Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Pennsylvania at 7 p.m.
The desk can be reached at 215-561-1133. For access to AP Exchange and other technical issues, contact AP Customer Support at apcustomersupport@ap.org or 877-836-9477.
NEW: LAWMAKERS-INVESTIGATION, SINKHOLE THREATENS APARTMENTS.
LAWMAKERS-INVESTIGATION
PHILADELPHIA — District Attorney Seth Williams is criticizing Attorney General Kathleen Kane's decision to scuttle a sting operation in which eight people — including four Democratic state lawmakers — were allegedly caught on recordings accepting money or gifts. MOVED, 464 words.
PENNSYLVANIA GOVERNOR-DEMOCRATS-TAXES
HARRISBURG — Under the banner of fairness and equality, the Democratic candidates for governor are proposing a grab bag of changes in Pennsylvania tax laws that would tap wealthy taxpayers and businesses to ease the economic pain of the middle class and the poor. By Peter Jackson. MOVED, 934 words.
VIEWING HARRISBURG
HARRISBURG — One of Pennsylvania's 67 counties is making an outsized impact on the state's politics these days, producing a surprising result in a special election for state Senate and boasting several high-profile public officials as well as the leading Democratic contender for governor. By Mark Scolforo. MOVED, 771 words.
SEMINARY-EAKINS ARTWORK
PHILADELPHIA — The Archdiocese of Philadelphia plans to sell part of the art collection at its St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, including five portraits by famous Philadelphia artist Thomas Eakins. MOVED, 315 words.
ELSEWHERE:
SUNSHINE WEEK-POLICE SURVEILLANCE
WASHINGTON — Police across the country may be intercepting phone calls or text messages to find suspects using a technology tool known as Stingray. But they're refusing to turn over details about its use or heavily censoring files when they do.
That debate has extended to state and local governments. News organizations in Palm Springs, Calif.; Tallahassee, Fla.; Sacramento, Calif., and Pittsburgh are among those that have been denied records about Stingrays or Stingray-like devices, including details of contracts that Harris has with government agencies. By Jack Gillum. MOVED, 924 words.
FROZEN LAKES-SHIPPING
DULUTH, Minn. — This year's shipping season is getting off to a slow start due to record levels of ice on the Great Lakes, including ice that's five feet thick in some parts of the Duluth harbor. MOVED, 408 words.
MEMBER EXCHANGE:
MEMBER EXCHANGE-GAS DRILLING-TESTING
PITTSBURGH — For two days, trucks wandered through the streets of Aliquippa, thumping the ground with heavy metal plates and sending shockwaves deep into the earth to gauge how much natural gas lies beneath.
That part of the seismic survey didn't take long, but preparations for it — public hearings and panicked calls to the police — spanned more than a year.
The advance battle trekked through the courts, too. By Anya Litvak, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. MOVED, 1665 words.
MEMBER EXCHANGE-SCRABBLE-PLAYING ROBOT
PITTSBURGH — Victor, the Scrabble-playing robot, does not like to lose.
It's arguably his most human quality. Even when he's winning, he tries to get under your skin.
Dr. Reid Simmons, who developed Victor with some of his students at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute, purposely puts down the word "NO," playing off a blank tile, for a grand total of 1 point. By Michael Machosky, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. MOVED, 804 words.
MEMBER EXCHANGE-ATLANTA DAILY WORLD
ATLANTA — Whenever M. Alexis Scott walks past the old Atlanta Daily World headquarters on Auburn Avenue, a tinge of melancholy sweeps over her.
While the mainstream press ignored or downplayed the black community, the Atlanta Daily World — along with contemporaries such as the Chicago Defender, Philadelphia Tribune, Baltimore Afro-American and Pittsburgh Courier — stepped in to fill that void, offering extensive coverage on the subjects like the Emmett Till lynching, Brown vs. Board of Education and the Montgomery bus boycotts, while also covering local weddings, births, church news and cotillions. By Ernie Suggs, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. MOVED, 1702 words.
IN BRIEF:
—SINKHOLE THREATENS APARTMENTS — Crews are investigation a sinkhole that is endangering the foundations of a building containing four apartments and a single family home in eastern Pennsylvania.
—TURNPIKE BRIDGE DEMOLITION CLOSURE — Motorists who plan to cross the state on the Pennsylvania Turnpike early Sunday may have to take an alternate route.
—SWEETHEART SWINDLE — A district attorney has charged a Philadelphia woman with swindling $44,000 from an 84-year-old man who was led to believe he was the suspect's sweetheart.
—DOUBLE FATAL CRASH — Authorities have identified two drivers killed in a fiery head-on collision on a suburban Philadelphia highway.
—FATAL FIRE-PITTSBURGH SUBURBS — The Allegheny County medical examiner's office says one person is dead following a house fire in Pittsburgh's North Hills suburbs.
—SCHOOL BUS DRIVER-DUI — Police say a northeastern Pennsylvania school bus driver who believed she was taking children to school when she actually should have been taking them home was driving drunk.
—WIDENER UNIVERSITY-MENINGITIS — An ROTC student at Widener University in eastern Pennsylvania is being treated for viral meningitis, a less-serious strain that isn't linked to an outbreak of bacterial meningitis at Princeton University in New Jersey that is being blamed in the death of a Pennsylvania student.
—HOTEL STANDOFF-SHOTS FIRED — A northeastern Pennsylvania man faces up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to firing shots at four police officers while he was holed up in a hotel with a woman being held against her will.
—DOMESTIC STANDOFF-SUICIDE — Police have identified a man who fatally shot himself to end a police standoff that began when he wounded his girlfriend at the home he sometimes shared with her in southwestern Pennsylvania.
—REAL ESTATE AGENT ROBBED — A homeless man has pleaded guilty to robbing a real estate agent at knifepoint after she showed him a home in southeastern Pennsylvania.
__
If you have stories of regional or statewide inter, please email them to phillyap@ap.org. If you have photos of regional or statewide inter, please send them to the AP state photo center in New York, 888-273-6867. For access to AP Exchange and other technical issues, contact AP Customer Support at apcustomersupport@ap.org or 877-836-9477.
If you have questions about the state report, call News Editor Matt Moore at 215-446-6631.
MARKETPLACE: Calling your attention to the Marketplace in AP Exchange, where you can find member-contributed content from Pennsylvania and other states. The Marketplace is accessible on the left navigational pane of the AP Exchange home page, near the bottom. For both national and state, you can click "All" or search for content by topics such as education, politics and business.(backslash)
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
