[naviga:h3]State Department issues travel alert[/naviga:h3]

WASHINGTON — Americans should be alert to possible travel risks, especially during the holidays, following increased threats from militant groups around the world, the State Department has warned.

A travel alert, which is to be in effect until Feb. 24, said current information suggests that militants with the Islamic State, al-Qaida, Boko Haram and other groups continue to plan attacks in multiple regions. U.S. authorities said the likelihood of such attacks will continue as members of IS return from Syria and Iraq, and other individuals not affiliated with terror groups engage in violence on their own.

Extremists have targeted sporting events, theaters, open markets and aviation targets. In the past year, there have been multiple attacks in France, Nigeria, Denmark, Lebanon, Turkey and Mali. IS has claimed responsibility for the Oct. 31 bombing of a Russian airliner in Egypt, killing 224 people.

“U.S. citizens should exercise vigilance when in public places or using transportation,” said the alert released Monday.

[naviga:h3]Chesapeake fined $1.4M for slide site[/naviga:h3]

HARRISBURG — Chesapeake Energy is agreeing to a $1.4 million fine stemming from a 2011 landslide at a drilling site in southwestern Pennsylvania that damaged several streams.

The state Department of Environmental Protection said Monday that Chesapeake also agreed to clean up the waterways by Sept. 30. It says the slide filled more than a quarter-mile of streams below the well pad and damaged seven unnamed tributaries of Harts Run.

It says much of the work has been completed at the site, although Chesapeake must still remove sediment and stabilize the banks of the headwater tributaries to Harts Run.

The well site in question was in Greene County and is now controlled by Canonsburg, Pennsylvania-based Rice Energy.