State News-Wednesday, Sept. 13th

HAZLETON, Pa. (AP) - The Hazleton City Council has formally approved a revamped immigration ordinance, reworking the law it passed two months ago in an effort withstand legal challenges. The revised version passed 4-to-1, and council members also voted unanimously to make English the official language of the city. Like the version it replaces, the new immigration ordinance punishes businesses that employ illegal immigrants and landlords who rent to them in the city of 31,000 residents about 80 miles northwest of Philadelphia. The biggest change is in the enforcement of the law. The burden of verifying immigration status will now be on the city, giving landlords and businesses time to correct violations before imposing sanctions, and softening penalties. The city has 20 days to formally inform those who filed suit against the original version of the bill about the revisions.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) - Penn State University has named its sports journalism program after John Curley, the former president and chairman of Gannett Co. Inc. and the founding editor of USA Today. Douglas Anderson, dean of the university's College of Communications, says the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism was established in 2003 and now has about 170 students. Curley was a co-founder of the program and helped lead the search for the center's first Knight Chair in Sports Journalism. Curley's newspaper career included stops with The Associated Press, Gannett News Service and at the News -Journal in Wilmington,Delaware, where was publisher before becoming the first editor of USA Today in 1982. He rose to Gannett chairman in 1989 after Allen Neuharth retired. Curley retired from Gannett in 2001, when he started teaching at Penn State.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senator Rick Santorum is stepping up in defense of President Bush's address on the fifth anniversary of the September 11th attacks, and accusing others of playing politics in the struggle against terrorism. Santorum delivered a fiery speech on the Senate floor today. He says given all the mistakes this administration has made in theconduct of this war ... the president has it right. This is the greatest threat for our generation. Santorum is in a tough re-election fight against Democratic state Treasurer Bob Casey. Democrats are accusing Bush of using the national day of mourning for partisan gain. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada says the president was "playing election-year politics."

WASHINGTON (AP) - Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's near-fatal crash on a motorcycle this year reflects a troubling trend: More bikers are getting killed on the road. Roethlisberger's June 12th accident was one of three within two days that the National Transportation Safety Board looked into. Theaccidents, which killed seven people, were the first the safety board ever investigated. N-T-S-B member Debbie Hersman chaired a two-day forum on motorcycle safety that began Tuesday. She says the trend is troubling and that the number of fatalities is outpacing the increase in ridership. The average rider is older now, and the average age of riders killed is also on the rise.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic U-S Senate candidate Bob Casey is using Republican Senator Rick Santorum's words against the incumbent. Santorum wrote in his book that both parents shouldn't work outside the home if they can survive on one income. Casey launched a statewide television ad today featuring Debbie Balcik, a working mother who says the comment is ridiculous. In the ad, Balcik says she'd like Santorum to tell her how she and her family can live on one income. Santorum spokeswoman Virginia Davis says Casey is taking the words out of context. Casey is the state treasurer. He is challenging Santorum, the Number Three Senate Republican in one the nation's most competitive races. Casey leads in the polls, but Santorum has a two-to-one cash advantage.