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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Dozens of environmentalists and land owners are meeting with lawmakers in Springfield hoping to persuade them to temporarily ban high-volume oil and gas drilling in Illinois.

Opponents of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," held a rally and lobbied Illinois legislators Tuesday. They're hoping to win support for a two-year moratorium on the practice instead of regulations that would allow it.

Fracking opponents say they were ignored during negotiations over a regulatory bill, which proponents say would give Illinois the nation's toughest regulations.

Protesters say they fear the water around their southern Illinois homes could be polluted by the practice.

Fracking uses high-pressure mixtures of water, sand or gravel and chemicals to crack rock formations to release oil and natural gas.

No charges will be filed against the driver of a pickup truck that struck and killed a six year old boy late Tuesday afternoon.

The Missouri Highway Patrol reports that the accident happened about 5:00 p.m. along Highway 8 near Highway P, just west of Park Hills, in St. Francois County.

Police say two boys had been playing along the roadside when Evan Ketto ran into the path of the truck. It swerved, but couldn't avoid striking him.

The child was airlifted to a Farmington hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

An alert parent is being credited with stopping a potentially dangerous situation before it could escalate.

Wellston police Sergeant Marvin Berry says the mother of a Normandy High School student saw people exchanging guns inside a car on the school parking lot Tuesday afternoon. She alerted school security. They called police.

Police searched two SUV's and found two handguns. Four people, three of them students, have been arrested.

A letter sent to parents by the school principal, Calvin Nicholas says no one was directly threatened in the incident.