Smokestack

About 24,000 gallons of untreated sewage was released this morning into the South Fork of Beargrass Creek.

The Metropolitan Sewer District reported a blockage in the sewer line around 11:00am. The waste would normally been diverted to the treatment plant, but the obstruction allowed the sewage to back up and rise over the dam around where Beargrass Creek crosses Lexington Road and Baxter Avenue.

The problem was fixed after about an hour and a half, but it’s recommended that the public avoid contact with the water for the next 48 hours.

Kentucky farmer and writer Wendell Berry interviewed food journalist Michael Pollan last night in Louisville. (Pollan stopped by the WFPL studios earlier in the day for an interview as well). Over the course of the evening, they discussed Pollan's new book "Cooked" and the bigger issues it raises. Here are five takeaways from the interview:

Food journalist Michael Pollan says we should cook. That's the thesis he outlines in his latest book--the appropriately titled Cooked. Pollan visited the WFPL studios earlier today for a news special.

Food journalist Michael Pollan has been writing about what and how we eat for the past decade in books like The Botany of Desire, In Defense of Food and The Omnivore's Dilemma.

New data from popular toy and children’s clothing manufacturers submitted to Washington State shows that more than 5,000 of them contain traces of at least one toxic chemical. These products are sold by national manufacturers that also operate in Kentucky.

Louisville Metro Government has issued a challenge to the owners of the city’s commercial buildings: get Energy Star certified. Mayor Greg Fischer says he wants at least 25 buildings to receive the designation by the end of the year.

U.S. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to announce a bill to put limits on the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulation of coal mining.

Louisville Metro Government is getting $200,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency to create a master plan for an area of the city that abuts a rail corridor.

Environmental activist and Louisville attorney Tom FitzGerald says he is being encouraged to run against Republican Mitch McConnell in the Kentucky 2014 U.S. Senate race.

The 58-year-old Democrat currently serves as executive director of the Kentucky Resources Council, an environmental group that lobbies state lawmakers on conservation issues.

In a telephone interview, FitzGerald told WFPL the decision is still in its early stages and leaving the non-profit world would be a significant change.

"For me to go into electoral politics and partisan politics is a very different way of approaching public service. I have a real fondness and appreciation for the amazing people of this Commonwealth and I've devoted my adult life to try to improve the quality of the community's health," he says.