Duke Energy's Riverbend Steam Station on Mountain Island Lake. Click to see WCNC-TV's report. (WCNC-TV photo)

Clean-water advocates around the region lately have been pushing Duke Energy to do more to clean up coal ash around its coal-fired power plants, such as the one on Mountain Island Lake, WCNC-TV reports. Reporter Stuart Watson recently produced an extended report on how Duke stores coal residue round the plant, and what environmentalists such as the Catawba Riverkeeper have to say about it.

LINK: May 26, 2012, “Environmentalists say Duke Energy should do more to clean up coal ash”

The federal Environmental Protection Agency on Friday proposed updated rules that would limit the allowable levels of fine particles, or soot, as part of a campaign to reduce dangerous air pollution nationwide. The new rules come in response to a federal court order requiring the EPA to update its standards. Read the full story

CORNELIUS – Pat Berch, owner of Lake Norman Nutrition, and Marianne Hendrix, 15-year Our Towns Habitat for Humanity volunteer, will team up in May to host a Weight Loss Challenge to raise money for the housing organization and help area residents start a health and wellness campaign.

The challenge is scheduled to run May 1-22. You can register online at www.ourtownshabitat.org. Entry fee is a $20 donation to Our Towns Habitat for Humanity. Read the full story

A new website will help you use carseats properly. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)

The US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children 1 through 12 years old. Based on NHTSA crash data in 2010, on average, almost 2 children (age 12 and younger in a passenger vehicle) were killed and 325 children were injured each day. This fatality rate could be reduced by half if the correct child safety seats were always used.

Read the full story

CORNELIUS – Pat Berch, owner of Lake Norman Nutrition, and Marianne Hendrix, 15-year Our Towns Habitat for Humanity volunteer, will team up in May to host a Weight Loss Challenge to raise money for the housing organization and help area residents start a health and wellness campaign.

The challenge is scheduled to run May 1-22. You can register online at www.ourtownshabitat.org.  Entry fee is a $20 donation to Our Towns Habitat for Humanity.  Read the full story

Jan Riebe of Gateway Therapeutic Massage held a grand opening reception Thursday for her Gateway Therapeutic Massage. (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

Health and wellness have long been important to Jan Riebe, but it wasn’t until four years ago that a career change gave her the chance to get hands-on. Six months ago she went out on her own, opening Gateway Therapeutic Massage on Davidson Gateway Drive.

“Health and well-being have always been my passions,” Ms. Riebe said Thursday, during a grand opening reception. Read the full story

Caitlyn Boyle

Charlottean Caitlin Boyle, editor of the “Operation Beautiful” campaign to end “fat talk” and promote positive body image, will speak Thursday, March 22, at 7:30 p.m. in the Lilly Family Gallery of Davidson College Chambers Building.

The 27-year-old Ms. Boyle is the author of the book “Operation Beautiful: Transforming the Way You See Yourself One Post-it Note at a Time.” She is a longtime HealthyTippingPoint.com blogger about healthy lifestyle, and “Operation Beautiful” was launched from that blog in June 2009. Read the full story

The hospital was proposed off NC 115 at Verhoeff Road, south of downtown Huntersville.

Huntersville’s Town Board on Monday voted down a rezoning request that would have allowed Carolinas HealthCare System to build a mental health hospital on N.C. 115. Our news partner WFAE-FM reports Huntersville commissioners voted 4-2 against the request amid opposition from neighbors. Read the full story

Centers for Disease Control calls it a “public health problem”

The total lifetime estimated financial costs associated with just one year of confirmed cases of child maltreatment (physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse and neglect) is approximately $124 billion, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. Read the full story

Runners have a variety of theories about winter training, such as the idea that you burn more calories in cold weather or it’s easy to get dehydrated. Triathlete magazine interviewed John Castellani, a physiologist at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine in Natick, Mass., so help separate the truths from the lies.

LINK: “Does Winter Running Burn More Calories?”