State News-Wednesday, Sept. 20th

PITTSBURGH (AP) - The manhunt continues today for a man believed to be one of the gunmen who shot five Duquesne University basketball players. Yesterday, 18-year-old Brandon Baynes, from Penn Hills, was arraigned. He is charged with five counts of criminal attempt at homicide. Prosecutors also filed charges of aggravated assault, criminal conspiracy, and weapons counts against him and William Holmes, who is stil being sought. He was also charged with reckless endangerment. Three players remained hospitalized following Sunday's shootings after the dance. The most seriously wounded was in critical condition with bullet fragments in his head. Brittany Jones was accused of helping get some young men with
guns into the party. She was arrested yesterday on charges of reckless endangerment, carrying a firearm without a license and criminal conspiracy. She was arraigned and posted bond yesterday morning.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Testimony is set to continue this morning in the trial of two businessmen accused of ignoring safety warnings about a pier that collapsed in Philadelphia six years ago. Prosecutors say their decision to ignore those warnings ultimately led to the deaths of three women when Pier 34 collapsed into the Delaware River on May 18th of 2000. Dozens more people were hurt. Pier 34 owner Michael Asbell and Heat nightclub operator Eli
Karetny are on trial in Philadelphia Common Pleas court on charges of risking a catastrophe and conspiracy. The defendants blamed the collapse on three related contractors they had hired over the years. The attorney for Asbell told the jury that their job was to determine if Asbell and Karetny are criminals. The trial is expected to last a month or more.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Radio Evangelist James Dobson will be speaking in Pittsburgh tonight and he's hoping to convince people to vote based on their moral convictions. James Dobson is founder and chairman of the Christian organization Focus on the Family. He'll be speaking today at a political rally at Mellon Arena. Dobson isn't expected to publicly take sides in Pennsylvania's U-S Senate race between Senator Rick Santorum and state Treasurer
Bob Casey. But the race is one of the reasons Dobson is coming to Pennsylvania. Tom Minnery is a spokesman for Focus on the Family. He tells the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that the group won't tell anyone how to vote but will lay out the issues they feel are important.