By JESSICA DAMIANO

I’ve seen a rash of social media posts recommending the application of sticky-tape bands around tree trunks to prevent spotted lanternflies and other garden pests from accessing tree canopies and munching on foliage. But those bands also catch caterpillars, butterflies, bees and birds, which would be difficult to free without ripping off their limbs or breaking their wings.

This July 7, 2023, image provided by Jessica Damiano shows a bee resting on a purple coneflower on Long Island, N.Y. (Jessica Damiano via AP)

Similarly, glue traps are cruel devices, holding hostage everything from basement cave crickets to terrified mice and rats until they starve to death.

Recently, after noticing a rustling sound coming from my attic, I discovered a family of squirrels had settled in, presumably after the pregnant mother gained access through an unscreened vent. At that point, securing the vent would have been easy, but would have trapped the critters indoors.

After monitoring the scampering above me for a few days, I surmised that after their early-morning dance parties, the squirrels would leave the house each day, then return after sunset. So, when the disco closed one morning, I sealed up the vent opening, locking them out. Problem solved.

It required more patience than setting out traps or poison, or calling someone to “take care of it,” but it was worth the wait (and it didn’t cost a dime).

Coexisting with wildlife

So-called “nuisance” animals, like squirrels, bats and raccoons, are just living their lives, as we are, and they need food, water and shelter, like we do. It’s not their fault that we chopped down their forested homes, paved over meadows and built neighborhoods in their habitat. They have nowhere else to go, so the least we could do is treat them humanely and share our (outdoor) space with them as much as possible.

This Jan 26, 2022, image provided by Jessica Damiano shows a squirrel sitting on a backyard deck on Long Island, N.Y. (Jessica Damiano via AP)

When they enter indoor living spaces, however, that means evicting them, as I did. But prevention would have been better. Look for openings in attics, basements, and around windows, doors and soffits, keeping in mind that a mouse can squeeze through a hole as small as the diameter of a pencil.

Check, too, for gaps under eaves, missing chimney caps and broken vents. Ensure there aren’t any animals indoors before sealing them. If you have unwanted residents, wait for them to leave or lure them out so they don’t die in your walls.

If you’re concerned about biting insects, there are better ways to control them than using pesticides, which can expose people, animals and groundwater to harmful chemicals and kill a variety of other insects that serve as an important food source for birds. The products also require repeated applications to maintain that control.

Instead, eliminate mosquitoes from your backyard by preventing them from breeding in the first place.

FILE – Mosquitoes cling to the inside of a jar loaded with repellent during a test as part of a tour of the Center for Disease Control laboratory in Fort Collins, Colo., on April 4, 2024. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

Don’t allow water to collect anywhere on your property. Get into the habit of emptying plant-pot saucers, overturned trash can lids, tires, children’s playsets and other receptacles after each rainfall (or irrigation session).

Add Bti (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis), a naturally occurring bacterium sold as Mosquito Dunks and Mosquito Bits, to sources of standing water, such as birdbaths or still ponds, where the insects lay their eggs. The biological control prevents mosquito, gnat and black fly larvae from developing, but is considered harmless to humans, pets, wildlife, beneficial insects, fish and plants.

To discourage wild animals, avoid feeding pets outdoors, tightly secure trash can lids, and physically make your property as inhospitable as possible by sealing entry points, closing garage doors, installing fencing, etc.

This June 1, 2022, image provided by Jessica Damiano shows a red-breasted robin holding an insect in its beak on Long Island, N.Y. (Jessica Damiano via AP)

If there are babies, please don’t separate them from their mother. Wait a few weeks until they are old enough to leave on their own, as my attic’s squirrels were. Or, call a licensed wildlife rehabilitator for help.

Avoid relocating animals. Many won’t survive; others will return, often from greater distances than you might imagine. It also may be illegal in your state.

Reaching for a spray can might seem like an easy and effective route to a pest-free summer, but it shouldn’t be considered unless you’re facing a legitimate infestation. And in that case, start with the safest, least toxic method and escalate only if necessary.

Indoor problems

Kitchen ants, for example, can be effectively controlled with bait stations.

Some cockroaches can be controlled with baits, as well, but if yours can’t, you have my blessing to hire a certified pesticide applicator (roaches multiply quickly, so common sense must prevail). Remember to do your part by removing clutter, keeping things clean and sealing up entry gaps to prevent a recurrence.

Similarly, it wouldn’t be likely for you to have just one mouse in your house, as they are also prolific breeders. To eliminate indoor rodents, opt for a strong snap trap that will kill instantly without causing the animal to suffer.

Jessica Damiano writes weekly gardening columns for the AP and publishes the award-winning Weekly Dirt Newsletter. You can sign up here for weekly gardening tips and advice.

For more AP gardening stories, go to https://apnews.com/hub/gardening.

The post Strangest State: Toilet Seats, Cowboys, and a Sea of Dimes appeared first on The Texas Observer.

By DAMIAN J. TROISE, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose in morning trading on Wall Street Friday, keeping the market on track for its third weekly gain in the last four.

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The S&P 500 was up 0.7% and sitting just below its record. The benchmark index is on track to wipe out its losses from a slide last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 212 points, or 0.5%, as of 10:44 a.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq added 0.8% to the all-time high it set a day earlier.

Technology companies, with their hefty stock values, were doing much of the heavy lifting for the market. Nvidia rose 0.9% and Microsoft rose 0.2%.

Gilead Sciences jumped 8.8% for one of the biggest gains. It reported financial results that easily beat analysts’ forecasts, while also raising its earnings forecast for the year. Expedia Group also notched one of the biggest gains, advancing 4.4% after also reporting encouraging financial results.

They are among the final big batch of companies within the S&P 500 to report mostly strong financial results for the second quarter. Still, many have warned that current tariffs could cut into their profits and operations.

The main focus throughout the week has been on President Donald Trump’s trade war and its potential impact on the U.S. economy, as well as the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy.

Trump began imposing higher import taxes on dozens of countries Thursday. The unknown path of the economy amid an unpredictable tariff policy has been the key reason for the Fed to hold its benchmark interest steady.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell, though, has been under increasing pressure from Trump to cut interest rates. Policy decisions aren’t made solely by the Fed chair. All 12 members of the Federal Open Market Committee vote on interest rate changes.

Trump has an opportunity to exert more control over the Fed following his nomination of Stephen Miran to a vacancy on the Fed’s board of governors. Miran is a top economic adviser to Trump and is a near-certain vote in support of lower interest rates.

The Fed’s last decision to hold interest rates steady included two votes to lower interest rates. Its next meeting is in September and Wall Street is overwhelmingly betting that the central bank will cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point.

Treasury yields edged higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.28% from 4.25% late Thursday. The yield on the two-year Treasury which more closely tracks expectations for Fed actions, rose to 3.76% from 3.73% late Thursday.

The expectation for an interest rate cut follows a series of signals last week that the economy could be weakening. That included reports showing that inflation edged higher in June and employers in the U.S. hit the brakes on hiring in July.

Both are key concerns for the Fed, which has been trying to cool inflation down to its target rate of 2% while also fulfilling its “full employment” mandate.

Lower interest rates can give the economy and investment prices a boost, though the downside is that they can also push inflation higher. Concerns about inflation reheating could be overshadowed by worries about a weakening employment market.

Wall Street and the Fed will get more insight next week on inflation’s temperature and the economy. The government will release updates on inflation at both the consumer and wholesale levels, along with a report on retail sales.

“We believe stocks will stay supported amid solid fundamentals, but fresh headlines in the coming week may challenge investor sentiment that remains vulnerable to tariff, economic, and geopolitical risks,” said Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, chief investment officer for the Americas and global head of equities at UBS Global Wealth Management.

Asian markets closed mostly lower except in Tokyo, where the Nikkei rose 1.9% after Japan’s main trade envoy said the U.S. had agreed to correct a problem over tariffs that will apply to exports to the U.S.

European markets were mixed.

By Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Grammy award-winning pop star Justin Timberlake, 44, recently took to Instagram to share his diagnosis of Lyme disease, a bacterial infection that he said was “relentlessly debilitating, both mentally and physically.” His statement comes on the heels of criticism from fans who felt he was under-performing during his recent world tour.

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“When I first got the diagnosis I was shocked for sure,” the post stated. “But, at least I could understand why I would be onstage and in a massive amount of nerve pain or, just feeling crazy fatigue or sickness.”

Lyme disease is an infectious disease caused by borrelia burgdorferi, a bacterial species that can spread to people and animals from the bite of a deer tick — also called a black-legged tick — carrying the bacteria, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Experts say ticks that carry the bacteria live throughout most of the United States, although the incidence of Lyme disease is far less prevalent in California than it is in the American Northeast, Midwest and mid-Atlantic states. (The disease is named after the town of Lyme, Connecticut, where an outbreak was first identified in the 1970s.)

In California, western black-legged ticks are carriers of Lyme disease and are commonly found in northern coastal counties and in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Between 2013 and 2019, there were 904 new cases of Lyme disease in the state. During that time period, the average rates of Lyme disease were highest in Santa Cruz (4 cases per 100,000 people), Humboldt (about 3 cases per 100,000 people) and Sonoma counties (about 2 cases per 100,000 people).

Lyme disease often goes undiagnosed “due to the breadth and migratory nature of its symptoms — ranging from headaches and fatigue to joint pain, body aches, balance issues, memory loss, myocarditis, anxiety, insomnia, and depression,” the Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a nonprofit that studies the disease, stated in a post on X.

Most people completely recover from the disease when treated with a two- to four-week course of antibiotics. Others have prolonged symptoms of fatigue, body aches or difficulty thinking, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

How a tick-infected bite leds to Lyme disease

When a bacteria-infected tick bites a person or animal, the bacteria is released from the mouth of the tick and into the bloodstream, where it can then spread throughout the body, according to Bay Area Lyme Foundation.

If a tick becomes attached to your skin, the CDC recommends you remove it as soon as possible. Consult your healthcare provider if you show any symptoms of the disease.

Symptoms of lLyme disease

Your body’s reaction to the infection varies from person to person and symptoms show up in stages. Some people with Lyme disease don’t have symptoms in the early stages of the infection, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Common symptoms of Lyme disease are fever, rash, facial paralysis, an irregular heartbeat, and arthritis. These symptoms can happen in stages.

During the first stage, which occurs three to 30 days after a tick bite, a person can develop a circular rash around the site of the bite. The rash can become clear in the center, and resemble a target or bull’s-eye.

During this first stage, infected people can experience a fever, headache, extreme tiredness, joint stiffness, muscle aches and pains or swollen lymph nodes.

In the second stage, which occurs three to 10 weeks after a bite, symptoms can escalate. They include:

Rashes on other parts of the body
Neck pain or stiffness
Muscle weakness on one or both sides of the face
Immune-system activity in heart tissue that causes irregular heartbeats
Pain that starts from the back and hips and spreads to the legs
Pain, numbness or weakness in the hands or feet
Painful swelling in tissues of the eye or eyelid
Immune-system activity in the eye nerves that causes pain or vision loss

Symptoms in the third stage of the disease, which begins two to 12 months after a tick bite, include arthritis in large joints, particularly the knees. Pain, swelling or stiffness may last for a long time or can come and go.

People with prolonged symptoms of Lyme disease, called Post-Treatment Lyme Disease syndrome, usually get better over time without additional antibiotics, but it can take many months to feel completely well, according to the CDC.

The cause of prolonged symptoms is unknown.

Be aware of a tick’s home, how to protect yourself

Ticks are commonly found in outdoor areas with grass, shrubs, rocks, logs and fallen leaves.

You don’t have to avoid these areas, but should instead wear protective clothing to prevent a tick from latching onto your skin.

Before you go on your outdoor activity, plan to wear long-sleeve shirts and pants. With your protective clothes on, apply insect repellent to garments and exposed skin, according to the state public health department.

During your hike, check yourself and any pets for ticks that might be crawling on you. If you do see a tick, remove it right away.

When you return home from your excursion, inspect your clothes, body and scalp for any ticks. Toss the tick-free clothes in the laundry and take a shower.

If you found a tick on your clothes put clothing items in a hot dryer for 10 minutes, that will kill the insect.

Health experts recommend you continue to check your body for any sign of ticks for three days after being outside in areas where ticks reside.

©2025 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.