Suburban owner wonders why sunroof won’t close

The sunroof on my 2005 Suburban will not close. I turned on the ignition switch to lower the windows and open the sunroof to air out the interior a couple of weekends ago. I left the key on after opening the windows and discharged the battery to the point where the windows and sunroof would not close. I charged the battery and the windows closed, but the sunroof moved about an inch and stopped. To reprogram the sunroof, the manual states to push the switch to the vent position to start the programming process. However, the window is open and will not close to start the process. A Chevy dealership and a business that specializes in interiors and sunroofs did not have an answer or a possible solution without bringing it in.

According to the GM reprogramming instructions in my Alldata automotive database, even if the sunroof won't close when you push the switch to the vent position, hold the switch in this position for at least 30 seconds until you hear a slight clicking noise from the front of the sunroof — this should confirm the reprogramming was successful.

If this doesn't work, the sunroof assembly must be removed so that the motor can be removed and the guide pins pushed all the way forward to the stops. Good luck.

Several months ago my '05 Hyundai XG350 displayed an "air bag" message in my dashboard. I had my dealer perform a diagnostic test that informed me I had a "bad air bag" located in the driver's seat. The cost to repair: $1,500 for the part, plus labor. I declined. My brother has a mechanic friend who suggested I "turn on your cruise control." Within five minutes the airbag light went out. To this day, several months later, the airbag light has NOT come on. I have called several dealers and shops asking if another diagnostic test can be performed without the light on and they all replied they cannot do another test. I truly believe the "sensor" was the cause of this air bag message and that I do not have a bad air bag. Do you have any other suggestions?

Wow! Who ever said that automobiles cannot be "self-healing"? I have absolutely no idea how or why the operation of the cruise control would have any influence on a restraint system fault code, but I can tell you that if the air bag warning light flashes during its initial self-test when you first turn on the ignition, then goes out for the duration of your drive, there is no current fault with the system.

With that said, most 
"B-series" body codes will stay in memory until cleared by a scan tool. So it would seem the original DTC code for the airbag light should still be in the computer memory. You should have the dealer scan the body control module for any stored restraint system fault codes.

I have a 2005 Chevy Silverado 1500 with 115,000 miles on it. Just recently my gas gauge needle went from 3/4 to way over full and stayed there for several days and is now working fine. Yesterday my oil pressure gauge needle went from normal to off the gauge on the high end. I checked my oil level and it is in the normal range. What do you suggest?

GM issued several bulletins on this type of instrument cluster issue for your year truck and ultimately extended the warranty on these components out to several years/70,000 miles for parts and labor, and an additional 10,000 miles — a total of 80,000 miles — for parts only.

I wouldn't hesitate to ask the dealer to ask GM for some type of "customer goodwill" adjustment to help with the cost of the repair. If no help is available — your vehicle is significantly past the extended warranty — you'll have to choose whether to have it repaired or live with the condition.

Paul Brand, author of "How to Repair Your Car," is an automotive troubleshooter, driving instructor and former race-car driver. Readers may write to him at: Star Tribune, 425 Portland Ave. S., Minneapolis, Minn., 55488 or via email at paulbrandstartribune.com. Please explain the problem in detail and include a daytime phone number. Because of the volume of mail, we cannot provide personal replies.

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Obama to urge Europe to keep up pressure on Russia

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will press European leaders this week to keep up pressure on Russia over its threatening moves in Ukraine, while seeking to assuage fears from Poland and other NATO allies that the West could slip back into a business-as-usual relationship with Moscow.

Obama's four day trip to Poland, Belgium and France comes against the backdrop of successful national elections in Ukraine and signs that Russia is moving most of its troops off its shared border with the former Soviet republic. Yet violence continues to rage in eastern Ukrainian cities and there remains deep uncertainty about whether Ukraine's new president-elect can stabilize his country.

U.S. officials contend that, even with some signs of progress, Russia has not taken the necessary steps to ease tensions and could still face additional economic sanctions. Obama will look for Western allies to show a united front during a meeting of the Group of Seven major industrial nations that was quickly arranged after leaders decided to boycott a meeting Russia had been scheduled to host this week.

But at least some parts of Obama's visit will challenge the notion that the West has isolated Moscow. Russian President Vladmir Putin is scheduled to join U.S. and European leaders in France Friday for a day of events marking the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion at Normandy. Putin will also hold one-on-one talks with French President Francois Hollande, his first meeting with a Western leader since the Ukraine crisis began.

"Putin may not get to host the G-8 but if he gets to go to Normandy with everybody, it begins to diminish the appearance of isolation," said Steven Pifer, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who now serves as a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

The White House says Obama will not hold a formal bilateral meeting with Putin, though the two leaders are expected to have some contact. Officials also disputed the notion that Putin's presence constituted a return to normal relations, noting that Obama and other leaders have talked with the Russian president throughout the crisis with Ukraine.

Yet those reassurances may be of little solace to NATO allies who sit near the Russian border, particularly Poland, where Obama will open his trip Tuesday. In April, the U.S. moved about 150 troops into Poland to try to ease its security concerns, but Obama is likely to get requests from Polish leaders for additional support.

"He's going to hear a very strong message from Polish officials that the mission has not been accomplished," said Heather Conley, a Europe scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "In fact, the work has only begun."

While in Warsaw, Obama will also meet with regional leaders who are in town to mark the 25th anniversary of Poland's first post-communist free elections. Among those leaders will be Ukrainian President-elect Petro Poroshenko, who won Ukraine's May 25 election and will hold his first bilateral meeting with Obama.

"We very much admired that the people of Ukraine have turned out in huge numbers to elect President-elect Poroshenko," said Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser. "We've admired his commitment to pursue dialogue and to aim to reduce tensions and put Ukraine on a positive path."

From Warsaw, Obama will head to Brussels to meet with leaders from the other G-7 nations: U.S., Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Japan. The wealthy nations will discuss ways to wean Europe off of Russian energy supplies, as well as gauge interest in levying more sanctions on Russia.

The U.S. and European Union have each sanctioned Russian businesses and individuals, including some people in Putin's inner circle, and threatened the prospect of broader penalties on Russia's key economic sectors. But with European nations that have close economic ties with Russia already wary of those sector sanctions, Obama is likely to face an uphill climb in cementing those commitments amid the recent signs of progress with Ukraine.

"I think there is no political appetite for further sanctions," Conley said of the European nations.

Many of the G-7 leaders will also travel to Normandy for the anniversary of the Normandy invasion. But all eyes will be on Obama and Putin, who have a history of tense public encounters even before the Ukraine crisis worsened their relationship.

Obama and Putin will both attend a leaders' lunch and a ceremony at Sword Beach, one of the five main landing areas during the Normandy invasion. The U.S. president will also attend a separate ceremony at Omaha Beach, the largest of the assault areas during the June 6, 1944, invasion.

The president's trip comes during an intense stretch for his foreign policy agenda. He made a surprise visit to Afghanistan last week, followed by an announcement that he would be bringing the U.S. military commitment in Afghanistan to a close by the end of 2016. Obama also delivered a major foreign policy speech last week that aimed to push back at critics who say he has been too cautious, including in his dealings with Russia.

And on Saturday, the White House announced that the U.S. had freed Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the lone U.S. prisoner of the Afghan war, after nearly five years in custody.

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Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

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NASA to test giant Mars parachute on Earth

LOS ANGELES — The skies off the Hawaiian island of Kauai will be a stand-in for Mars as NASA prepares to launch a saucer-shaped vehicle in an experimental flight designed to land heavy loads on the red planet.

For decades, robotic landers and rovers have hitched a ride to Earth's planetary neighbor using the same parachute design. But NASA needs a bigger and stronger parachute if it wants to send astronauts there.

Weather permitting, the space agency will conduct a test flight Tuesday high in Earth's atmosphere that's supposed to simulate the thin Martian air.

Cameras rigged aboard the vehicle will capture the action as it accelerates to four times the speed of sound and falls back to Earth. Viewers with an Internet connection can follow along live.

Engineers cautioned that they may not succeed on the first try.

"As long as I get data, I'll be very happy," said project manager Mark Adler of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The search for a way to land massive payloads on Mars predates the existence of NASA. Back then, engineers toyed with sending a winged spacecraft that would land like an airplane, but the idea was not feasible, space historians say.

Landing has always been "one of the big technology challenges for a human Mars mission," American University space policy professor Howard McCurdy said in an email.

When the twin Viking landers became the first spacecraft to set down on Mars in 1976, they relied on parachutes to slow down after punching through the Martian atmosphere. The basic design has been used since including during the Curiosity rover's hair-raising landing in 2012.

With plans to land heavier spacecraft and eventually humans, NASA needed a heftier solution. So it designed a supersonic parachute that's 110 feet in diameter — twice as big as the one that carried the 1-ton Curiosity. It's so gigantic that it can't fit into the wind tunnels that NASA typically uses to test parachutes.

Since it's impractical to test unproven technology on Mars, NASA looked to Earth as a substitute.

During the flight, a high-flying balloon will loft the disc-shaped vehicle from the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai to 23 miles over the Pacific where it will be dropped. Then it will fire its rocket motor to climb to 34 miles, accelerating to Mach 4. The environment at this altitude is similar to Mars' thin atmosphere.

As it descends to Earth, a tube around the vehicle should inflate, slowing it down. Then the parachute should pop out, guiding the vehicle to a gentle splashdown in the Pacific.

Robert Braun, space technology professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, called the project a "high-risk, high-reward effort."

The latest test program "is advancing capabilities and creating the engineering knowledge needed for the next generation of Mars landers," Braun, who served as NASA's technology chief, said in an email.

NASA plans more test flights next year before deciding whether to use the new parachute on a future Mars mission.

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Follow Alicia Chang at http://www.twitter.com/SciWriAlicia

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Creating clean drinking water

A Cambridge-based MassChallenge finalist is developing technology that can be used to produce clean, affordable water for drinking and for use in multiple industries.

With two professors from Notre Dame and Purdue universities, Anfiro founder and CEO Jaime Mateus is working to create better reverse-osmosis membranes than are currently available to desalinate water.

"In current membranes, water goes through a long, curvy path like a sponge to come out the other side, leaving the salt and any impurities behind. But it requires a lot of pressure because the path creates resistance to the flow of water," Mateus said.

"The membrane we're developing selectively allows the passage of water, which goes through a straight tube so that it doesn't require as much pressure," he said. "And because our membrane is so much more permeable, the overall price will be less than the $400 to $1,200 current membranes can cost."

The technology has a wide range of applications, from oil and gas to mining, pharmaceuticals, microelectronics and power generation, Mateus said, but it's most important use will be to produce clean drinking water.

The 2030 Water Resources Group, a consortium of organizations from the private and social sectors, projects that by 2030, there will be a 40 percent deficit in the supply of fresh water. And the World Health Organization has called poor water quality a "major threat to human health."

"It's a problem of staggering magnitude," Mateus said. "So if we can develop the best membrane technology, we can provide better water for tomorrow."

Mateus became interested in entrepreneurship with a social impact while he was in graduate school at MIT. He began working with William Phillip of Notre Dame's College of Engineering and Bryan Boudouris of Purdue University's Department of Chemistry, and the three incorporated in February and entered MassChallenge, a startup accelerator and competition.

Last month, Anfiro was among 128 companies selected as finalists out of a field of more than 1,600.

"It's a great accelerator program, and the timing is perfect for us," Mateus said. "We've completed most of our research. We've shown this can be done."

Currently, Mateus is working to raise seed funding, which will allow him and his co-founders to set up a lab and hire people to create a prototype.

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Market Basket growth on shelf

The board of Demoulas Super Markets Inc., owner of the Market Basket grocery chain, said it has instructed company management to open its long-stalled stores in Attleboro and Revere "at the earliest possible moment."

But it's unclear when that will be. Despite the go-ahead, management is at an "impasse" with the board on leasing issues and hasn't decided when the stores will open, Market Basket director of operations Bill Marsden said.

"Unless those issues become resolved, things are status quo, to say the least," he said.

The stores have been delayed by infighting between the Tewksbury chain's board and management, including allegations that CEO Arthur T. Demoulas was involved in "self-dealing" real estate deals related to new sites that benefited his wife and brother-in-law. The board took over real estate decisions after a change in majority control last June that favors the CEO's rival cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas.

Arthur T. Demoulas could not be reached for comment.

In a statement, a spokeswoman for the board said it has been "waiting patiently for many months for management to propose a plan and timetable to open the store in Attleboro. Management has not provided this plan, so the board has now instructed management to open the store ... at the earliest possible moment."

In March, Market Basket signed a lease for its new Waltham store, allowing work there — stalled since September — to proceed. New stores planned for Athol and Littleton are "on track," according to the Demoulas board website.

The construction firm for Market Basket's Attleboro store, which received a temporary occupancy permit in January, was granted a 90-day extension this week that expires Aug. 28. "I also let them know … that no further extensions would be granted," Attleboro building commissioner Doug Semple said. There has been no communication with Market Basket "whatsoever," he noted.

The Revere store was completed last July.

"The board ... has been required to be actively involved in negotiating the lease of (the) property ... given that the company's CEO has a conflict of interest regarding the ownership and lease," the board spokeswoman said.

The board previously approved the lease subject to certain conditions, which since have been satisfied, she said. "… The board …instructed management to sign the lease and ... to open the store in Revere at the earliest possible moment," she said.

Board chairman Keith Cowan declined comment. In a May 21 letter to Revere Mayor Daniel Rizzo, Cowan pointed to "deficiencies" in the Revere deal with "certain deed restrictions, site accessibility and the appropriateness of certain fees, charges and benefits."

Earlier in the month, Rizzo wrote a letter to Cowan — which Cowan said he didn't receive — saying that, "Having a brand new vacant and unused business facility was never part of my vision for economic growth" when he took office in 2012. "… I am turning this matter over to the city solicitor to explore whatever legal options may be at our disposal in order to rectify the situation we unfortunately find ourselves in," Rizzo's letter said.

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Cape Cod apartments for those with limited vision

YARMOUTH, Mass. — Life with limited vision can be challenging, but a partnership between a local nonprofit organization and a Cape Cod assisted living facility could make it a little brighter.

The Cove at Thirwood Place, located on Flax Pond in South Yarmouth, is now marketing a new low-vision support services program complete with apartments outfitted with technology to help residents read, cook and better manage their environment.

"We're equipping these apartments to make life easier for folks with low or impaired vision," said Larry Lyford, director of sales and marketing at Thirwood Place, during a recent tour of a prototype unit.

Lyford and a small army of other officials, including Cynthia Stead, who is executive director of Sight Loss Services Inc. Cape Cod and Islands and a Times columnist, showed off a device that warns a user before his or her cup literally runs over and a computer mouse that reads and digitizes text, enlarging it on a flat television screen.

"I always like to demonstrate them on telephone books," Stead said about the reader's ability to boost the size of small print.

The apartments also come equipped with an iPad loaded with applications to scan bar codes, read money (Lyford showed how it could discern a $5 bill in his hand) and read aloud the resident's calendar, news, weather and notes.

In the kitchen, adjustments ranged from the high tech (a talking microwave) to the simple (a cutting board colored black on one side and white on the other for contrast). The apartment also included a talking thermostat, thermometer and bathroom scale.

Stead and Thirwood officials said they expect the number of people with impaired vision on Cape Cod to continue to rise.

Last year, Sight Loss worked with 2,048 clients, including both individuals and institutions, Stead said. At least 1,500 of those are people with sight loss, she said. Barnstable County puts the number of legally blind residents at 1,900, she said.

"It's probably closer to 7,000," she said about the region's population with low or impaired vision. That could easily double in the next 10 years, she said.

The Cove low-vision apartments — which can be equipped to order — also come with dimmers on all the lights and a high-intensity task lamp, said Beth Patkoske, spokeswoman for the Davenport Cos., which owns Thirwood.

The company is working with other partners to provide even more services and to train its employees to be better-prepared for clients with limited vision, said Lyford and Paul Rumul, chief operating officer for Davenport.

"The thing that's going to make the difference is the staff, the care and compassionate follow-up," Rumul said.

The technology and services are available for a one-time added cost of $2,000, which pays for equipping the apartment, he said.

Because help at the Cove is available 24 hours a day, residents can be taught how to use the technology as often as necessary, Patkoske said.

Thirwood, which has 212 units on 45 acres, is also collaborating with Cape Cod Healthcare and a doctor who works specifically with individuals who have low vision, she said.

Thirwood also offers scribe services to read residents mail or write out cards for them, Rumul said.

This is important because, while the reader technology can read printed material, it still has trouble with most handwriting, Stead said.

"This isn't just new to the Cape," Stead said about the suite of services. "This is new to New England."

Despite research and progress at a significant cost, sight loss diseases are largely incurable, she said.

"It's a matter of managing a condition as long as you can," she said.

Rumul admits offering the low-vision services makes sense in other ways as well.

"This is just good business," he said.

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Philadelphia Inquirer co-owner dies in plane crash

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia Inquirer co-owner Lewis Katz was killed along with six other people in a fiery plane crash in Massachusetts, his business partner said Sunday.

Harold H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest confirmed Katz's death to The Associated Press, saying he was informed by their lawyer, Richard Sprague. The crash came just days after Katz and Lenfest gained full control of The Inquirer by buying out their co-owners for $88 million in a deal that ended an ugly monthslong feud among the partners.

The Gulfstream IV crashed as it was leaving Hanscom Field at about 9:40 p.m. Saturday for Atlantic City, New Jersey. There were no survivors.

The identities of the other victims weren't immediately released. Nancy Phillips, Katz's longtime companion and city editor at the Inquirer, was not on board.

Officials gave no information on the cause of the crash. They said the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.

When bidding on the company, which also operates the Philadelphia Daily News and the news website Philly.com. Katz and Lenfest vowed to fund in-depth journalism to return the Inquirer to its former glory and to retain its editor, Bill Marimow.

"It's going to be a lot of hard work. We're not kidding ourselves. It's going to be an enormous undertaking," Katz said then, noting that advertising and circulation revenues had fallen for years. "Hopefully, (the Inquirer) will get fatter."

Katz, who grew up in Camden, New Jersey, made his fortune investing in the Kinney Parking empire and the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network in New York. He once owned the NBA's New Jersey Nets and the NHL's New Jersey Devils and was a major donor to Temple University, his alma mater.

The fight over the future of the city's two major newspapers was sparked last year by a decision to fire the Inquirer's Pulitzer Prize-winning editor. Katz and Lenfest wanted a judge to block the firing. Katz sued a fellow owner, powerful Democratic powerbroker George Norcross, saying his ownership rights had been trampled. The dispute culminated last week when Katz and Lenfest, a former cable magnate-turned-philanthropist, bought out their partners.

Lenfest said Sunday that the deal to buy out the company will be delayed but will proceed.

Three previous owners of the company, including Norcross, said in a joint statement that they were deeply saddened to hear of Katz's death.

"Lew's long-standing commitment to the community and record of strong philanthropy across the region, particularly Camden where he was born and raised, will ensure that his legacy will live on," they said.

When the crash occurred, nearby residents saw a fireball and felt the blast shake their homes.

Jeff Patterson told The Boston Globe he saw a fireball about 60 feet high and suspected the worst.

"I heard a big boom, and I thought at the time that someone was trying to break into my house because it shook it," said Patterson's son, 14-year-old Jared Patterson. "I thought someone was like banging on the door trying to get in."

The air field, which serves the public, was closed after the crash. Responders were still on the scene Sunday morning.

Hanscom Field is about 20 miles northwest of Boston. The regional airport serves mostly corporate aviation, private pilots and commuter air services.

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Associated Press writer Rodrique Ngowi in Bedford, Massachusetts, contributed to this report.

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Gambling regulator to lawmakers: Revise casino law

BOSTON — Before the legislature breaks for summer, Massachusetts' top gambling regulator wants lawmakers to address parts of the 2011 casino law dealing with hiring and income tax collection.

But a leading lawmaker says the Democratic majority is not yet committed to approving the recommended changes in time for July's expected end of the legislative session.

Massachusetts Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby says the casino law's hiring provision should be amended before January, when Penn National Gaming is set to begin hiring new workers for its slot parlor at the Plainridge harness racing track in Plainville.

Crosby said the law's income tax requirements for gamblers could discourage prospective developers and make Massachusetts less competitive to its neighbors.

He pointed to concerns voiced by Wynn Resorts, which proposes a nearly $1.6 billion casino in Everett, and others.

"Some of the operators have said they would not go forward if that does not change," Crosby said. "If the legislature chooses to address it, it would be better to do it soon."

State Rep. Joseph Wagner, a Chicopee Democrat that co-chairs the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, which handles casino-related proposals, said Democratic leaders received the gaming commission's concerns last week and are weighing their next move.

"We'll see, given the short time frame, whether it materializes this year," he said. "But the reality that a license has already been awarded is cause for us to look at the issue sooner rather than later."

Wagner added that he supports addressing the income tax issue and remains "open to discussions" about amending the law's hiring provision.

In a May 20 memorandum to Gov. Deval Patrick and leading lawmakers, the gaming commission recommended raising the threshold for collecting state income tax withholding from the current $600 or more in gambling winnings to $1,200.

That would bring Massachusetts in line with the federal income tax withholding threshold and match a standard used in neighboring states.

The commission also called for lawmakers to allow discretion in the hiring of casino employees with criminal records.

Specifically, it is concerned about a provision that automatically disqualifies those convicted of "a felony or other crime involving embezzlement, theft, fraud or perjury" from being employed at gambling establishments, no matter how old the crime.

The commission says the provision could be a barrier to providing jobs to chronically underemployed people, which is a priority of the casino law.

"Obviously, you're going to have automatic disqualifications for people that work in the (casino) pit — the dealers and the other people that will be handling money," Crosby, the commission chairman, said this week. "But if you're working in a hotel or a restaurant, we feel that an automatic disqualification is too rigorous."

The two recommendations come after gambling operators requested a wide range of changes to the casino law.

The commission ultimately declined to recommend many of those suggestions; some they said could be addressed through administrative-level regulations and rules.

Both Wynn and MGM Resorts, for example, wanted guarantees that the state's 25 percent tax on gross gambling revenues would not change during the 15-year licensing period.

They also sought financial protections in case an Indian tribe-owned casino opens in Massachusetts, as well as relief from fees and other upfront costs if the casino law is repealed.

The state's highest court is expected to rule by July on whether a referendum to repeal the law should be allowed on the November ballot.

MGM, which proposes an $800 million casino in Springfield, has stressed that the suggested changes are not critical to their bid for a casino license.

And Mohegan Sun, which proposes a more than $1 billion casino on the Revere side of the Suffolk Downs horse-racing track, has said it will abide by the casino law as written.

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Trial results promising for curing puppies' parvo

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — A North Dakota company that discovered an antibody technology while trying to cure flocks of dying geese is using its research for a more warm and fuzzy purpose: saving puppies.

Early tests performed on about 50 puppies in seven states for Grand Forks-based Avianax have resulted in a 90 percent cure rate for canine parvovirus, which spreads through animal waste and direct contact between dogs, usually at kennels, shelters and shows. Some puppies die from the virus and others are euthanized because the antibiotics and other medicine needed to treat it can be too expensive — sometimes up to $2,000 — and take too long.

It isn't clear how many dogs contract parvo annually, since the disease isn't required to be reported. At the Kansas City Pet Project, one of eight test sites and among the largest shelters in the United States, about five cases a month wind up on the "parvo ward." Officials with the Missouri shelter believe the treatment will lead to a dramatic increase in their "parvo graduates."

"When the box arrived we were yelling, 'Woo, the geese antibodies are here!'" shelter spokeswoman Tori Fugate said. "Just the fact that someone is caring out there is pretty remarkable. A lot of open admission shelters choose to not treat parvo because it's considered too much of a resource."

Avianax chief operating officer Richard Glynn hopes to start selling the parvoONE antibody-based treatment — that is, harvested from the yokes of goose eggs — for $75 a dose by next spring.

"I think there will be a lot of puppy owners who will be very happy," Glynn said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a conditional permit for the field trials that are taking place in sites in Missouri, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Texas, North Carolina and Arizona. Such permits are normally reserved for outbreaks or other dire situations, but this one passed muster because there's no product specifically targeted for parvovirus, said Jeremy Vrchota, Avianax's sales director and regulatory liaison.

Officials with the USDA's Animal and Plant Inspection Service did not respond to phone messages left by The Associated Press.

The company's path to puppy love began a decade ago after a mysterious disease — later found to be West Nile virus — spread among flocks at the South Dakota-based Schiltz Goose Farm, the largest goose producer in North America. Farm owners James and Richard Schiltz and Glynn, who was working for them, found researchers at the University of North Dakota who were interested in the project.

The group, led by Dr. David Bradley, the UND medical school's chair of microbiology and immunization, discovered antibodies in the geese that they could purify and put back into other birds. The treatment worked.

"We went to the Mayo Clinic and they looked at all our work," Glynn said. "They called it a game-changing technology."

Avianax quickly found promising links between goose antibodies and treatments for other diseases, including rabies, dengue fever, avian flu and some cancers. Because they didn't have the money or time to explore testing for human diseases, the group set their sights on the veterinary market and eventually settled on saving puppies.

Treating parvovirus currently can cost, at a minimum, $500 for antibiotics, intravenous fluids, painkillers and stomach medicine and generally takes six days, said Dr. Darin Meulebroeck, chief medical officer for Avianax. The trials have shown the new drug can work quickly as two days, he said.

"We've lost a couple that have been so severe ... there's no drug that is going to treat 100 percent of everything," Meulebroeck said.

The tests run through November.

Glynn said Avianax has "stuck in there" with the help of key researchers and believes it is on the verge of saving human lives with a similar antibody— although it could take more than five years to reach the market. The U.S. Army is interested in using the technology for Andres virus, which has been found to lead to a fatal respiratory disease. Safety trials are scheduled in the next two years.

"We went from being goose herders from South Dakota to an antibody company," Glynn said. "And we're not done yet."

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Philadelphia Inquirer co-owner Katz dies at 72

PHILADELPHIA — Lewis Katz, who made his fortune in the parking lot business and went on to buy basketball's New Jersey Nets, hockey's New Jersey Devils and The Philadelphia Inquirer, has died in a plane crash. He was 72.

Katz died Saturday night in a Massachusetts crash that claimed six other lives. His death was confirmed Sunday by his son, Drew, and his business partner Harold H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest.

Katz grew up in Camden, New Jersey, and made his fortune investing in the Kinney Parking empire and the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network in New York.

Katz donated tens of millions of dollars to Temple University, a Camden charter school and various Jewish causes.

His death comes days after he and Lenfest agreed to pay $88 million to take control of the Inquirer's parent company.

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