Monday,  Jan. 06, 2014 • Vol. 16--No. 174 • 14 of 24

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• Southern states were bracing for possible record temperatures, too, with single-digit highs expected Tuesday in Georgia and Alabama.
• Temperatures plunged into the 20s early Monday in north Georgia, the frigid start of dangerously cold temperatures for the first part of the week. The Georgia Department of Transportation said its crews were prepared to respond to reports of black ice in north Georgia.
• Temperatures were expected to dip into the 30s in parts of Florida on Tuesday. Though Florida Citrus Mutual spokesman Andrew Meadows said it must be at 28 degrees or lower four hours straight for fruit to freeze badly, fruits and vegetables were a concern in other parts of the South.
• With two freezing nights ahead, Louisiana citrus farmers could lose any fruit they cannot pick in time.
• In Plaquemines Parish, south of New Orleans, Ben Becnel Jr. estimated that Ben & Ben Becnel Inc. had about 5,000 bushels of fruit on the trees, mostly navel oranges and the sweet, thin-skinned mandarin oranges called satsumas.
• "We're scrambling right now," he said.
• In western Kentucky, Smithland farmer David Nickell moved extra hay to the field and his animals out of the wind. He'd also stocked up on batteries and gas and loaded up the pantry and freezer. The 2009 ice storm that paralyzed the state and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people is fresh in his mind.
• "We are hoping this isn't going to be more than a few days of cold weather, but we did learn with the ice storm that you can wake up in the 19th century and you need to be able to not only survive, but be comfortable and continue with your basic day-to-day functions," Nickell said.

Sanford Lab begins $7M education center campaign

• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- The Sanford Underground Research Facility has kicked off a $7 million fundraising campaign to help develop an education center that will operate from three locations in the northern Black Hills of South Dakota.
• The Sanford Lab Homestake Visitors Center will be built in Lead (LEED) to tell the city's story and highlight the scientific research being done underground in the former gold mine. A Black Hills State University building is being converted to train science teachers, and a multimedia center at the underground lab will take science into classrooms across South Dakota.
• Gov. Dennis Daugaard has committed $2 million in state matching funds for the campaign. The Lawrence County Commission and the Lead City Commission each recently voted to contribute $30,000 to the campaign.

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