the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. in April.
McIver will serve out the remainder of Payne’s term, which ends in January. She and Bucco will face a rematch on the November ballot for the full term.
McIver said in a statement Wednesday that she stands on the “shoulders of giants,” naming Payne as chief among them.
She cast ahead to the November election, saying the right to make reproductive health choices was on the ballot as well as whether the economy should benefit the wealthy or “hard working Americans.”
“I will fight because the purpose of politics and the purpose of our vote is to give the people of our communities and our nation a bold voice,” she said.
Bucco congratulated McIver on the victory in a statement but said he’s looking forward to the rematch in November.
“I am not going anywhere,” he said in an email. “We still have a second chance to make district 10 great again!”
Who are LaMonica McIver and Carmen Bucco?
McIver emerged as the Democratic candidate in a crowded field in the July special election. A member of the city council of New Jersey’s biggest city since 2018, she also worked for Montclair Public Schools as a personnel director and plans to focus on affordability, infrastructure, abortion rights and “protecting our democracy,” she told The Associated Press earlier this summer.
Bucco describes himself on his campaign website as a small-business owner influenced by his upbringing in the foster system. He lists support for law enforcement and ending corruption as top issues.
The 10th District lies in a heavily Democratic and majority-Black region of northern New Jersey. Republicans are outnumbered by more than 6 to 1.
It’s been a volatile year for Democrats in New Jersey, where the party dominates state government and the congressional delegation.
Among the developments were the conviction on federal bribery charges of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, who has denied the charges, and the demise of the so-called county party line — a system in which local political leaders give their preferred candidates favorable position on the primary ballot.
Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, who’s running for Menendez’s seat, and other Democrats brought a federal lawsuit challenging the practice as part of his campaign to oust Menendez, who has resigned since his conviction.
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Sean “Diddy” Combs at same Brooklyn detention center that held R. Kelly, Sam Bankman-Fried, other high-profile inmates
A second judge refused to grant bail to Sean “Diddy” Combs on Wednesday and he could remain in federal custody at a Brooklyn detention center until his trial for sex trafficking charges. Combs joins other high-profile inmates, such as singer R. Kelly, fallen cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, rapper Ja Rule —even Al Sharpton served a brief stint— who were held at the same federal detention center.
Notorious for its horrible conditions —inmates won a $10 million class action settlement after enduring frigid conditions during an 8-day blackout in 2019— the waterfront industrial complex, MDC Brooklyn, houses 1,200 inmates.
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Violence and corruption have long plagued the facility; U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown of the Eastern District of New York wrote the detention center had “dangerous, barbaric conditions” in a recent sentencing opinion. Two inmates were stabbed to death in recent months and several correction officers have been convicted for smuggling contraband and accepting bribes.
Combs joins a list of high-profile personalities that have landed at the MDC Brooklyn, partly because the city’s other federal detention center, MDC New York, closed in 2021, also due to horrible conditions. The disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in his cell there in 2019. “Numerous and serious” instances of misconduct among corrections staff gave Epstein the opportunity to kill himself, a subsequent federal watchdog investigation found.
Kelly sued the federal detention center in 2022 for wrongly putting him on suicide watch after his sentencing. Kelly sought $100 million because he said the detention center knew he wasn’t suicidal after he was convicted in 2021 for racketeering and violating the Mann Act, which bars transporting people across state lines for prostitution.
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Former crypto billionaire Bankman-Fried survived on bread, water and sometimes peanut butter when he was in the MDC Brooklyn, his attorney said, because the detention center continued to serve him a “flesh diet” despite requests for vegan dishes.
Ja Rule stayed at the MDC Brooklyn for a brief time before being released after serving most of his two-year sentence for illegal gun possession. Most of his prison time was spent in a state prison in New York.
Sharpton served a 90-day sentence in 2001 and went on a hunger strike for protesting the U.S. Navy bombing of the island of Vieques, in Puerto Rico.
Combs was taken into custody on Monday and according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday he was charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution.
His attorney Marc Agnifilo told CBS News, “It’s impossible to prepare for a trial from where he is,” after a first federal judge denied Combs bail on Tuesday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky agreed with prosecutors who argued the hip-hop mogul, who is accused of using his business empire as a criminal enterprise to conceal his alleged abuse of women, is a flight risk and poses an ongoing threat to the safety of the community.
Agnifilo said the part of the detention center where Combs is being held is “a very difficult place to be.”
contributed to this report.
