CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - The buzz around Marshall University
next week will be about the importance of honeybees.

About 300 beekeepers will join 12 vendors and dozens more
presenters at the Heartland Apiculture Society's annual conference
starting Thursday in Huntington.

Anyone can attend. Registration is $15 per day or $40 for the
entire three-day session.

Nationally, the number of honey-producing colonies has been cut
in half since the 1940s.

The sessions include updates on the spread of so-called
Africanized bees and the mysterious disappearance of entire bee
colonies in at least 35 states since 2006.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)