Police cite DNA evidence
in UNC student’s death
CHAPEL HILL (AP) — Police in Chapel Hill say DNA evidence left at the scene of the murder of a UNC-Chapel Hill student has provided them with a break in the case.
Friends found the body of 19-year-old Faith Danielle Hedgepeth in her apartment last September. She was a biology major from Warrenton
who friends say wanted to be a doctor.
A statement issued by police Tuesday said evidence analyzed by the N.C. State Crime Lab has revealed DNA left at Hedgepeth’s off-campus apartment by a male suspect.
Investigators believe the suspect was familiar with Hedgepeth and may have lived near her in the past. They also think the killer’s behavior might have changed after her death, such as an unusual interest in the case or a change in performance at work or school.

New Hanover County
to keep deputies in schools
WILMINGTON (AP) — New Hanover County officials have agreed to keep sheriff’s deputies in all elementary schools for the rest of the year.
The sheriff’s office provided officers at each elementary school in the county this month by paying overtime. The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Monday to pay officers to stay the schools from Feb. 1 to June 15.
County officials estimate it will cost about $600,000 to provide officers for the rest of the year.
Officials plan to use 18 officers on overtime as well as six reserve officers.
This plan will split the cost between the county school board and county government.
Plans to add deputies to each elementary school came up last month after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.
Migration study: Northeast still losing people
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The 36th-annual United Van Lines migration study is out, and the northeastern U.S. is once again seeing the most outbound movement.
The St. Louis-based moving company tracks the states its customers move to and from over the course of a year, including Washington, D.C., but excluding Alaska and Hawaii. For 2012, the states with the highest percentages of outbound movement were, in order, New Jersey, Illinois, West Virginia, New York and New Mexico.
The District of Columbia had the highest percentage of people moving in, followed by Oregon, Nevada, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Economist Michael Stoll says the study generally shows a movement of people to Sun Belt states in the South and West.
Missouri trended toward the outbound, ranking 16th-highest in percentage moving out.

Environmental groups
press N.C.  to stop pollution
RALEIGH (AP) — Environmentalists say they’re heading to court to protect North Carolina’s groundwater from toxic coal ash waste.
The Southern Environmental Law Center’s lawsuit says the state isn’t doing enough to protect communities from coal ash generated at 14 coal-fired power plants.
The lawsuit says North Carolina is failing to follow its own law by stopping industrial polluters from contaminating groundwater and cleaning up outdated, unlined coal ash ponds.
The ash, leftover from the coal-burning process, contains dangerous substances, including arsenic.
The Southern Environmental Law Center filed the complaint Tuesday in Wake County Superior Court on behalf of several groups, including the Sierra Club.