Syrian killed near Beirut in ‘revenge for Yabroud’

BEIRUT: A Syrian worker was found stabbed to death at a construction site north of Beirut Tuesday, in an apparent revenge killing linked to the war in neighboring Syria.

Ali Moussa Harmoush was found lying in a pool of blood in one of the rooms of an under-construction residential complex in Fanar, just north of Beirut, a security source told The Daily Star.

On a nearby wall, a note written with the victim’s blood read: “In revenge for Yabroud.”

Syrian regime forces and Hezbollah fighters seized control of the border town of Yabroud in Syria’s Qalamoun region Sunday, dealing the opposition a heavy blow.

Harmoush died of multiple stab injuries, the source said.

Federal grand jury looks into Duke Energy spill

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A federal grand jury is convening Tuesday as part of a widening criminal investigation triggered by the massive Duke Energy coal ash spill that coated 70 miles of the Dan River with toxic sludge.

The session at the federal courthouse in Raleigh comes as environmental groups amp up pressure on regulators and lawmakers to force Duke to clean up the leaky, unlined ash pits polluting North Carolina's waterways. Prosecutors have issued at least 23 grand jury subpoenas to Duke executives and state officials.

Thomas Walker, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, declined to comment, citing the secrecy of grand jury proceedings.

The subpoenas seek records from Duke, the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the state Utilities Commission. They include reams of documents, including emails, memos and reports, related to the Feb. 2 spill into the Dan River and the state's oversight of the company's nearly three dozen other coal ash dumps spread out at 14 power plants.

Those called to testify include Tom Reeder, the state's water quality director.

The first batch of subpoenas was issued Feb. 10, the day after an Associated Press story raised questions about whether North Carolina regulators had helped shield Duke from a coalition of environmental groups that wanted to sue under the U.S. Clean Water Act to force the company to clean up its coal ash pollution.

Their efforts were stymied by the state environmental agency, which used its authority under the federal act to intervene. The state quickly proposed what environmentalists derided as a "sweetheart deal" where the $50 billion Charlotte-based company would have paid just $99,111 to settle violations over toxic groundwater leeching from two of its plants with no requirement that it stop the pollution.

That proposed settlement was put on hold indefinitely after last month's spill.

Jamie Kritzer, a spokesman for the state environmental department, declined to comment beyond saying the agency is cooperating with the federal probe.

Environmentalists had long complained about the level of coordination between Duke and North Carolina's regulators and lawmakers.

Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, worked for Duke for more than 28 years before retiring to campaign for the state's highest elected post.

Following the spill, McCrory and state environmental secretary John Skvarla asked Duke for details about company plans to clean up the coal ash dumps.

Duke President Lynn Good responded last week. She said it would take the company at least two years to clean up the Eden dump, which spilled the ash into the Dan River. She said the company will move its remaining ash away from the river to either a lined landfill or a "lined structural fill solution."

Good said the company will be responsible for cleaning up after the disaster, though it is not clear how the miles of contaminated river bottom might be restored or how long that might take. Public health officials have advised people to avoid contact with the water in the Dan and not to eat the fish.

She said the company will also move ash dumps in the Asheville and Charlotte area, and is looking at options for the Sutton pits near Wilmington.

Good said the company will continue to work on long-range plans for 11 other sites where the company has leaky unlined ash pits.

Skvarla called the plan inadequate, saying he wanted more answers from Duke.

He said regulators plan to modify permits at Charlotte and Asheville area ash pits to stop pollution from seeping into public waterways. Skvarla said regulators want to stop all unauthorized discharges from those leaky ash dumps, and possibly move the waste.

But Southern Environmental Law Center senior attorney Frank Holleman said the state is dragging its feet. He said the agency had the power to force Duke to clean up the sites.

Meanwhile, more North Carolina lawmakers are calling on Duke to take action.

State Senate Leader Phil Berger, a Rockingham County Republican who lives near the spill site, said he wants the General Assembly's Environmental Review Commission to look into the issue to make sure that it "never happens again."

"As a resident of Eden, I have personally experienced the impact and understand the gravity of the recent coal ash spill," he said.

He noted that Senate Rules Chairman Tom Apodaca announced last month he is drafting a bill to require Duke to clean up the other coal ash ponds.

The co-chair of the commission that would consider the legislation, Republican Rep. Mike Hager of Rutherfordton, is a retired Duke Energy engineer who ran the five coal-fired generators at the company's Cliffside Steam Station.

In another development, North Carolina regulators say they are investigating whether Duke Energy broke the law when workers pumped contaminated water from a coal ash dump near the Cape Fear River.

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Weiss reported from Charlotte, N.C.

Follow Biesecker at http://bit.ly/1on2bc1 .

Lab space opens new academic world for Spectrum

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- New research laboratories opened by Spectrum Health are seen as a big step in its effort to become an academic institution.

The Basic and Translational Laboratories house the labs for four principal investigators studying a range of adult and pediatric diseases. The labs occupy 8,600 feet of renovated space in the Coopers Landing Building.

"The ability to be able to now go from basic research to translational research to clinical trials opens up a new academic world for Spectrum Health," Sandra Rempel, Spectrum's vice president of research, told The Grand Rapids Press ( http://bit.ly/1cFbkuK ).

The research programs all complement clinical programs in Spectrum Health, she said.

Rempel came to Spectrum in May 2013 from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, where she was associate director of research for the Josephine Ford Cancer Center. As one of the four scientists in the new lab, she will conduct research into brain tumor growth and invasion.

Other researchers include:

Dr. Kirstan Meldrum, the new section chief for pediatric urology at Spectrum's Helen DeVos Children's Hospital. She is investigating treatments for obstructions in the urinary tract and ways to repair damaged kidneys.

Dr. Giselle Sholler, the director of the Haworth Family Pediatric Oncology Innovative Therapeutics Clinic at the children's hospital. Her focus is on treating pediatric cancers, particularly neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma, and researching genomic profiling of tumors.

Dr. Samer Al-Homsi, the director of the adult blood and bone marrow transplant program, is exploring new avenues to prevent graft-vs-host disease.

The four labs will share "support cores" of high-tech equipment and instruments that are generally too expensive for a single principal investigator to purchase, Rempel said.

The four laboratories at Coopers Landing also support 13 new research positions, offering opportunities for medical residents, clinical fellows, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

Spectrum will continue to recruit physician-scientists and look for additional lab space, Rempel said. The hospital system also continues to collaborate with researchers at Van Andel Institute and Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine, Rempel said.

"We want to maintain really strong relationships with neighboring institutions," she said. "This gives us another opportunity to further grow our own academic profile."

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Information from: The Grand Rapids Press, http://bit.ly/1g5w2EV

This is an AP Member Exchange shared by The Grand Rapids Press.

Lawmakers to hear debate over Tennessee whiskey

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The owner of the Full Throttle moonshine distillery wants to add Tennessee whiskey to his product list. But Michael Ballard doesn't want to have to make his spirits in the style of Jack Daniel's, the world's most famous Tennessee whiskey.

Ballard says a state law enacted last year to establish a legal definition for Tennessee whiskey hurts his ability to grow his business located in Trimble in northwestern Tennessee.

Ballard and Jesse James Dupree, the Jackyl lead singer who is building a distillery next to the Full Throttle facility, plan to attend legislative hearings Tuesday on dialing back the Tennessee whiskey rules, which include proposals to do away with rules requiring charcoal filtering and storing whiskey only in new oak barrels.

Jack Daniel's is fighting the proposed law change.

Yellowstone bison movements linked to population

BILLINGS, Mont. -- Bison from Yellowstone National Park would be allowed to remain year-round in new areas of Montana if their numbers were reduced below recent levels, according to a proposal up for a Tuesday vote by the state Board of Livestock.

The draft proposal would allow bison, also known as buffalo, to roam year-round across more than 400,000 acres in Montana whenever the population totals 3,300 or fewer animals. That includes some areas without any bison now, such as the Taylor Fork of the Gallatin River, and other locations where the animals have been allowed only during winter.

But bison movements would be increasingly restricted when the number of animals is higher. For example, if the population exceeds 4,000 animals, no new areas would be open to bison.

Wildlife advocates have lobbied for decades to allow more bison to migrate from the park during winter. Yet Montana's livestock industry has opposed lifting bison restrictions because of worries about disease and competition between bison and cattle for grazing space.

State veterinarian Marty Zaluski said the latest proposal aims to ensure that bison in new areas don't add to existing problems, such as the risk of disease transmissions to cattle and conflicts with private property owners.

David Hallac, Yellowstone's chief scientist, said he had not received the state's proposal until Monday and would need time to review it.

A representative of a conservation group that wants more bison hunting opportunities said state officials should focus on how many bison could live in Montana — not how many should be in Yellowstone.

"They're trying to assert authority over a national park," said Glenn Hockett, president of the Gallatin Wildlife Association. "It's irrelevant if there's 10,000 bison in the park in my mind. It's what your tolerance is for bison in Montana."

Park biologists counted 4,600 Yellowstone bison last summer. That was before hunting and shipments of bison to slaughter removed more than 630 of the animals over the past several months.

The population last dropped below 3,300 in 2009, after more than 1,600 bison were captured and shipped to slaughter or killed by hunters during the prior winter. The capture and slaughter program operates under a 2000 agreement between state and federal officials that sharply limits the animals' periodic migrations into Montana.

The proposal to link bison movements to population size was developed jointly by the Department of Livestock and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. It came after livestock board members in January said population numbers needed to be considered when deciding where bison should be allowed in the state.

Population levels would be determined through an annual count conducted after hunting and other population reduction activities were over for the winter and prior to the spring calving season.

State officials said the proposal is a draft document that livestock board members can alter.

Another GM recall: 1.18M SUVs for air bag issue

DETROIT -- General Motors issued a new recall of 1.5 million vehicles Monday, part of an effort to assure buyers that it's moving faster to fix safety defects in its cars and trucks.

In a video message to employees posted Monday, CEO Mary Barra said the new recall resulted from a push to review potential safety issues and resolve them more quickly.

It's part of the fallout from the recall last month of more than 1.6 million small cars for defective engine switches. The defect is linked to 12 deaths, and GM is facing multiple investigations into how it handled the recall. GM first began investigating the switches in 2004.

"Something went wrong with our process in this instance, and terrible things happened," Barra said.

Barra told employees that GM is undergoing an "intense review" of its recall procedure, and that its system will change. In the meantime, she said, the company will cooperate fully with government investigators.

"The bottom line is, we will get better as a result of this tragic situation if we seize the opportunity," she said.

GM said it expects to spend approximately $300 million in the first quarter to repair the vehicles in the new recalls as well as the vehicles in the small car recall.

Jack Nerad, editorial director for Kelley Blue Book, said it's better for GM to act on the new recalls now rather than waiting until the ignition switch investigations have ended.

"If you've got bad news now and put it out in a month's time, it looks like a trend and it will just prolong things," he said.

"They're saying, 'This is our stake in the ground and we're changing the way we're operating."

GM announced last month that ignition switches in older models of the Chevrolet Cobalt, Pontiac G5s, Saturn Ion, Chevrolet HHR, Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky need to be repaired.

The recalls announced Monday include:

— 1.18 million SUVs because their side air bags, front center air bags and seat belt pretensioners might not deploy if drivers ignore an air bag warning light on their dashboard. The recall includes the Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia from the 2008-2013 model years; the Chevrolet Traverse from the 2009-2013 model years; and the Saturn Outlook from the 2008-2010 model years.

— 303,000 Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana vans from the 2009-2014 model years because the material on the instrument panel might not adequately protect unbelted passengers' heads in a crash.

— 63,900 Cadillac XTS sedans from the 2013 and 2014 model years because a plug in the brake assembly can get dislodged and short, increasing the risk of an engine compartment fire.

GM says it has received no reports of injuries related to any of the three recalls. But that contradicts publicly available complaints to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Drivers of the SUVs involved in the air bag recall have reported seven injuries to NHTSA because their air bags didn't deploy.

According to those complaints, three people were injured a crash last April when a 2012 Buick Enclave going 45 miles per hour was struck in the side and the air bags didn't deploy. Another driver claimed an injury when an accident shattered the windows of a 2009 GMC Acadia but didn't activate the air bags.

Drivers who report incidents to NHTSA don't necessarily report them to automakers. Also, air bags may not deploy in low-speed crashes, or if they detect a small person or a child seated too close to the air bag.

US stocks rebound as factory output surges

NEW YORK -- Stocks are sharply higher following news that output at U.S. factories surged last month.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 181 points, or 1.1 percent, to 16,247 Monday.

The increase in factory production was the biggest in six months. That reassured investors that an economic slowdown in January may have been temporary as much of the U.S. was affected by severe winter weather.

The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 17 points, or 1 percent, to 1,858. The Nasdaq composite rose 34 points, or 0.8 percent, to 4,279.

Hertz rose 5 percent following a report that the company may spin off its construction equipment rental business.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.69 percent.