Residents near the JBS Swift meat-packing plant in Butchertown are no longer being advised to stay indoors because of an anhydrous ammonia leak inside the plant. Officials gave the ‘all clear’ around 2:20pm. The leak was first reported shortly before 11:30. Warning sirens were sounded about an hour later, after emergency workers assessed the scene. No chemicals were detected outside of the Swift building, and a MetroSafe official says the warning to stay indoors was precautionary. Swift employees were evacuated but have moved back into the plant. One person was taken to the hospital on a non-emergency call after reporting nausea.MetroSafe workers could not say whether any animals have been moved from the plant.
Rick Howlett was midday host and the host of LPM's weekly talk show, "In Conversation." He was with LPM from 2001-2023 and held many different titles, including Morning Edition host, Assignment Editor and Interim News Director. He died in August 2023. Read a remembrance of Rick here.