State News-Thursday, Sept. 21st

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The state Board of Education has unanimously approved instructional guidelines for state-funded preschool programs. The regulations would set standards for the first time for public school programs enrolling children between three and five
years old. They include a minimum two-and-a-half-hour day and a maximum class size of 20 students. The state Education Department says 71 of Pennsylvania's 501 school districts offered pre-kindergarten classes in the 2005-2006 school year. The rules allow school districts to decide whether to provide preschool programs and makes pre-kindergarten enrollment optional for children. The regulations must receive final approval from the House and
Senate education committees and an independent regulatory review panel before they take effect.


GRANTHAM, Pa. (AP) - The Democratic and Republican candidates in Pennsylvania's Senate race are in a fierce fight for voters of faith. Democrat Bob Casey highlights his religious work. Republican Senator. Rick Santorum seeks out evangelical Christians. Casey is a Catholic who has been talking openly about his religious upbringing and his work with the Jesuit Corps. He
unveiled a 60-second television ad in the Philadelphia market today featuring a former student talking about Casey's mentoring from days in the corps' inner-city program. The two-term Santorum is also Catholic. He has been outspoken on issues consistent with the church's teachings such as opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage. Santorum is scheduled to address the conservative Family Research Council's voter summit on Saturday.

UNIONTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A judge is giving the Herald-Standard of Uniontown 30 more days to submit written arguments to support its motion for dismissal of a defamation suit filed against the paper by House Minority Leader H. William DeWeese. Fayette County Judge Steve Leskinen told newspaper attorney Charles Kelly on yesterday that he felt a jury should decide
whether the newspaper defamed DeWeese with a series of editorials and caricatures in 2001 and 2002. But the judge gave Kelly another month to argue for dismissal of the case.
The newspaper accused DeWeese, a Democrat from Greene County, of not fulfilling a promise to release records from his 12 million dollar, taxpayer-funded leadership account. DeWeese has maintained that he promised only to lobby for changes in the law that would require the records to be released.


FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) - The head of Sovereign Bank is assuring shareholders that a Spanish bank's acquisition of a major stake in the bank does not weaken their say on a future sale. Speaking at Sovereign's annual meeting held at Gillette Stadium, C-E-O Jay Sidhu said as part of the agreement with Banco Santander, any deal on a future sale would have to be approved by shareholders. Santander purchased a stake of just under 20 percent in
Philadelphia-based Sovereign in June, and has since increased that stake to nearly 25 percent on the open market.