Michael Jackson Gives Up Neverland Ranch

The singer Micheal Jackson has decided to give up the title to his Neverland ranch and transfer the deed to a company that he partly controls. He filed a grant deed on Monday on the ranch that would make the new owner an entity called the Sycamore Valley Ranch Co. Sycamore Valley Ranch Co. is a joint venture between Jackson and an affiliate of Colony Capital LLC.

Earlier this year, Jackson went into default on the $24.5 million that he owes on the property and Colony Capital bailed him out. Colony Capital is a Los Angeles-based real estate investment company that is ran by the billionaire Tom Barrack. The company also owns several properties in Las Vegas, including the Las Vegas Hilton. Neverland Ranch was called Sycamore Valley Ranch before Jackson bought it in 1988 and turned it into a miniature amusement park where thousands of children were invited to the property.

Jackson has been struggling to pay his debts to the ranch since his arrest in 2003 where he was accused of molesting a 13 year boy at the ranch. He has not been to the property since being acquitted of the charges.

Killer Bees Attack New Orleans

Africanized honeybees, also called killer bees, have settled in New Orleans. Earlier this year, demolition workers found and captured a colony of the bees. Recently more bees were found close to the same spot and they may have come from the same colony or may have come from a ship or barge.

The Department of Agriculture put traps along the north-south line throughout the state and at all of the deepwater ports to monitor the bees. Killer bees have the same venom as honeybees, but attack in groups instead of alone. They are also smaller than honeybees. If anyone sees a killer bee, it is recommended to find cover quickly.

Africanized bees first came from an experiment to increase honey production in Brazil that went wrong. A swarm escaped the lab in 1957 and went north. Then they mated with native bees. They reached Texas in 1990 and spread to California and Florida. They were first found in Louisiana in 2005.