U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

The federal government recently granted $650,000 to University of Arkansas-based U.S. Geological Survey research ecologist Caleb Roberts to help combat the threat of invasive species. Roberts is leading a research project to develop an early detection and extirpation system for exotic species that harm native ecosystems. The team will initially focus research on cogon grass, the seventh worst weed in the world and a newcomer to the Natural State.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has delisted 21 species from the Endangered Species Act due to extinction. The highly sought-after Ivory-billed Woodpecker was expected to be on that list. But due to accumulating evidence possibly proving the bird persists in certain Southern bottomland forests, Ivorybills were given a temporary stay.

News from the most recent 25 hours includes a change of venue for NWA Pride after Walton Arts Center restricts drag performances, and a UAMS gets a $5.5 million grant to develop programs for rural and underserved parts of the state.

On today's show, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service will decide whether to terminate federal protections for giant ivory-billed woodpeckers. Also, John Jeter, music director and conductor for the Fort Smith Symphony, listens to the Florence Price album he helped create. Plus, tracing the manufacturer's Daisy BB Guns from its beginnings in Michigan to present day Northwest Arkansas, and more.

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service will soon decide whether to terminate federal protections for giant ivory-billed woodpeckers, due to lack of definitive evidence revealing the species continues to persist in remote forested swamps of eastern Arkansas and northern Louisiana.