Associated Press

Associated Press

• Pittsburgh police: Man missing from vets hospital - 09/20/2010
  Pittsburgh police are trying to find a man who's been missing from a Veterans Affairs hospital since Friday. Police say 65-year-old Robert Lee Holt is black, about 6-foot-2 and about 170 pounds. Police say Holt has gray hair, brown eyes and a beard. They say he was last seen about noon that day at the VA hospital in the cit
  

• Ex-Philly councilman's son admits throat slashing - 09/20/2010
  The son of a former Philadelphia city councilman has pleaded guilty to slashing the throat of an escort he met on Craigslist two years ago. Twenty-one-year-old Joseph Vignola Jr. pleaded guilty Monday to aggravated assault in the May 2008 attack. Vignola admitted he cut the throat of the then-18-year-old woman inside a motel, but his
  

• Penguins extend GM Shero's contract for 5 seasons - 09/20/2010
  The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed general manager Ray Shero to a five-year contract extension that runs through the 2015-16 season. Shero's current five-year contract, signed at the start of the 2006-07 season, would have expired at the end of this season. The Penguins have twice played for the Stanley Cup and won it once
  

• Ill. brain-cancer cluster trial opens in Philly - 09/20/2010
  Opening statements are under way in a Philadelphia trial over whether Rohm and Haas Chemical Co. polluted groundwater in Illinois, causing 31 brain-cancer cases. Ten of the 31 cancer patients have died. Several survivors are set to testify in the estimated two- to three-month trial. They accuse the Dow Chemical subsidiary o
  

• Lehigh University battles bedbugs - 09/20/2010
  Lehigh University is battling a case of bedbugs. Spokeswoman Debra Protchko says four dorm rooms are being treated for the crawly critters on the school's campus in Bethlehem. Protchko says the extermination process that began last week has several steps to go through before the rooms can be considered clean. Neighboring do
  

• Ill. brain-cancer cluster trial opens in Philly - 09/20/2010
  Opening arguments are under way in a Philadelphia trial over whether Rohm and Haas Chemical Co. polluted groundwater in Illinois, causing 31 brain-cancer cases. Ten of the 31 cancer patients have died. Several survivors are set to testify in the estimated two- to three-month trial. They accuse the Dow Chemical subsidiary of
  

• Bankrupt Pa. hospital awaits bankruptcy auction - 09/20/2010
  A former western Pennsylvania hospital has been scheduled for sale at a bankruptcy court auction in Pittsburgh. The former Brownsville Tri-County Hospital is scheduled to be sold Sept. 28 to satisfy $1.25 million owed to Parkvale Bank after Brownsville Property Corp. defaulted on the loan. The hospital was sold to a physici
  

• IG: FBI gave inaccurate statements on surveillance - 09/20/2010
  The Justice Department's inspector general says the FBI gave inaccurate and misleading statements to Congress and the public about why an agent engaged in surveillance of an anti-war rally in 2002 in Pittsburgh. Inspector General Glenn Fine says the FBI had no basis to expect that anyone of interest in a terrorism investigation would
  

• SWAT teams descend on Pittsburgh _ for conference - 09/20/2010
  SWAT teams have descended on Pittsburgh _ but that's not necessarily a bad thing. That's because the officers from the special tactical units are meeting for the 27th annual National Tactical Officers Association conference at the city's David L. Lawrence Convention Center. The SWAT officers arrived Sunday and will be here
  

• Charged Pa. county treasurer commits suicide - 09/20/2010
  A coroner says a western Pennsylvania county treasurer charged with stealing money from the county's fair denied the thefts in a suicide note. Crawford County Coroner Patrick McHenry says 71-year-old Frederic Wagner died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head on Friday. McHenry says a note Wagner left for his wife in
  

• Feds want stiff sentence for dealer in FBI slaying - 09/20/2010
  Federal prosecutors want an admitted cocaine dealer to spend more than the 20-year minimum in prison based upon his "despicable behavior" after an FBI agent was fatally shot raiding the man's Pittsburgh-area home. Forty-one-year-old Robert Korbe, of Indiana Township, in May pleaded guilty to his role in a Pittsburgh-area dru
  

• Patrick makes fundraising trip to Philadelphia - 09/20/2010
  Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is raising money out of town. A campaign spokesman announced Monday the Democratic governor is making a previously undisclosed trip to Philadelphia for a fundraiser to benefit his re-election campaign. The host is Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell. Spokesman Alex Goldstein says Patrick would retu
  

• Pa. treasurer charged with thefts commits suicide - 09/20/2010
  A coroner says a western Pennsylvania county treasurer charged with stealing money from the county's fair denied the thefts in a suicide note. Crawford County Coroner Patrick McHenry says 71-year-old Frederic Wagner died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head on Friday. McHenry says a note Wagner left for his wife in
  

• Patrick makes fundraising trip to Philadelphia - 09/20/2010
  Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is raising money out of town. A campaign spokesman announced Monday the Democratic governor was making a previously undisclosed trip to Philadelphia for a fundraiser benefiting his re-election campaign. The host was Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell. Spokesman Alex Goldstein says Patrick was retu
  

• H'burg schools grant evaluations cite errors - 09/20/2010
  Pennsylvania education officials say sloppy grant applications are to blame for Harrisburg's schools getting millions less in state money than anticipated. State Department of Education officials approved just one of the Harrisburg school district's 11 grant requests, netting the cash-strapped system $300,000. The district had hoped f
  

• Suicide suspected in Pa. officer's death - 09/20/2010
  An eastern Pennsylvania police officer has been found dead inside the borough police station and investigators suspect he committed suicide. Orwigsburg police Officer William Bradley was found dead inside the station Sunday afternoon. State police Cpl. Rahn Richards says Bradley appears to have died from a self-inflicted gu
  

• Pittsburgh mayor to name parking lease high bidder - 09/20/2010
  Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl will reveal the high bidder to take over the city's parking garages and meters in an effort to boost an ailing municipal pension fund. Ravenstahl will name the high bidder on Monday. The mayor wants to use a lump sum payment from a 50-year lease to wipe out $100 million in debt held by the c
  

• Steelers force 7 turnovers to beat Titans 19-11 - 09/20/2010
  Mike Tomlin and his Pittsburgh Steelers have heard all the talk about Ben Roethlisberger's four-game suspension and how they'll be lucky to go 2-2 without him. All that gab simply made the Steelers mad. The Steelers forced seven turnovers and came up with four sacks, Jeff Reed kicked four field goals and Pittsburgh beat the
  

• Vick has Reid's confidence after Eagles top Lions - 09/20/2010
  Another energizing performance by Michael Vick left Philadelphia coach Andy Reid offering assurances about the quarterback's playing time. Although Reid appears ready to go back to starter Kevin Kolb, opposing teams can expect to see plenty of Vick when facing the Eagles. "We've got more plays for him than we did a yea
  

• Obama to stump for Sestak in Philadelphia - 09/20/2010
  President Barack Obama heads to Pennsylvania on Monday to raise money for Democratic Senate candidate Joe Sestak, who is locked in a tight race for a seat considered a must-win for the president's party. Democrats know that Sestak's chances of winning depend heavily on the party's ability to ramp up voter turnout in cities like Philad