Environment

Kentucky’s second sandhill crane hunting season is underway.

When the Kentucky Division of Fish and Wildlife first proposed a sandhill crane hunting season, it met with opposition from groups that argued the birds weren’t overpopulated or causing an environmental burden. There was also a worry that hunters could mistakenly kill an endangered whooping crane.

The federal government has strengthened the national air quality standard for soot and fine particle pollution.

The new standard is 20 percent more stringent than the current standard, which was set in 1997. It will require communities to make sure fine particle pollution is limited to 12 micrograms per cubic meter annually (the current limit is 15).

Parts of every city are smelly, occasionally. And in Louisville, several neighborhoods in particular have routinely complained about odors...like some areas of Butchertown near the JBS Swift slaughterhouse, and neighborhoods bordering chemical plants and factories in Rubbertown.

A new agreement between federal and state governments aims to protect endangered Indiana Bats that spend part of the year in Kentucky's forests.

In the agreement, the Kentucky Division of Forestry will take the Indiana Bat into account when it manages the more than 43,000 acres of state forest land.

Indiana Bats have been on the nation’s endangered species list since 1967. In recent years, they’ve become increasingly vulnerable due to White Nose Syndrome—a fungal disease that’s fatal to bats.