Missing honey bees, an environmental scare, a big election comeback and a couple's desperate fight to remain in the United States were among the top local news stories of 2007 in the Central Susquehanna Valley.

David Hackenberg's year began with grave concerns about what had happened to his honey bees.

Mr. Hackenberg, who operates Hackenberg Apiaries of West Milton, said that in November 2006, he found that 400 of his hives were empty.

There was no sign of the bees, dead or alive. There was no sign that a predator had been there, and no other bugs had moved in. Something was horribly wrong.

"They'd all vanished" Mr. Hackenberg said in February, speaking with Daily Item Reporter John Finnerty on the telephone from Florida. Mr. Hackenberg often spends the winter in southern states so his bees can pollinate fruit orchards.

That incident was one of the first hints of a disorder that was damaging honey bee populations across the United States.

The disease has since been called colony collapse disorder, but what causes it is still not understood.

Mr. Hackenberg gathered material from the hives and gave it to researchers at Penn State University.

Mr. Hackenberg's story gained national attention in October when the CBS News program "60 Minutes" featured Mr. Hackenberg in a report on colony collapse disorder.

The disorder certainly has remifications for Mr. Hackenberg's business and others like it. In all, Mr. Hackenberg has lost two-thirds of his 3,000 hives. These bees are used to help produce a third of the food that America consumes.

Environmental scare

A scare of a different type occurred in March when a Harrisburg newspaper published a report suggesting a link between environmental contamination and cases of cancer among Selinsgrove residents who lived near Rhoads Mills, a former agricultural feed mill.

The concerns centered around leaking underground fuel tanks and contaminated soil prior to 2005.

Following extensive environmental testing, the state Department of Environmental Protection issued a final report in May, stating that it found no link between environmental contaminants and cancer in the borough.

Election comeback