Billions of winged teenagers will crawl out of the ground, sing their hearts out and fall in love this summer.

As crazy as that sounds, it’s reality for the Brood II cicadas that only come around once every 17 years. The insects are found only in eastern North America, and nowhere else in the world.

Known as magicicada, they have been maturing underground for 17 years, slurping on fluid from the roots of trees. The magic number seems to be 64 degrees: They won’t come out until the soil is that temperature, according to two local experts.

The phenomenon: Soil in Cumberland County was 48 degrees over the weekend, said Ed Dix, a forester with the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry. So the area still has till about late May or early June before the swarm, he said.

Adult cicadas are 1 to 1-1/2 inches long and have red eyes. Not to be confused with the more common annual cicadas, which look like huge, green flies, magicicadas are both smaller and much rarer.

“They’re definitely going to be noticeable,” said Timothy Abbey, of Penn State Cooperative Extension.

As daunting as billions of huge flies might seem, the bugs are mostly harmless.

Abbey said the insects are plant feeders and not much of a bother to crops. They don’t bite or damage property, but since females lay their eggs in the delicate twigs of deciduous trees, branches can break off and leaves might turn brown.

“But they’re not really a pest: They’re actually a beneficial thing when they come out,” Abbey said, as birds and small mammals like to snack on them.

The cicada way: These periodical cicadas have garnered the nickname “17-year locusts,” even though they’re not locusts, which are a type of grasshopper. When colonists settled in America, they hadn’t seen cicadas before and saw them as the locusts from the biblical plague, Dix said.

After the males emerge, they’ll begin to “sing” constantly. After about 10 days, mating will begin and females will deposit about 600 eggs. It’s a short party, and in just a few weeks, the adults will die and the hatchlings will return to the ground and restart the cycle.

But it is a big production, and the males’ song is loud and unmistakable. Dix said not to pay them too much mind.

“It’s just a bunch of 17-year-old males singing in a tree trying to find a mate,” he said matter-of-factly.

In York: The region the cicadas choose depends largely on how dense its woods are: The more trees, the more cicadas. Dix said areas east of the Susquehanna River have the most chance of a large influx.

“York County actually might have very little impact,” he said.

Their next return to York will be in 2021 in the form of Brood X, the largest of eight broods in the state.

Visit www.magicicada.org for maps and more information about the incoming cicadas.

Reported by MOLLIE DURKIN of The York Dispatch from YORK, PA. Reach her at mdurkin@yorkdispatch.com.

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An Ohio prosecutor who light-heartedly filed a criminal case against the Punxsutawney Phil said he may consider a pardon — after the animal’s handler took the blame for Phil’s rotten weather prediction.

Bill Deeley, president of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club’s Inner Circle, told The Associated Press on Monday that the animal rightly predicted six more weeks of winter last month, but he mistakenly announced an early spring because he failed to correctly interpret Phil’s “groundhog-ese.”

“I’m the guy that did it; I’ll be the fall guy. It’s not Phil’s fault,” Deeley said.

Butler County, Ohio, prosecutor Mike Gmoser told the AP that he’s reconsidering the charges in light of the new evidence and may issue a full pardon.

“Frankly, he is a cute little rascal, a cute little thing,” Gmoser said. “And if somebody is willing to step up to the plate and take the rap, I’m willing to listen.”

The Groundhog Day celebration in Punxsutawney, a borough about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, attracts worldwide attention each year. But the attention stretched well beyond Feb. 2 when Gmoser last week issued an indictment as winter-like weather continued across much of the nation even as spring began.

“Punxsutawney Phil did purposely, and with prior calculation and design cause the people to believe that spring would come early,” Gmoser’s indictment said. The penalty? Death, Gmoser said, tongue firmly in cheek.

Reported by JOE MANDAK of the Associated Press from PITTSBURGH, Pa.

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Just 2-and-a-half years old, Joey Duffy was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a blood and bone marrow disorder, in September.

To save his life, Joey needed a bone marrow transplant.

His parents, Tom and Maura Duffy, were not matches. Neither were his brothers, Tommy, 6, and Mick, 4.

While the Springettsbury Township family waited for a match to be found for Joey, they organized a Be the Match bone marrow drive. Be the Match is a national registry for bone marrow donations.

Then, the day after Thanksgiving, the Duffy family received the call they had waited for — a match had been found for Joey.

“We were getting ready to see family over the holiday weekend, and it was just a really happy moment,” said Maura Duffy. “It was a perfect match.”

The preparation: Joey had four rounds of outpatient chemotherapy and three days of inpatient chemotherapy.

He will go to Johns Hopkins Hospital Wednesday for more chemotherapy. The bone marrow transplant is set for March 28.

The family will stay at St. Casimir’s, the outpatient housing Johns Hopkins provides for bone marrow recipients and their families.

Recovery can be anywhere from four to eight weeks, and Joey’s mom will stay with him during the week while his dad will travel down for the weekends.

“He has been in the hospital literally his whole life, so this is nothing new,” Maura Duffy said.

Joey was born premature and stayed in the neonatal intensive care unit, and had been working with a doctor at Johns Hopkins since he was 6 months old, she said.

“Joey is a trouper,” she said. “He was a preemie and has been in the neonatal intensive care unit and he rolls with the punches. He does really, really well.”

Support: Juggling family life and trips to the hospital is the biggest challenge, she said, particularly when it means missing things like their older son’s birthday to be in the hospital.

“But we’ve got great friends and great family and lots of people out there supporting us,” Maura Duffy said. “Lots of people want to help, and it is amazing how good people can be.”

The Duffys and their friends have organized a 5K run and walk in Joey’s honor at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 20 at the new 5K course at John Rudy Park, 400 Mundis Race Road.

The fee to participate is $20, which includes a T-shirt for anyone who registers before Saturday. Anyone who registers after that will pay $20, but will not receive a shirt.

The cost to register the day of the race is $25, and all proceeds will go toward HelpHOPELive, an organization that distributes funds to families to help cover uninsured medical expenses.

Race packets can be picked up the night before the race from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. near the park at 5 Olde Hickory Road in Mount Wolf, or from 7 to 8 a.m. the day of the race at the park.

Anyone can visit www.helphopelive.com and type in a patient’s name to donate toward covering a family’s expenses.

For more information on the race, email kleinsc55@yahoo.com. To follow Joey’s progress, visit www.teamjoey.net.

Reported by CHELSEA SHANK of The York Dispatch from YORK, Pa.

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In 11 years of teaching, ditching students’ desk chairs in favor of yoga balls is one of the best decisions Robbi Giuliano thinks she ever made.

Replacing regular seats with inflatable bouncers has raised productivity in her fifth-graders at Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School, making students better able to focus on lessons while improving their balance and core strength, she said.

“I have more attentive children,” Giuliano said. “I’m able to get a lot done with them because they’re sitting on yoga balls.”

Ball options: The giant rubber spheres, also called stability balls, come in different sizes, colors and degrees of firmness. By making the sitter work to stay balanced, the balls force muscle engagement and increased blood flow, leading to more alertness.

Traditional classroom setups are being challenged as teachers nationwide experiment with yoga balls, footrests and standing desks, which give children outlets to fidget without disrupting class.

Stability balls, frequently used in yoga, Pilates and physical therapy, have even begun appearing in offices in the wake of recent studies stressing the dangers of sedentary work environments.

Giuliano began using the balls in her class in West Chester, a Philadelphia suburb, about three years ago after her husband mentioned how they increased productivity at the holistic wellness company where he worked.

Kids react: Student Ashley Hasson conceded that adjusting to her dark pink ball was tough at first.

“But once you get used to it, it’s not that hard because basically you’re just sitting down,” she said.

Another student, Kevin Kent, said the ball makes it easier for him to concentrate and keeps his back from getting stiff. Now, he said, sitting in a chair is “weird, because you’re all bent up.”

Ball rules: Some health experts cautioned against the possibility of student horseplay and falling off the balls. But Giuliano’s 24 students know they must keep their bottoms on the balls and feet on the floor at all times, though they can bounce and bob as much as they like.

The same goes for Dannielle Doran’s fourth-graders at Merion Elementary School in a nearby district, where misbehavior risks loss of the ball and a return to a four-legged seat.

“They like sitting on them so much, and they don’t want to lose that privilege,” Doran said. “It seems to almost … motivate better behavior.”

The balls are not mandatory in Doran’s or Giuliano’s classes, but Giuliano noted only one student in three years has opted to continue using a chair.

Parents have been supportive as well, voluntarily purchasing the $5 balls for their kids. Some even ended up buying balls for themselves to use at home and work, said Giuliano, who wants to spread the word to other teachers.

“I don’t like sitting on a chair all day … so I started sitting on a yoga ball, and I find I’m more alert,” Giuliano said. “And my message is to try it with your class and see if it works for you.”

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Reported by KATHY MATHESON of the Associated Press from WEST CHESTER, Pa. Follow Matheson at http://www.twitter.com/kmatheson

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Third-graders in Staci Verge’s class grilled a National Parks Service ranger on Friday to find out more about the park service’s sled dog program.

Verge’s students at Grandview Elementary School communicated via Skype with a park service representative from Denali National Park. Denali is in Wasilla, Alaska. Much of the park grounds in the wilderness are impassible by vehicles. Rangers use sled dog teams to navigate those areas in winter.

The Skype session tied into a lesson on Balto, the Siberian Husky sled dog who led his team on the final leg of the 1925 serum run to Nome, inspiration for the annual Iditarod. Students will also be following the Iditarod sled dog race later this year. In science, the two third-grade classes have learned about animal adaptations.

“We read about Balto in reading who is a famous sled dog,” said Verge. “In science, they’ve been learning about animal adaptations. It tied into both reading and science. We’re going to be following the Iditarod when it comes in March. We’ll be following that as well.

“They were so interested today.”

Students learned more about animal adaptations on Friday and were fascinated by the results.

A good sled dog, the park ranger explained, had five main adaptations to help them in their work: Two different types of fur keep dogs warm and dry, thick tough toe pads make it easier for travel, a bushy tail helps a dog breathe easier when curled up and laying down, a longer tongue aides in panting to stay cool while running and counter-current circulation keeps blood flow warm in their bodies.

“I think the thing I found interesting is their arteries and their veins were put together so that their body wasn’t too cold and it wasn’t too hot,” said Sam Raudabaugh.

“I didn’t know that they had two layers of fur,” said Haley Colby.

Students also learned background about the park, which is the home to Mount McKinley, North America’s tallest mountain peak.

But, it was the sled dog lesson that had students talking the most.

“I liked how it told us that when they get tired and the dogs take a break, they curl up and put their bushy tail over their nose,” said Garrett Swatsburg.

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Reported by BRIAN HALL of the Public Opinion from from CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. Hall can be reached at 262-4811 and bkhall@publicopinionnews.com, or follow him on Twitter @bkhallpo. (MCT)

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