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Pennsylvania at 7 p.m.
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New: MAN SHOOTS BULL, HOT COFFEE ATTACK, GAS DRILLING-TAX
Updates: STATE WORKERS-DONATIONS, PETITION CHALLENGES-GUZZARDI, PHILADELPHIA NEWSPAPERS
TOP STORIES:
STATE WORKERS-DONATIONS
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania's open records agency has ruled that the state government must disclose the amounts of donations to political action committees that are taken directly out of public-sector union workers' paychecks, but it does not have to make the donors' names public. The Office of Open Records ruled late Monday that suburban Philadelphia activist Simon Campbell is entitled to the list of donations, but Campbell said he needs the name so union workers can verify they authorized the PAC donations and so they can verify their unions comply with election law. By Mark Scolforo. SENT 357 words
PETITION CHALLENGES-GUZZARDI
HARRISBURG — The lone Republican running against Gov. Tom Corbett in next month's primary election won a court decision Tuesday that lets him stay on the ballot. Commonwealth Court Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt's decision in favor of conservative activist Bob Guzzardi, an Ardmore businessman, followed a two-day hearing on a petition challenge backed by the state Republican Party. By Mark Scolforo and Marc Levy. SENT 410 words
GAS DRILLING-REFINERY
PITTSBURGH — Shell Oil Co. plans to hold public meetings Wednesday to discuss the possibility of building a huge petrochemical plant in western Pennsylvania. In early 2012, Shell chose a site about 35 miles northwest of Pittsburgh for the possible multibillion-dollar plant, and the company has purchased property in the area and sought bids from suppliers. That same year, it also got what lawmakers call Pennsylvania's largest ever taxpayer-financed incentive package. By Kevin Begos. SENT 337 words
With:
— GAS DRILLING-TAX — Another Republican state lawmaker in the Republican-controlled Legislature is lining up behind a proposal to impose a new tax on Pennsylvania's booming natural gas industry.
BUSINESS:
PHILADELPHIA NEWSPAPERS
WILMINGTON, Del. — Rival owners fighting for control of Philadelphia's two largest newspapers have each pledged $77 million to take control of the company. The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News are being sold as investors who bought them in 2012 argue over newsroom management and corporate strategy. By Maryclaire Dale. SENT 453 words
HEINZ-PITTSBURGH BUYOUTS
PITTSBURGH — The new owners of H.J. Heinz Co. have offered buyouts to all workers in Pittsburgh, where the ketchup-and-food giant has been based for decades, but insist the offer doesn't signal a plan to move the company's headquarters. Instead, Heinz officials said the buyout is being offered because the new owners Berkshire Hathaway and Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital recognize the company's new culture might not be "the perfect fit" for longtime Pittsburgh-based employees. SENT 350 words
AROUND THE STATE:
GO FOR THE FOOD-PHILADELPHIA
PHILADELPHIA — Tourism officials will tell you the restaurant-rich area at the heart of downtown is called Midtown Village, but that moniker hasn't entirely caught on with the locals. The good news is that it doesn't matter what you call it. Philadelphia food-lovers just know 13th Street — which runs through the center of the neighborhood — as a vibrant area chockfull of great eateries and wine bars. By Kathy Matheson. SENT 596 words
AP Photos.
AMISH UNDERCOVER
PITTSBURGH — A western Pennsylvania police officer says he spent much of December and January dressed as an Amish woman in hopes of scaring off a man suspected of exposing himself to Amish children. Pulaski Township Sgt. Chad Adams said Tuesday that police weren't able to charge the man because of a lack of evidence. By Joe Mandak. SENT 299 words
AP Photo.
PITTSBURGH-UPMC NONPROFIT STATUS
PITTSBURGH — The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center can have a copy of the contents of the former mayor's computer in case it contains information relevant to a civil rights lawsuit the hospital network has pending against the city, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. The vendor hired to make the copy must abide by a confidentiality agreement and produce copies of its findings — in sealed, tamper-proof envelopes — to attorneys for the city and UPMC, according to the ruling first reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. SENT 298 words
PA CYBER-TEACHERS UNION
MIDLAND — Teachers at the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, the largest of its kind in the state, have voted to unionize. The teachers voted 71-34 to form a bargaining unit. The National Labor Relations Board must still certify the vote, which was taken from March 25 and April 7, before the Pennsylvania State Education Association can begin bargaining on behalf of the teachers. SENT 289 words
MEMBER EXCHANGE:
MEMBER EXCHANGE: BOUND BY LOVE
HOPWOOD — Larry Goldberg grabs a nearby paintbrush and gently dips it into a slow cooker filled with glue. He then takes the brush and gracefully sweeps over the underside of a book cover reminiscent of a ballerina gliding across the stage. Even though Goldberg uses paper, glue and metal fastenings on his books, the secret ingredient that binds everything together is love. "These (books) are like my kids," he said while working in his Hopwood workshop. "I take a lot of pride in them." By Tara Rack-Amber, The (Uniontown) Herald-Standard.
MEMBER EXCHANGE-ROLLER DERBY
DOWNINGTOWN — Ten women wearing skates, kneepads, elbow pads, mouth guards and helmets are lined up, and when the whistle blows the game will start with a lot of pushing, shoving and hitting while the women simultaneously skate around the track. "You have to have an element of adventure. You can't be frightened by things. There is no such thing as a timid roller derby player," said Kath Poehler, or Coach Hot Wheels, who coaches the Brandywine Roller Girls. By Chelsea Reyher, Daily Local News of West Chester.
IN BRIEF:
— MAN SHOOTS BULL — Authorities in northeastern Pennsylvania say a man shot a horned bull after it rammed him in the ribs, knocking him to the ground.
— HOT COFFEE ATTACK — A Philadelphia man has been sentenced to 11-1/2 to 23 months in prison for throwing scalding coffee on a doughnut shop worker, causing second-degree burns and permanent scarring to her arms.
— METER TAMPERING — A Philadelphia man has admitted to tampering with utility meters in the city and suburbs, reducing the monthly electrical bills for more than two dozen PECO customers.
— DOCTOR-LICENSE SUSPENDED — A central Pennsylvania family physician has been temporarily barred from practicing medicine amid claims she failed to properly disinfect equipment and put patients at risk of infection.
— CARNEGIE MELLON-GOOGLE — A Google vice president will become the new dean of Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science.
— BABY GRABBED — An eastern Pennsylvania man is behind bars on allegations that he tried to snatch a baby from her stroller.
— XGR-CHILD ABUSE LAWS — Four more bills spurred by the Jerry Sandusky and Roman Catholic clergy child sexual abuse scandals are now law in Pennsylvania.
— WILKES-BARRE FIRE DEATH — Authorities in northeastern Pennsylvania say fire claimed the life of a woman overnight.
— PENN STATE-ABUSE — Pennsylvania Superior Court has expedited former FBI director Louis Freeh's appeal of a lower court decision to delay a defamation suit brought by former Penn State president Graham Spanier.
— OBAMA-PENNSYLVANIA — The president and vice president will be in western Pennsylvania on Wednesday to talk about job training.
— YMCA WORKER-CHILD PORN — The aquatics director at a Pittsburgh-area YMCA has been jailed on charges he possessed more than 58,000 images and 250 videos of child pornography on two home computers and other data storage devices.
— PITTSBURGH-FBI CHIEF — Pittsburgh's FBI office has a new boss.
— JETBLUE-PITTSBURGH-TO-FLORIDA — JetBlue Airways plans to add a daily, nonstop flight from Pittsburgh to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. in the fall.
— TRAIN-MAN ON TRACKS — A western Pennsylvania man has died after lying on train tracks and being struck by a locomotive, but investigators still don't know why that happened.
— ROAD RAGE DEATH — A northeastern Pennsylvania man has been ordered to stand trial in what authorities characterize as the road rage death of a pedestrian.
— SHOT OUTSIDE RESTAURANT — Police say a suspect is in custody in a shooting death outside a popular bar and restaurant near the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
— COLLEGE STUDENT KILLED — A northwestern Pennsylvania prosecutor is reviewing video statements and other material in the shooting death of a college student over the weekend, which officials say appears to have been accidental.
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