Environment

 Below are winter storm-related closings and cancelations. Updated 5:04 PM

KENTUCKY

Murray State University's Waterfield Library will update its weekend operating hours over the weekend.

MSU's Winslow Dining Hall will be open until 8 PM on Friday. 

MSU Children’s Christmas Party sponsored by the Staff Congress  is now Dec. 14. The event will be held 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. in the Dance Lounge of the Curris Center.

Western Kentucky Community and Technical College Community Chorus concert is canceled for Sunday, December 8th. The Paducah School of Art art sale is canceled this weekend.

Hopkinsville Community College will be closed  Saturday, the GED will be rescheduled for Friday, December 13th. Those registered will be contacted. 

As the weekend winter storm approaches, listeners should be aware of information available should area power outages occur and roads ice over. Below are links to helpful resources available in our area. 

Some Southern Illinois residents are concerned about hydraulic fracturing related water quality, chemical trade secrets and the size of fines levied on the industry.  

The comments came from among the 175 present at an Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ public hearing on fracking last night at Rend Lake College in Ina. A six-member panel listened to a range of public comments about the IDNR’s proposed fracking regulations.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has a new mobile app that allows users to take along the latest agency info wherever they go.

The new app includes access to all hunting, trapping, fishing and boating guidelines. Hunters can keep a hunting diary, access their harvest logs and upload their trophy photos. Anglers can access a mobile fish identification guide.

Grants totaling nearly $600,000 will go to help pay for recreational and tourism projects in 12 Kentucky counties.

Governor Steve Beshear announced the Land and Water Conservation Fund grants yesterday and says the Department for Local Government will administer the funds.

Beshear's office the fund is a grant matching reimbursement program for projects such as campgrounds, sports and play fields, swimming and fishing areas, boating facilities and trails.

 Kate Lochte speaks with LBL Wildlife Technician Curtis Fowler about the wild turkey. Fowler explains the hard life of a turkey, times when turkeys were scarce in the US and when reintroduction took place, also a turkey's ability to fly and when you might see one airborne.

See more about turkey hunting at LBL.

The company federally-contracted to clean up the site of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant notified 91 workers of layoffs Monday.

LATA Environmental Services of Kentucky notified 79 union workers from the United Steelworkers Local 550, as well as 12 salaried workers.

Waterfowl hunting season opens on Thanksgiving Day throughout Tennessee except the Reelfoot zone.

The season there opened for two days earlier this month and reopens on Saturday. Both waterfowl seasons end on January 26.

The Big Rivers Electric Corp. will be forced to raise rates again for its 113,000 customers, as a second western Kentucky aluminum smelter has reached an agreement to purchase its electricity on the free market.