Briefs across Tennessee

Winter arrives early GATLINBURG (AP) — Wintry weather reached the Smokies before Halloween arrived. National Park Service spokesman Bob Miller in Gatlinburg said rangers shut down U.S. Highway 441 over the mountains today because of snow and ice. There was 1 1/2 inches of snow atop Mt. LeConte at midday today. Miller said there was little accumulation at Newfound Gap, which is on the Tennessee-North Carolina state line, but 441 was closed because of icing. Crews were sanding the highway, but it was closed to traffic at the Sugarlands information center on the Tennessee side of the park and the Smokemont campground on the North Carolina side. With a mixture of freezing rain and sleet still falling, it was unclear when the road could be reopened. The highway is the major route through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, carrying traffic between Gatlinburg and Cherokee, N.C. ——— Al Gore, Diane Nash to accept Freedom Awards MEMPHIS (AP) — Former Vice President Al Gore will accept the National Civil Rights Museum’s annual Freedom Award in Memphis. Gore and civil rights activist Diane Nash were named as recipients of the awards in August. They’re scheduled to receive the awards at a banquet today. The museum has said Gore is being honored for helping raise the world’s awareness of the dangers of man-made climate change. Nash will be recognized for her pioneering civil rights work in the 1960s. Since losing the presidential election to George W. Bush in 2000, Gore has made combatting global warming his primary public focus. He was awarded a Nobel Prize for that work, and his documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” won an Academy Award. Published in The Messenger 10.28.08

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