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Rail service on the Port Authority of Allegheny County's Library Line will be suspended temporarily Saturday to permit work on the Stage II Light Rail Transit project.

The work will begin at the conclusion of regular service tonight. Regular 42L service on the Library Line will resume with the first cars Sunday morning.

During the shutdown, Port Authority will operate 42L Library Rail Connector shuttle bus service between the Library Line terminus and Washington Junction, where customers can make a free transfer to rail cars.

Beaver County
Nurses vow to strike if contract not resolved

Nurses at The Medical Center Beaver say they will strike Dec. 9 if a contract dispute isn't resolved.

The registered nurses say the vote to set the strike date was taken after months of unsuccessful contract negotiations. The nurses are seeking pay raises and a lower nurse-to-patient ratio.

Aliquippa man charged with shooting, bribery

A Beaver County man will stand trial on charges he tried to shoot another man and then bribed an officer to get out of the charge.

Anthony Tusweet Smith, 24, of Aliquippa, was charged with criminal attempt to commit homicide, aggravated assault, bribery and criminal conspiracy. Richard Lowe, 28, of Aliquippa, also was ordered to stand trial for allegedly helping Smith.

Lowe helped Smith set up a $13,000 bribe for former police officer Kim Lay, who initially testified that Smith shot at Thomas Jeter outside the former Dew Drop Inn on Oct. 24, 1998, prosecutors said. Jeter was not hurt in the shooting.

Lay admitted lying about the shooting after a grand jury launched a probe into police corruption. Lay was sentenced to three to 23 months in jail in July after pleading guilty to charges of bribery and criminal conspiracy. Smith is serving a 19- to 20-year sentence for an unrelated shooting.

Washington County
Woman pleads guilty to killing her husband

A woman from El Salvador faces 15 to 30 years in prison and could then be deported after admitting that she shot her husband in the back of the head and tried to cover it up by saying that he had killed himself.

Delmy Beatrice Kelly, 29, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and apologized for the Dec. 21 shooting of Jack Kelly, 27, in their South Strabane home.

"I will spend all these years in prison, but that will not bring Mr. Kelly back," she said. "I loved my husband, too."

Police said Kelly shot her husband with a .22-caliber revolver and then went to a nearby tavern to report that he had committed suicide. An autopsy found no gunpowder around the wound or on his hands. She later confessed to the shooting, investigators said.

Wilkinsburg
Woman sentenced in identity theft scheme

A Wilkinsburg woman has been sentenced in federal court to serve three years' probation and ordered to repay $7,200 to victims after passing counterfeit checks manufactured in an identity theft ring.

U.S. District Judge Robert J. Cindrich imposed the term on Dyanne Croumbles, 44, of Clark Street, who was one of about 16 people who passed the counterfeit checks provided by Melvin Green, of Munhall.

Croumbles also participated in a scheme in which she forged the signature of a deceased veteran in order to continue collecting Veterans Affairs benefits, prosecutors said.

Green, 36, pleaded guilty to bank fraud and related charges and was sentenced to 80 months in prison and ordered to pay about $108,000 in restitution.

Region
Loans, grant announced to fund water projects

The Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority has announced $93 million in low-interest loans and $8.5 million in grants to fund 23 water projects in 17 counties across the state.

They include a $3.5 million loan to the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority to construct more than a mile of drinking water distribution lines, and a $4.7 million loan to the authority for a storm sewer project in Oakland.

Others are: $2 million loan to Monaca, Beaver County, to replace about two miles of deteriorated drinking water lines; $1.8 million loan and $2.2 million grant to Southwestern Pennsylvania Water Authority in Greene County for a drinking water project; $2.2 million loan and $2 million grant to Mahoning Township, Armstrong County, for a wastewater project; and $700,000 loan to upgrade the sewer system in Hopewell, Beaver County.

Region
Crash lawsuit filed

The widow of a Greenfield man who died in a plane crash more than two years ago in Cambria County has filed a lawsuit blaming the accident, in part, on a defective carburetor and unmarked power lines.

Mary Ann Guercio's lawsuit also names the deceased pilot of the single-engine Cessna, claiming he had not properly maintained the plane, had not selected a safe flight path and had installed defective or malfunctioning engine components.

Guercio's husband, Frederick, 49, and the pilot, Michael C. Benko, 50, of Johnstown, Cambria County, died when the plane flown by Benko crashed in May 2001 in Jackson Township, about six miles from the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport.

Erie County
Man convicted of shooting officer

An Erie County man was convicted of a sniper shooting that shattered the arm of an Erie police officer last year.

Anthony Billinger, 30, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison for aggravated assault and other charges. Officer William Marucci, who has not been able to return to work, was not the intended target, prosecutors said.

Marucci was called to a nightclub in mid-December because of a fight outside. Billinger was aiming for a man Billinger believed had robbed him, investigators said.

Marucci suffered damaged nerves in the shooting and still has numbness in two fingers.

Bethel Park
List of possible staff cuts requested

The Bethel Park School Board on Thursday unanimously asked administrators to provide in January a prioritized list of staff positions that potentially could be eliminated, saving the district $1.5 million in salaries and benefits.

Board member Charlie Koch said the list will show the depth of cuts needed unless other ways are found to reduce spending in the 2004-05 budget. He could not say how many positions would have to be cut to reach $1.5 million in net savings.

The district is working to cover a $2.1 million deficit this year. He said the board is preparing for a worst-case scenario next year.

"We are very hopeful we won't have to cut anything," Koch said.

In the same motion, the board also told administrators not to schedule classes or create new classes for the next school year until approved by the board.

Region
More funding requested for Medicaid program

Local health care advocates on Thursday called on legislators to beef up funding of a state Medicaid HMO called HealthChoices, a program that serves about 900,000 Medicaid recipients.

Leaders of the Urban League of Pittsburgh, the Consumer Health Coalition and the University of Pittsburgh said those people will not get adequate care without appropriate funding.

The state Department of Public Welfare has proposed 1 percent payment increases for next year to Medicaid-managed care plans. Representatives of the groups said inadequate funding could undermine care and may push up the use of unnecessary emergency room visits.

"This move alone is not disastrous, but as part of a trend of cuts to drug and alcohol, mental health and other necessary services, we must raise the alarm bell," said Geoff Webster, executive director of the Consumer Health Coalition.

Downtown
Woman's body found under railroad bridge

The body of a woman was found Thursday on concrete ledge underneath the Norfolk-Southern Corp. railroad bridge that leads to the Amtrak station Downtown, city homicide detectives said.

A security guard at the Greyhound Bus Lines station, which also is located under the bridge, found the body at 12:45 p.m., Pittsburgh police Cmdr. Maurita Bryant said.

It is unknown if the woman -- who has not been identified -- fell or jumped from the bridge, which is 9 feet above the ledge, investigators said.

Pittsburgh
Pair gets life sentence for limousine shooting

Two North Side men were convicted Thursday of first-degree murder for dragging another North Side man from his limousine and fatally shooting him.

Vernon Williams, 20, and Curtis Mahaffey, 19, were then sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the Sept. 27, 2002, killing of Lanel Buckner, 26.

"Justice was served today -- they're going away for life," said Buckner's aunt, Sharon Williams, of the North Side.

Jailhouse informants testified that they heard Williams and Mahaffey admit to the killing. Prosecutors said they feuded with Buckner over drugs and decided to kill Buckner before he killed them. The defense argued that the witnesses were unreliable because prosecutors had bribed them with sentence reductions in their own cases.

Scott
Gambling kingpin's brother sentenced

A brother of gambling kingpin Adolph "Junior" Williams was sentenced in federal court Thursday to 15 months in prison for helping to run the $2.5 million-a-year numbers business while his sibling was in prison.

U.S. District Judge Terrence McVerry also ordered Eugene Williams, 52, of Scott, to serve 30 months on supervised release after he gets out of prison.

The government charged that Williams participated in the illegal numbers business from 1997-99. Government agents said Williams was a collector in the organization.

Adolph Williams, who is serving four years in prison, was convicted of operating the gambling business from 1997 until 2001.

Allegheny County
Roddey wins lawsuit filed by ex-employees

A federal judge ruled in favor of Allegheny County and Chief Executive Jim Roddey in a lawsuit by two former employees who claimed they were fired because of an affiliation with former Commissioner Larry Dunn.

Senior U.S. District Judge William Standish ended the jury trial of Mary Lou Sullivan, of Mt. Washington, Dunn's former secretary, and Ronald M. Page, of Bethel Park, executive assistant to the county commissioner.

They contended that when Roddey became the first county executive in January 2000, replacing the commissioner system, they had an opportunity to be hired by Clerk of Courts George Matta.

According to the suit, Dunn proposed creating positions for Sullivan and Page in the county Salary Board, but his motion died. They contended that none of Dunn's staff received jobs because of his failure to back Roddey in the November 1999 election.

Standish determined that Sullivan and Page didn't present evidence that their First Amendment rights had been violated.

Lawrence County
Man jailed after scuffle with state troopers

A Lawrence County man fought with two state police officers who were trying to arrest him Thursday morning, troopers said.

Ray Scott Mazzarini, 42, of Ellwood City, was apprehended by police in New Castle several hours after he escaped from the troopers shortly after 6 a.m. Mazzarini was arraigned on aggravated assault and related charges and jailed in lieu of $25,000 bond, police said.

Two troopers from the New Castle barracks were trying to serve a warrant on Mazzarini along Davis Road in Slippery Rock Township when he became combative and began assaulting the officers, police said. Troopers did not say what the warrant was for or if the troopers were injured.

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