States move to blunt Obama carbon plan
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – As President Barack Obama prepares to announce tougher new air-quality standards, lawmakers in several states already are trying to blunt the impact on aging coal-fired power plants that feed electricity to millions of consumers.
The push against Obama’s new carbon emission standards has been strongest in some states that have large coal-mining industries or rely heavily on coal to fuel their electricity. State officials say the new federal regulations could jeopardize the jobs of thousands of workers and drive up the monthly electric bills of residents and businesses.
The proposed Environmental Protection Agency rules to be announced today could be the first to apply to carbon dioxide emissions at existing power plants. Coal is the most common fuel source for the nation’s electricity and, when it’s burned, is a leading source of the greenhouse-gasses that trap heat in the atmosphere and contribute to climate change.
Without waiting to see what Obama proposes, governors in Kansas, Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia have signed laws directing their environmental agencies to develop their own carbon-emission plans that consider the costs of compliance at individual power plants. Similar measures recently passed in Missouri and are pending in the Louisiana and Ohio legislatures.
Trial results promising for canine parvovirus
GRAND FORKS, N.D. – A North Dakota company plans to market a treatment for a highly contagious viral disease that can be life-threatening for dogs.
Grand Forks-based Avianax is testing its cure for the canine parvovirus in seven states around the country. Results have shown a 90 percent rate among nearly 50 puppies that have been treated.
Some puppies die from the virus, and others are euthanized because the medicine needed to treat it can be too expensive and take too long.
Avianax officials hope to start selling the parvoONE antibody-based treatment for $75 a dose by next spring.
The antibody was discovered about 10 years ago when researchers from the University of North Dakota partnered with a South Dakota farm to find a treatment for West Nile virus in geese.
Suspect in museum killings went to Syria
PARIS – A suspected French jihadist who spent time in Syria has been arrested over the shooting deaths of three people at a Belgian Jewish museum, prosecutors said Sunday, crystalizing fears that European radicals will parlay their experiences in Syria into terrorism back home.
When Mehdi Nemmouche was arrested in southern France on Friday, he was in possession of firearms, a large quantity of ammunition and a video claiming responsibility for the May 24 attack at the Jewish Museum in Brussels, a Belgian prosecutor said.
In a one-minute rampage that deeply shook Europe’s Jewish community, a gunman opened fire at the Brussels museum. In addition to the fatalities, another person was gravely wounded.
Netanyahu: Isolate Palestinian government
JERUSALEM – Israeli Irime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday urged the world to shun the emerging Palestinian unity government stemming from its ties to the Hamas militant group, rejecting Palestinian pledges it will be a government of technocrats that will accept peace agreements with Israel and eschew violence.
The comments by Netanyahu set the stage for what is likely to be a tough battle for international opinion in the coming weeks. While Israel has made clear it will reject the new government, the reactions of the European Union and United States, which send the Palestinians hundreds of millions of dollars in aid each year, will be critical in determining whether it can survive and whether Israel will be forced to deal with it.
Addressing his Cabinet Sunday, Netanyahu said the Palestinian government will “strengthen terrorism.”
“Hamas is a terrorist organization that calls for the destruction of Israel, and the international community must not embrace it,” he said.
Brady Bunch actress dies in San Antonio
SAN ANTONIO – Emmy-winning actress Ann B. Davis, who became the country’s favorite and most famous housekeeper as the devoted Alice Nelson of “The Brady Bunch,” died Sunday at a San Antonio hospital. She was 88.
Bexar County, Texas, medical examiner’s investigator Sara Horne said Davis died Sunday morning at University Hospital. Horne said no cause of death was available, and an autopsy was planned Monday.
Bill Frey, a retired bishop and a longtime friend of Davis, said she suffered a fall Saturday at her San Antonio home and never recovered. Frey said Davis had lived with him and his wife, Barbara, since 1976.
Associated Press
