The Mercy Hospital School of Nursing will have a series of Saturday open houses in the fall and spring.
The dates are: Oct. 1, Nov. 5, Dec. 3, Jan. 14, Feb. 11 and March 11. All of the open houses will take place in the Sister Margaret Mary Laitta Auditorium, fourth floor, Building B, 1400 Locust St., Uptown.
Advance registration is requested. For more information or to register for an open house, call the school at 412-232-7940.
Region Butler County
Bridge work to close Route 1014 for 5 weeks
Construction to replace a bridge on Route 1014, St. Wendelins Road, in Summit, Butler County, will begin Monday, PennDOT officials said.
The road will be closed to traffic for five weeks through Sept. 23. Detour signs will be posted. The detour for westbound Route 1014 traffic will be south on Carbon Center Road to Route 422, west to Bonnie Brook Road and north back to Route 1014. Eastbound traffic will follow the same detour in the opposite direction.
PennDOT crews will be replacing the existing concrete slab bridge, built in 1928, with a new precast concrete box culvert.
Western Pennsylvania
Workshops offered to volunteer fire groups
The state Auditor General's Office has scheduled free workshops this fall so officers and members of volunteer fire departments can learn about the operational guidelines for Volunteer Firefighters' Relief Associations.
They will begin at 7 p.m. One will be Oct. 19 at the New Stanton Volunteer Fire Department, 108 S. Main St., New Stanton, Westmoreland County, and one will be Nov. 3 at the Canonsburg Volunteer Fire Department, 68 E. Pike St., Canonsburg, Washington County.
For more information, call 717-787-1308 or e-mail fire@auditorgen.state.pa.us.
Somerset County
DUI suspect accuses officer of injuring him
A police officer is accused of throwing a man off a 4-foot-high porch and jumping on top of him during a drunken driving arrest, according to a federal lawsuit. Charles R. Shaulis, 56, of Somerset, said in the suit that Somerset borough Officer Aaron Folton followed him home on Aug. 13, 2003. Once there, Folton tried to arrest Shaulis for drunken driving as Shaulis tried to enter his home, according to the lawsuit, which also stated that Shaulis' injuries had to be treated at a hospital. The federal lawsuit filed in Johnstown named Folton, the borough, the police department and the current and former police chiefs as defendants.
Borough solicitor Jack Dirienzo said the suit is baseless. Shaulis was charged with drunken driving, but the charges were dropped after a preliminary hearing.
Bedford County
Two leaders accused of keeping cookie money
Two Bedford County Girl Scout troop leaders are accused of failing to turn in money from cookie sales, state police said.
Robin Ann Clem, of Bedford, and Joni Marie Clapper, of Everett, were charged in two separate cases, but they both waived their rights to preliminary hearings this week. Clem and Clapper both were leaders of troops in the Shawnee Council of the Girl Scouts. Police said Clem is accused of keeping $548 in profits from cookie sales, and Clapper is accused of keeping $287. Both women were charged with theft by failure to make required deposit of funds received.
Their status with the Girl Scouts wasn't immediately clear.
Armstrong County
Web site provides Route 422 updates
Motorists who use Route 422 between Armstrong and Indiana counties now are able to check up-to-date news and information about the project online, PennDOT officials announced this week.
The Web site is www.improve422.com. The site contains project team contacts, frequently asked questions and a downloadable version of the Power Point presentation from last month's public meeting kicking off the project.
Currently, preliminary engineering is beginning to identify areas for possible improvements along the Route 422 corridor from the eastern end of the Kittanning Bypass in Armstrong County to the western end of the Indiana Bypass in Indiana County.
Bid winner announced
The apparent low bidder for a preventative maintenance project on Route 28 in South Buffalo is Derry Construction Co. of Latrobe, Westmoreland County, PennDOT officials announced this week.
Four bids were received for the project, which will improve 2.9 miles of Route 28 from the Route 356 interchange to Route 3023, also known as Bridge Road.
The project, scheduled to begin in March, will include concrete patching and repair, drainage work, guide rail upgrades and resurfacing.
Region Indiana County
5-year-old dies after gazebo collapse
A 5-year-old Kentucky girl has died of injuries she received in a gazebo collapse in Indiana County, a spokesman for the Allegheny County Coroner's Office said Friday.
Gwenlyn Kurtz of Webster, Ky., was visiting friends in Green Township, near the Clearfield County border, when the gazebo collapsed at 3:44 p.m. Thursday. She was flown to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh in Oakland, where she died of head injuries several hours later, the spokesman said.
Region Mercer County
Hotel guest being held in Ohio
The missing Mercer County hotel guest who called to report 911 to report a fire at the hotel was found Friday near Ashtabula, Ohio, state police said.
Michael Watson, 40, who has not been charged in connection with the fire, was arrested in Ohio on unrelated charges, state police said. Authorities in Ohio would say only that Watson is being held in jail.
Watson called 911 early Tuesday to report that the Otter Creek Hotel and Cantina near Greenville was on fire. When firefighters arrived, they found the body of another guest, James Hall, 48, in the hallway and signs the building had been burglarized. Hall died of smoke inhalation, and the cause of the fire has not been determined.
South Mt. Lebanon
Firefighters hurt in house fire
Two firefighters suffered minor injuries Friday morning while battling a fire that caused heavy damage to a home in Mt. Lebanon.
The fire erupted at 6:41 a.m. in the second-floor bathroom of the home in the 100 block of Jefferson Drive, said Platoon Chief Kevin Maehling of the Mt. Lebanon Fire Department.
The cause of the fire, which spread throughout the finished attic, remains under investigation but is not considered suspicious.
Maehling said all family members, who were preparing to leave for vacation, escaped without injury. Two firefighters were treated at the scene by paramedics -- one for heat-related problems and another for a wrist injury -- but did not require hospital treatment, Maehling said.
East Wilkinsburg
Shooting victim dies
The young Wilkinsburg man who was shot in the head this week in Wilkinsburg has died, Allegheny County police Assistant Superintendent James Morton said Friday.
David McWright, 19, of Center Street, was walking in the 1000 block of Ross Street when he was shot in the head at 12:22 a.m. Thursday, Morton said. He was taken to UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Oakland, where he died Thursday night. Police said they think McWright knew his assailant.
Morton said police do not think there is a connection between McWright's death and another fatal shooting earlier this month in Wilkinsburg. Ronald Stewart, 17, of North Avenue, was shot and killed Aug. 10 on Mill Street. A second teen was shot and wounded in the incident.
City Downtown
Chiropractor admits guilt in mail fraud
A chiropractor pleaded guilty in federal court to enticing college students into a bogus clinical study and filing fraudulent claims with a health insurer, U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan said.
Brian K. Watkins, 38, of Downtown, pleaded guilty this week to mail fraud, prosecutors said.
They said Watkins defrauded health insurance provider Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield between March 1996 and October 1999 by instructing his employees at Three Rivers Chiropractic to submit false claims for reimbursement for treatment he knew he never provided. The claims totaled $20,000, authorities said. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 29. Watkins faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
Region Beaver County
Judge delays ruling in student's case
A federal judge declined to rule Friday in a First Amendment case filed by the Pittsburgh chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a student suspended for writing rap lyrics.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge Donetta W. Ambrose is now expected to rule Monday on the ACLU's request for a preliminary injunction to have Anthony Latour, 14, reinstated as a student in the Riverside Beaver County School District in time for the start of classes Aug. 31.
The district expelled Latour, of North Sewickley, in May for the remainder of the 2004-05 school year and the entire following school year because of the rap lyrics he wrote in his home and posted on the Internet. ACLU attorneys argued at a hearing Thursday that the school district violated Latour's free speech rights.
Mercer County
Attorney asks to have drug charges dropped
No hearing date has been scheduled for a petition filed Friday that asks a Beaver County judge to dismiss unrelated drug charges against the man police have called "a person of interest" in slaying of a millionaire Mercer County physician.
Attorney James M. Ecker is asking Beaver County Common Pleas Court to review the evidence in the case against Damian Ray Bradford, 24, of Center, who is awaiting trial on charges of having four vials of anabolic steroids and paraphernalia in his home.
Bradford remains in jail without bond because the charges violate terms of his probation. The drugs were found as police searched his apartment for evidence in the slaying of Dr. Gulam Moonda, 69, of Hermitage, who was shot and killed May 13 along the Ohio Turnpike. No one has been charged in the killing.
Region Butler County
Lawsuit filed against health organization
A member of the Butler Health Systems board of trustees has filed a lawsuit saying the organization illegally is requiring him to sign a confidentiality agreement before he can review certain documents.
Dr. Philip Lenko sued this week in Butler County Court to force Butler Health Systems to turn over documents including hospital executives' contracts, a consultant's report on the construction of a new hospital and a report about the possible renovation of Butler Memorial Hospital.
Lenko, also president of Butler Memorial Hospital's medical staff, first requested the documents from board Chairman William Bessor, in a July 8 letter, but Bessor and Daniel Mulholland, the health system's attorney, responded by asking Lenko to sign the confidentiality agreement, the lawsuit said.
Fayette County
Teen accused of hanging pit bull
A 16-year-old Fayette County boy is accused of hanging his pit bull from a tree in a cemetery after his mother made him get rid of the animal for urinating in the house, a humane officer said.
People walking through Clearview Cemetery in Uniontown found the dead dog Wednesday. It was obvious the dog struggled a long time before dying, said Robin Moore, the humane officer for Noah's Ark of Fayette County, who filed the animal cruelty charge.
Moore traced the dog to the boy's house because she knew the family had a pit bull. Moore said the boy's mother said she told the boy to get rid of the dog for fouling the house. The charge was filed Thursday with Uniontown District Judge Mark Blair, who must mail a preliminary hearing notice to the boy within 10 days.
Erie County
Man accused of murdering girlfriend
An Erie man is accused of murdering his girlfriend, whose naked body was found Thursday in high grass and weeds near railroad tracks, Erie police said.
Tracy Steele Smith, 39, was arraigned Thursday night on charges of homicide, aggravated assault and abusing a corpse. His girlfriend, Sonya Wolfe, 38, was found dead behind an auto body shop, about a block and a half from the home she shared with Smith and various relatives. A mother of three, she disappeared early Sunday.
Police said Smith is accused of confessing to his ex-wife by phone that he choked Wolfe after the two argued.
