State News-Tuesday, Sept. 12th

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Owners of the state's horse-racing tracks showed up in Harrisburg yesterday to make their pitch for a slot-machine gambling license. Monday's Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board hearing kicks off a slate of hearings this fall that is a prelude to authorizing slot-machine gambling at racetracks later this year. If all goes smoothly for the racetrack owners, Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs could open the first slots parlor at a makeshift facility sometime this year. Then Harrah's Chester Casino and Racetrack could open a slots parlor at its finished facility in January. The board is authorized to issue 14 slots licenses to racetracks, resorts and standalone casinos, although there are only six applicants for the seven slots licenses that were set aside for racetracks. The gaming board plans to vote on permanent licenses on December20th.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP) - On a day when Americans are remembering heroes from five years ago, New York's governor took part in the funeral of a man he described as a "hero in the very truest sense of the word." Governor George Pataki was mourning the death of state trooper Joseph Longobardo. He was shot along with another trooper in an ambush last month as they searched for fugitive Bucky Phillips. Phillips is the suspect in those shootings, and in the wounding of another trooper. He was finally caught last week. Thousands of officers attended today's funeral near Albany, NewYork. Several speakers put Longobardo in the company of the emergency responders who died on Nine-Eleven. A clergyman described him as "another fallen hero who was also a victim of a terrorist attack."

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham has decided not to seek another term in 2009. Her spokeswoman says Abraham is joining the city's retirement-incentive program. Abraham has been Philadelphia's top prosecutor since 1991.Spokeswoman Cathie Abookire says Abraham made the announcement during a staff meeting last week. Abraham served as a judge in Common Pleas Court before becoming the city's first female district attorney. In 44 years of city service, she also worked as a housing official under Mayor FrankRizzo. As a prosecutor, Abraham gained a reputation as being tough on the city's persistent crime problem. In 1972, Rizzo gave her the nickname "one tough cookie."

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Jury selection is under way in Philadelphia in a trial to determine if the owner and operator of a Penn's Landing nightclub knew it was in danger of collapsing. Three young women attending a birthday party died six years ago when Pier 34 South at Penn's Landing collapsed, spilling partygoers into the Delaware River. Forty-seven people were injured. Pier owner Michael Asbell of Merion, in Montgomery County, and operator Eli Karetny of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, are facing criminal charges stemming from the collapse in May 2000. Jury selection is expected to take several days and the trial at least a month. Prosecutors say Asbell and Karetny were negligent because they knew the pier was in imminent danger of collapsing.