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BC-PA--Pennsylvania News Digest, PA


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Estimated read time: 7-8 minutes

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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: FUNERAL DIRECTOR-HOMICIDE CHARGE, CLERK OF COURTS-PROBE, GAS DRILLER-GIFT

Updates: PENN STATE-DONATIONS, LAWMAKERS-INVESTIGATION

TOP STORIES

PENN STATE-DONATIONS

UNDATED —Penn State announced Saturday it blew past the $2 billion goal in a seven-year fundraising campaign that has expanded student scholarships, brought a big-time hockey program to campus and built a new children's hospital in Hershey. The university's "For the Future" effort has generated nearly $2.2 billion with more than two months left in the campaign and despite what has been a rough economy and the negative attention brought by the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal. By Mark Scolforo. 550 words.

HIGH SCHOOL STABBINGS-JUVENILE

MURRYSVILLE — The legal fate of the 16-year-old boy accused of stabbing or slashing 21 fellow students and a security guard at his high school will probably pivot more on his mental state than his tender age, attorneys say. The sheer number of victims won't preclude him from being treated as a juvenile, something that would assure his freedom by age 21, lawyers say. By Joe Mandak. SENT: 537 words.

With:

— HIGH SCHOOL STABBINGS — A high school student who was among the most critically injured in a stabbing rampage outside Pittsburgh has undergone multiple surgeries and will have another one this weekend, but he is improving and has been able to communicate with his family, hospital officials said Saturday. SENT: 350 words.

VIEWING HARRISBURG

HARRISBURG — Reports that state lawmakers were captured on tape accepting cash from a confidential informant working for the state attorney general's office has brought back to center stage a concept that just a few years ago was everywhere in Harrisburg: reform. The scandal, which broke in The Philadelphia Inquirer, has triggered several inquiries and forced both chambers in the Legislature to move toward new limits on the types of gifts lawmakers and staff are allowed to receive. By Mark Scolforo. SENT: 850 words.

AROUND THE STATE:

PENNSYLVANIA GOVERNOR-MCCORD

HARRISBURG — The stepbrother of Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Rob McDord says the Democrat has told "half-truths" by portraying himself as the disadvantaged child of a single mother. SENT: 300 words.

LAWMAKERS-INVESTIGATION

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane is challenging one of her harshest critics to prosecute a public corruption case that she decided to abandon. Kane invited Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams, a fellow Democrat, to "bring whatever charges you believe to be appropriate." In reply, Williams accused Kane of "doing everything in your power to ensure that my office could never successfully bring charges." SENT: 390 words.

FROM AP MEMBERS

MEMBER EXCHANGE-KEYSTONE EXTRA

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Five days before Christmas, Franklin Kury stepped off Amtrak's afternoon Keystone service in Middletown, one stop shy of Harrisburg, on a return trip from an eye doctor's appointment in Philadelphia. It was cold, cloudy and dry. The snow that had fallen two days earlier was beginning to disappear and would be gone entirely if temperatures hit the predicted 70 degrees over the weekend. As the 77-year-old former state legislator started the car, his thoughts were on the good report he received from the doctor — a report Kury looked forward to sharing with his wife Beth over dinner at home in Hummelstown. Kury never suspected the afternoon would become one of the most memorable of his life. Kury's cellphone rang. It was his friend John Dernbach, an environmental law professor at Widener University. "Have you seen this?" Dernbach asked. "Franklin, you've got to read this!" As Dernbach began to explain that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had just issued a ruling in a case involving the pre-emption of local zoning ordinances, Kury learned for the first time that the recent and rapid expansion of drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus shale had produced for him a thoroughly unexpected gift. By Donald Gilliland, Pennlive.com SENT: 2,529 words.

MEMBER EXCHANGE-BUSINESS

NORTH EAST, Pa.— Memories of a long, cold winter could soon fade, but the effects might not. Months before the annual grape harvest, Bryan Hed, a research technologist with the Lake Erie Regional Grape Center in North East Township, has been searching the center's 23-acre vineyard for signs of trouble. And he's finding plenty of them. "This is dead, and this is dead," he said, carefully wielding a pair of pruning shears to cut into the dormant vines of riesling wine grapes. "Everything I cut into is going to be dead." The source of the problem is hardly a mystery. By Jim Martin, Erie Times-News. SENT: 751 words.

MEMBER EXCHANGE-EDUCATION

WASHINGTON , Pa. — For months, Trinity High School senior Sydney Dydiw toyed with an important decision. The 18-year-old applied to at least a dozen colleges and universities, and quickly heard back she had been accepted. But with the commitment deadline quickly approaching, she was desperately holding out for one, Johns Hopkins University. "Johns Hopkins is the total package for me," the 18-year-old said before getting word on her application. "I fell in love with the campus ... I'm just trying to put it out of my mind." Unfortunately, Dydiw didn't get in. "I was anxious and excited," she said. "I thought I could really get in." While she was let down, Dydiw was prepared with a back-up plan; she will attend Case Western Reserve University in the fall. She's making the decision just in time. May 1 is Decision Day for high school seniors around the country — the final day to notify the school of their choice that they will be part of the fall freshman class. Increasingly, cost is playing more of a role in that decision. By Francesca Sacco, (Washington) Observer-Reporter. SENT: 1,168 words.

MEMBER EXCHANGE-LIVING

PHILADELPHIA — Last year, Erin Bernard was walking past a row of food trucks near Temple University when inspiration struck. "I was like, 'Wouldn't it be great if there was a museum on a truck?'" said Bernard, a graduate student in public history. And not just one that showed up at your doorstep — "but that you helped make what was on it?" With that one big idea — and lots of legwork — Bernard created the Philadelphia Public History Truck, a — ahem — vehicle for documenting the untold stories of Philadelphia residents and communities, one neighborhood at a time. The work is so promising it may soon become part of Temple's public-history master's curriculum, and may even serve as a model for similar projects around the country. By Samantha Melamed, The Philadelphia Inquirer. SENT: 1,035 words.

MEMBER EXCHANGE-PEOPLE

LANCASTER — It was Oct. 15, 1954, and duck hunter John R. McDonald of Washington Boro was hunting with his brother-in-law in a blind on one of the maze of islands just offshore in the Susquehanna River known as the Conejohela Flats. That day would forever go down in local infamy as the day Hurricane Hazel blew in. But McDonald, now 84, had no idea what was happening. "We didn't get a duck. They were all going 100 mph upriver," recalled McDonald during his talk, "Fifty Years of Hunting on the Susquehanna," which he gave to about a dozen members of the Safe Harbor Citizens' Information Advisory Committee in Columbia. By Ad Crable, Lancaster Newspapers. SENT: 1,016 words.

IN BRIEF:

—UNCLAIMED LOTTERY PRIZE — A Pennsylvania man mistakenly threw $1.25 million worth of winning lottery tickets in the trash.

—FUNERAL DIRECTOR-HOMICIDE CHARGE — An elderly western Pennsylvania funeral director has been convicted in the shooting death of a contractor.

—TROUT SEASON — After a long, cold and snowy winter, Pennsylvania anglers are heading to their favorite fishing holes Saturday for the statewide opening of trout season.

—CLERK OF COURTS-PROBE — Schuylkill County's longtime clerk of courts is resigning amid a corruption probe.

—GAS DRILLER-GIFT — A gas driller is giving $2.5 million to Lackawanna College in Scranton.

—DEADLY FIRES — Two people are dead in a pair of fires that broke out late Friday and early Saturday.

___

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.

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