U.S. Sens. Kay Hagan and Richard Burr are pushing a measure that would force the Navy to hold off on disposing of claims about water contamination at Camp Lejeune.

The amendment to a defense appropriations bill must still survive a conference with the House.

From 1957 to 1987, the water at Lejeune was contaminated with toxins at concentrations up to 280 times what is currently considered safe by the Environmental Protection Agency and may have contributed to health problems faced by Marines and their families, according to Hagan's office. As many as 1 million people may have been exposed to tainted water.

The bill would halt efforts to dispose of claims filed by those families until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention completes studies of the health effects of the water contamination.

"Our amendment makes the desire of the Senate perfectly clear: the Navy should not dispose of claims until the scientific studies are complete,” said Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "Marines and their families, who were exposed to dangerous chemicals in the Camp Lejeune drinking water over several decades, deserve to know how that exposure impacted their health.”

In July, Burr and Hagan introduced a bill that would open access to Department of Veterans' Affairs health care for veterans and their family members that lived on the base during the years of water contamination.

* Many Triangle schools were cautious about airing President Barack Obama's education speech Tuesday, requiring written parental permission for students to watch a taped version later this week.

Other schools convened hundreds of students to watch the speech and discuss the president's exhortation to try hard despite obstacles.

Obama's speech had created an outcry from some parents and commentators, who accused the president of trying to push a political agenda with his back-to-school message. In the end, the short speech was a conventional pep talk to students about setting goals, learning from their failures and taking responsibility for their education.

The message hit home in Durham for Southern High School sophomore Anthony Peaks, who admits to slacking off at school.

Peaks, whose father died when he was 8 and who has spent time in foster care, related to a story Obama told about a student from Chicago who bounced from foster home to foster home but is on track to go to college.

"I'm going to try to do better on my work, and I know now I didn't take my education real seriously," Peaks said after Obama's pep talk. The speech "was just a motivation for me to stay in school."

Outside Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va., where Obama spoke, a small group of protesters gathered, including one with a sign that said, "Mr. President, stay away from our kids." (N&O)

* Twenty years ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a new rule for cities with dirty air, such as Charlotte: Show that your road-building plans will complement efforts to clean the air — or risk losing critical highway construction dollars.

But today the federal process is full of loopholes, the Observer has found.

City transportation planners changed data, made overly optimistic projections and insisted that more roads would help people drive less. Those questionable projections have helped keep highway dollars flowing to Charlotte. (Char-O)

Students at Durham's Southern High School will watch President Barack Obama’s education speech Tuesday alongside Lisa Jackson, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Obama is scheduled to speak at noon Tuesday about education success, and the administration has sent out educational materials to schools to accompany the talk, reports Barb Barrett. The speech and the materials have drawn criticism from some who say Obama is wrongly injecting politics into the public schools, but the White House says the speech will be focused on encouraging children to succeed.

As part of the speech, members of Obama’s cabinet are joining students across the country. Jackson is scheduled to be at Southern. According to the White House, she will join the students in watching the speech live, then engage in a discussion about taking responsibility for education.

Gov. Beverly Perdue signed a bill today that will increase inspections of high hazard coal ash ponds in North Carolina.

“Because of potential risk posed by the location of North Carolina’s coal ash ponds, we must provide greater oversight and more frequent inspections,” Perdue said in a statement. “This legislation will keep our citizens safer and our dams more secure.”

The Environmental Protection Agency has identified 12 coal ash dams in North Carolina, the most of any state in the country, reports Rob Christensen.

The issue drew attention because a dam burst in Tennessee last year, causing five million cubic yard of sludge containing many metals to escape.

Power companies dispose of their coal ash by mixing it with water and pumping it into ponds near their power plants.

Currently, power companies are only required to file reports every five years by private engineers on the structural conditions of the dams.

The new law, sponsored by Rep. Pricey Harrison, a leading environmentalist from Greensboro, and Sen. David Hoyle, a major voice for business from Gastonia, requires a state inspection every two years.

Gov. Beverly Perdue is pushing a bill that would increase oversight of coal ash ponds.

North Carolina is home to 12 potentially high-hazard ponds of the sludge byproduct of coal-fired electric plants, more than any other state. The EPA's high-hazard designation means people would probably die if a dam failed, not that the agency has found structural problems.

The bill would subject the dams that create coal ash ponds to direct inspection by the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

“Because of where some of the ponds are located, greater safety oversight and more frequent inspections will help reduce potential risks,” Perdue said in a news release.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat, would subject coal ash dams to the state's Dam Safety Act, which would more closely regulate the impoundments and would require a state inspection every two years.

* House committee says bill to limit texting while driving may be too broadly written. Would it forbid using an iPod or checking your calendar?

* No, U.S. Rep. Howard Coble was not at the meeting at Yalta. That's a joke photo put together by someone on Rep. Walter Jones' staff.

* Progressive bloggers are already starting to discuss what they should do about U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler and his potential Senate run.

* U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan, Reps. Jones and G.K. Butterfield urge Environmental Protection Agency to accept PCS Phosphate's plan to expand.

North Carolina's senior Democrat in Congress has expanded his reach on the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

U.S. Rep. David Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, was added to the spending panel that oversees environmental and National Parks issues, Barb Barrett. Price was named this week to the Subcommittee on Interior, the Environment and Related Agencies for the upcoming Congress.

The subcommittee's jurisdiction includes the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA’s largest research facility is in Research Triangle Park. The National Institute of Environment Health Sciences also is located in RTP.

Price will continue his role as chairman of the subcommittee on Homeland Security. That post gives him jurisdiction for the nation’s spending on airport security, border security, federal emergency response and other homeland security issues.

He also will keep his post on the Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies.