Environment

Lawrence, KS – Coal has long been used as a cheap and plentiful energy source. But there is growing pressure to reconsider the environmental and health effects of burning coal, as opponents say that cheap energy from coal turns out to be no bargain. Health Reporter Bryan Thompson has more.

St. Louis, MO – Missouri governor Jay Nixon has put the director of the Department of Natural Resources on two weeks unpaid leave. The action came after the governor learned an E.coli-contaminated beach at the Lake of the Ozarks was open during Memorial Day weekend. Governor Nixon says the department told him last week that the beach in question had been closed, but Nixon says he learned otherwise from a newspaper report:

Kansas City, MO – Missouri is seeing an unusually high number of animals with rabies.

The State's department of health has identified 55 wild animals with the disease this year, already surpassing last year's total.

Dr. Howard Pue is a veterinarian with the state and says it's important for people to vaccinate their pets, as well as seek medical treatment if bitten by a wild or stray animal.

He says there are highly effective anti-rabies shots that can combat the disease after a possible exposure.

Kansas City, MO – The Ozark aquifer, a primary source of water in southwest Missouri, could go dry in places if demand increases by as little as 1 percent a year over the next 50 years.

The aquifer is also used in Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

A study from the U.S. Geological Survey shows that pumping from the Ozark aquifer might not be sustainable at Carthage and Noel if a 1 percent annual increase in water-withdrawal rates occurs each year from 2007 to 2057.

Shawnee Mission, Kansas – It wasn't on the agenda. But opponents of a plan to reduce the deer herd in Shawnee Mission Park showed up anyway at last night's Park Board meeting. More from Laura Ziegler.

Under threatening skies about 25 protestors from grandparents to teens gathered outside the Johnson County Parks Administration Building.

Kansas City, Missouri – With a chorus of "not in our backyard," the city council passed a resolution Thursday against storing toxic waste at the Federal Complex on Bannister Road.

During session council members said they weren't notified by the U.S. Department of Energy that Kansas City was on the shortlist of places to house the nation's waste mercury.

Rather, they found out after opening their morning papers.

Councilman John Sharp was at best confused by the fact Kansas City could become the Yucca Mountain of mercury storage.