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Confirmed cases of the flu soared by 65 percent in one day in Allegheny County, and children are increasingly being knocked down by the hard-hitting virus, health officials said Thursday.

Confirmed cases jumped from 22 on Wednesday to 34 yesterday and included the first five cases in children younger than 10, said Guillermo Cole, county Health Department spokesman. For every confirmed case, it is estimated several hundred to 1,000 others go unreported.

Emergency room visits by children sick with flu-like symptoms increased dramatically this week, when about 100 children with high fevers, muscle aches and upper respiratory problems were brought in for treatment, said Melanie Finnigan, spokeswoman for Children's Hospital in Oakland. None was hospitalized, she said.

North Shore
Re-enactors to conduct Pearl Harbor ceremony

World War II re-enactors will conduct a ceremony at 1 p.m. Saturday aboard the USS Requin in remembrance of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The World War II-era submarine is docked adjacent to the Carnegie Science Center on the North Shore.

Sunday is the 62nd anniversary of the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on U.S. military forces by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force.

Oakland
Pitt gets $6M grant to study obesity surgery

The University of Pittsburgh has received a $6 million federal grant to study the impact of surgery as a treatment for obesity.

Pitt's Graduate School of Public Health received the grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases to be the coordinating center of six centers doing research on surgery to treat obesity.

Nationally, 4.5 million women and 3.5 million men are classified as severely or morbidly obese. It costs an estimated $52 billion to treat obesity-related illnesses and another $30 billion for weight reduction surgery.

The six clinical centers in the project are the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Mt. Sinai Medical Center, the University of Washington, East Carolina University, the University of California at Davis and the Neuropsychiatric Research Institute in Fargo, N.D.

Allegheny County
CCAC gets $181,000 state nursing grant

Community College of Allegheny County has received a $181,000 state grant to help reduce the nursing shortage in Pennsylvania.

The Pennsylvania Higher Education Foundation awards Nursing Education Grants to nonprofit, public and private nursing schools to increase enrollment and student retention and to improve the pass rates for state licensing. The grant will help 970 nursing students at CCAC.

The college recently expanded its nursing program by accepting additional student applications for its day, evening and weekend classes. The school added faculty, course sections and clinical sites to handle the influx of new students.

The registered nurse program can be completed in two years and qualifies students to take the state licensing exam. For more information, visit www.ccac.edu or call (412) 237-3088.

Pittsburgh
Public tax hearing on tap

City residents with an opinion about proposed tax increases can voice their views at a public hearing on Monday.

City Council will hold the hearing in its fifth-floor chambers in the City-County Building at 10 a.m. to address council's proposed tax hikes on property, parking, amusements and real estate transactions.

Council members are struggling to eliminate a projected $42 million deficit in 2004 through a combination of additional service cuts and tax increases. Increases on real estate transfers and parking are most likely, according to council members.

City leaders have sought additional authority from the General Assembly this year to tax businesses and suburban commuters to erase the looming deficit, but without success.

McKeesport
Man gets 13 1/2 years for distributing heroin

A McKeesport man was sentenced in federal court Thursday to 13 1/2 years in prison for distributing heroin to a state police informant.

Frank Todd McClellan, 34, of Garbett Avenue, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Terrence McVerry for possession with intent to distribute and distributing less than 100 grams of heroin.

In May, just before McClellan entered his guilty plea, the police informant, identified as Lawrence Earl "Fuzzy" Bennett, 34, of the Hill District, was found shot to death behind the wheel of a car in the 600 block of Elmore Street in the Hill District. The homicide remains open and no arrests have been made.

Butler County
Butler man receives 6 months for embezzling

A Butler man was sentenced in federal court Thursday to six months in prison for embezzling more than $7,500 from the firm that operated a housing complex where he worked as a resident-manager.

Senior U.S. District Judge Alan Bloch also sentenced James Caccamo, 45, to serve three years on supervised released when he gets out of prison and that he make restitution of $7,569.

Caccamo was responsible for collecting rent money for Butler Ltd., which operates the 52-unit Butler Family Housing on Kaufman Drive, Butler. Butler Ltd. received money through the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Luke Dembosky said Caccamo deposited rent payments in his own bank account. Caccamo's wife, Linda Caccamo, also was indicted and has been accepted into a pretrial diversion program under which the charges will be dismissed if she completes probation.

Moon
Teenager was driving car that killed man

A teenager was driving the vehicle that struck and fatally injured a bicyclist along University Boulevard in Moon, police said Thursday.

Rodney Saunders, 44, of Chestnut Street, Sewickley, was struck at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday along University Boulevard, Moon, in front of the Valley Ambulance Authority station. Despite quick attention from paramedics, Saunders died less than a half-hour later at Sewickley Valley Hospital.

Moon police released few details of the incident, but identified the driver of the vehicle as Mark Anthony Abbott, 18, of Sycamore Drive, Ross. University Boulevard has a 45-mph speed limit in that area.

Hill District
Prayer service for AIDS

The Diocese of Pittsburgh's Office for Black Catholic Ministries will hold a special prayer service tonight to pray for the healing of those with HIV or AIDS.

The service will be from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at St. Benedict the Moor Parish in the Hill District. Youths will lead a candlelight procession from Crawford Street to Centre Avenue.

Region
Postal Service taking letters for Santa

The U.S. Postal Service will once again be collecting letters to Santa at its reindeer paddock for delivery to the North Pole.

Children will be able to drop off their letters at the display, located in Kid's Kingdom at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, through Dec. 23.

Children showing their letters to Santa at the entrance of the zoo will receive $1 off regular admission through Dec. 19.

Top Iraq flight official heads to Coraopolis

The vice commander of the 911th Airlift Wing, who served as the commander of the Baghdad Air Base at Baghdad International Airport in Iraq, will return today to the Air Force Reserve station in Coraopolis.

Col. Dennis Ployer, who was responsible for all flight operations in and out of Baghdad, is a pilot for a commercial airline in civilian life. He lives in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Seniors can apply now for PACE expansion

The recent expansion of the PACE prescription drug plan will not officially take effect until Jan. 1, but the Pennsylvania Department of Aging is allowing senior citizens to apply now for the program.

Seniors will be permitted to use the 2003 PACE applications and their 2002 income information so they can receive their cards as soon as possible. Income limits for the new PACE program have been increased to the following: PACE Single, $14,500; PACE Couple, $17,700; PACENET Single, $23,500; and PACENET Couple, $31,500.

The new eligibility guidelines will allow for as many as 100,000 new senior citizens to take part in the program.

PACE and PACENET applications can be found at the Department of Aging's Web site -- www.aging.state.pa.us -- or by calling (717) 787-7313.

North Hills
Wexford Chiropractic seeks blankets for needy

The Wexford Chiropractic Centre will collect blankets for the homeless today. Donors of new or clean, used blankets will receive a free health evaluation at the clinic at 130 Wexford Bayne Road in Marshall. All donations will benefit those served by Jubilee Kitchen and Operation Save-a-Life.

Washington County
Ex-convict judge faces 2 counts of misconduct

A Washington County district justice just released after serving 28 months in federal prison on a conviction for running an illegal video-poker parlor has been charged by the state Judicial Conduct Board with two counts of misconduct.

Ronald Amati, whose office was in Monongahela, was cited for having three felony convictions and for allegedly violating a rule that requires district justices to conduct themselves "in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary."

His attorney, Philip Ignelzi, said Amati plans to contest the charges. If Amati loses, he would be stripped of his office and the seat would be declared open, Ignelzi said. If his appeal is successful, Amati could resume duties as district justice.

A jury convicted him in 2001 of running video gambling out of a coffee shop he owned in Finleyville in the late 1990s. Prosecutors contended he used his position to conceal evidence when he found out police were conducting an investigation.

Somerset County
Consol Energy donates land near 9/11 crash site

Consol Energy has donated 140 acres of company-owned land located near the site where a hijacked plane crashed Sept. 11, 2001, to The Conservation Fund, the company announced Thursday.

The property is located on the northern edge of where Flight 93 crashed in Somerset County, killing all those aboard. Consol said it will also provide help in the acquisition of other land around the site.

"Our contribution is small compared to that which was given by those on Flight 93, but we are honored to be able to help in the effort to reserve their memory and to commemorate their deed," said J. Brett Harvey, Consol Energy's president and chief executive officer.

United Airlines Flight 93 was the only one of four hijacked planes that did not take a life on the ground. John Reynolds, chairman of the Flight 93 National Memorial Advisory Commission, called the gift generous, saying it would help in the preservation of the crash site.

Armstrong County
Police say man wrote plans to murder his wife

An Armstrong County man charged with trying to hire someone to kill his wife in exchange for an $80,000 boat detailed the plot to abduct her in a written plan, police said.

Jack Ernest Matson, 54, of Kittanning, was arrested Wednesday, two days after authorities said a man told them he was offered the boat to kill Matson's wife. Matson was charged with criminal solicitation to commit murder and other offenses.

Authorities said they found a letter written by Matson in which he detailed the plan to abduct his wife, Lucilia Matson, 32.

"I am putting a team of three men together to take her, her clothes and her papers from the trailer and to a location where I can get a confession of what she has done and get her to sign over my son to me and then get her addicted to heroin and then she will be taken to Panama where she will be put into a whorehouse," the letter read, according to information included in a police affidavit.

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