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ATHENS, Georgia - State climatologist David Stooksbury says
unseasonably warm February temperatures could leave Georgia's fruit
crops vulnerable to severe damage from a late-winter freeze.

Climatologist David Stooksbury says temperatures below 32
degrees could destroy peach and blueberry buds.

Stooksbury says December and January were so cold that many
plants exceeded the chill hours they need, and recent temperatures
in the 60s and 70s could make those plants start budding weeks
earlier than normal.

Stooksbury says Georgia's peach, blueberry and apple crops were
destroyed in April 2007 when record-breaking cold caused a harsh
freeze right before Easter.

WASHINGTON  - The Environmental Protection Agency is making
it much cheaper for companies to release toxic air pollution from
industrial boilers and incinerators.

In a vastly overhauled regulation obtained by The Associated
Press in advance of its release Wednesday, the EPA says it has
found ways to control pollution at more than 200,000 industrial
boilers, heaters and incinerators nationwide at 50 percent less
cost. That would save businesses $1.8 billion and avert thousands
of heart attacks and asthma cases a year.

Republicans and some Democrats in Congress have criticized the
EPA over the boiler rule, saying it would be too expensive for
industry.

A senior EPA official told the AP that cost wasn't the driving
factor, but the changes made were driven in part by an executive
order to review burdensome regulations.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - For years images of bats and birds that show
up on weather radars have been an annoyance at best. But now,
biologists say this information can give them a treasure trove of
data about the animals they study.

Researchers told the annual meeting of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science on Friday that they can use the
radar information to learn about seasonal changes in feeding and
migration patterns for bats, birds and even insects. And the
20-years of radar data in government archives means they can even
see how animal activity has changed over time.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.  - The embattled administrator of a $20
billion fund to pay claims from Gulf of Mexico oil spill victims is
meeting with a Florida legislative panel.

Kenneth Feinberg is expected to hear more complaints about
payments being too slow, too low or both Friday when he appears
before the House Economic Affairs Committee.

Feinberg's been getting plenty of that kind of criticism during
his travels along the Gulf Coast, but this week he also got a
complaint of another kind from BP.

The British oil giant responsible for the spill caused by the
explosion of its Deepwater Horizon rig last year says he's being
too generous with its money.

The company contends his methodology artificially inflates
future expected losses from the spill.