State News-Wednesday, Sept. 6th

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (AP) - A Mexican citizen is set to stand trial today on charges he shot three men dead at an Altoona social club last year. Twenty-seven-year-old Miguel Padilla of Gallitzin could get the death penalty if convicted. The Mexican government is said to be monitoring the trial, but has unsuccessfully tried to delay it. The prosecution maintains that Padilla killed Alfred Mignogna,Fred Rickabaugh Senior and Stephen Heiss outside the United Veterans Association Club in Altoona because he was denied entry to the club.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - School begins today at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia's high schools -- and there's no teachers' strike as had been feared. Members of the Association of Catholic Teachers voted 528 to 300 yesterday to approve a two-year contract that was negotiated just hours before their meeting. Most teachers will get a 15-hundred dollar pay increase this year and a 17-hundred dollar raise next year. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia says it's pleased that a "fair and equitable" agreement was reached but expressed concern overcosts.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A suburban Pittsburgh man is cleared of homicide after an Allegheny County judge found an eyewitness unreliable. Judge Anthony Mariani says the case against 18-year-old Brandon Robinson, who is from Penn Hills, presented enough reasonable doubt. Robinson was acquitted yesterday in the September2004 shooting death of 14-year-old Karis Adams. The witness, LeVaughn Brown, had told police that he saw Robinson firing a gun at the car he was driving. But during Robinson's trial last week, he invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 25 times.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - The State Department of Environmental Protection says inspectors found 151 environmental violations on 94 of 649 trash trucks. Ken Bowman, the D-E-P's southwest regional director, says the department is trying to make sure waste is managed in an environmentally sound manner and haulers operate safely. Violations found last week included leaks, waste containment and vehicle waste enclosures. The department issued 58 summary citations, 42 field notices of violation and 27 written warnings.

ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) - A former western Pennsylvania high school athletic official and beer company executive has pleaded no contest to trying to solicit sex online from someone he thought was a12-year-old girl. As his trial was about to begin in Blair County court yesterday Leonard Francis Stossel, who is from Altoona, pleaded no contest to charges of criminal attempt at unlawful contact with a minor and criminal use of a communications facility. Prosecutors say Stossel was arrested last fall as he waited to meet someone he thought was a girl with whom he had chatted online. It was actually a law enforcement official. Stossel was the former C-E-O of Jones Brewing Company and a former Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association official.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Pittsburgh's 26-year-old mayor spent his first business day in office familiarizing himself with his new responsibilities. Mayor Luke Ravenstahl received a strong endorsement from Doug Shields, his successor as City Council president. Ravenstahl became mayor upon the death of Mayor Bob O'Connor. The former mayor, who died of a rare form of brain cancer last week, is to be buried tomorrow.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A University of Pennsylvania professor accused last week of importing child pornography is now charged with receiving child pornography at his university office. He is 64-year-old Lawrence Scott Ward, a professor emeritus at the university's Wharton School of Business.Prosecutors say he faces the new charge after investigators seized two computers along with several C-Ds and D-V-Ds from his university office. The U-S Attorney's Office says one C-D contained more than 80 still images, many of which showed a man believed to be Ward engaging in sexual activity with a boy between the ages of 14 and15. Ward faces 5 to 20 years in prison if convicted of the latest charge. Ward is retired, but had been scheduled to teach several courses this semester until his arrest last week.