State News-Monday, Oct. 2nd

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania's Capitol is celebrating its 100th birthday this week. On Wednesday, officials will celebrate the birthday of a building President Theodore Roosevelt declared "the handsomest state capitol I have ever seen." A rededication ceremony will conclude five days of events honoring the Capitol's history. The capitol's features combine French, English and Italian Renaissance designs, along with Greek and Roman touches, under a massive dome inspired by Saint Peter's Basilica and the U-S Capitol. The current Capitol is the third one to house the General Assembly since Harrisburg was chosen as the state capital in 1810.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - An advocacy group that registered about a million voters two years ago is wrestling with new charges of voter fraud and sloppy work weeks before crucial midterm elections. Philadelphia's voter registration office has rejected about three-thousand cards submitted by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now since April because of missing information or invalid addresses. Election officials in three of Ohio's largest counties have cited problems with hundreds of voter registration cards. ACORN is accused of submitting cards with nonexistent addresses, forged signatures and in one case for someone who died seven years ago. The New Orleans-based ACORN says it's working to reduce problems, and the organization says it meets regularly with election officials to address concerns.

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) - Critics of U-S Representative John Murtha held a rally in Johnstown yesterday, a day after the 16-term congressman's supporters staged an event in the city. Organizers say more than one-thousand people turned out for the rally at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena. Murtha has been the focus of controversy over his criticism of the Iraq War and calls for the withdrawal of U-S troops. The event comes after an estimated two-thousand people turned out to defend Murtha on Saturday at the city's Central Park. Attendees at that rally included former Georgia Senator Max Cleland and former NATO commander General Wesley Clark.

CLEVELAND (AP) - Aluminum manufacturer Alcoa Incorporation has released what it calls its final contract offer for 830 union workers at its Cleveland Works. The proposed four-year contract would offer wage increases of nearly nine percent and improvements to the pension formula. The proposal also includes limitations on mandatory overtime, which the union has been seeking. The union says the proposal would allow salaried workers to do union work, and workers would have to pay part of their health care premiums. The Pittsburgh-based company made the offer to the United Auto Workers on Friday, the day the contract expired. Local 1050 president Jeff Judson called it unacceptable but said union members would vote on it anyway some time this week.

GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP) - The family of a man accused of dumping used motor oil on the grounds of Gettysburg National Military Park says the spill was an accident and he has paid for the cleanup. The York Daily Record, citing court documents, says 31-year-old Daniel Bowers, of Gettysburg, faces two misdemeanor counts for transporting oil without a permit and dumping 20 to 40 gallons on part of East Cavalry Field on May 28th. Wiatt Bowers says his brother paid a 400-dollar fine to the National Park Service and a 125-dollar cleanup fee to a local fire company, which responded to the spill. Marilyn Bowers says her son told her that he made too sharp of a turn and two barrels fell over. She says he was tryng to correct the situation when rangers arrived.

LONDON (AP) - A British newspaper has obtained a previously unseen video made by Mohamed Atta, ringleader of the Nine-Eleven terrorist attacks on the United States. The Sunday Times says it had been handed the so-called martyrdom video, but did not reveal the source of the tape. In the soundless video, Atta was filmed reading a document marked in Arabic as a will. He sat beside a fellow hijacker - the one who seized control of United Airlines flight 93, which crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The newspaper said that a timecode stamp on the videotape indicated it had been recorded on January 18th, 2000 and the recording was made at an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden is also shown on the hour-long video addressing supporters.

LITTLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) - Students in the Littlestown School District are preparing for a teachers' strike. Classes have been canceled in the district today after Littlestown Education Association told school officials it intends to go on strike. Teachers have been without a contract for more than a year. Health care is among the issues that have stalled negotiations. Thom Leib is president of the teachers' union and a high school teacher. He says the earliest teachers would return to classes is Thursday. There is a negotiating session scheduled for Wednesday.
Superintendent Robert McConaghy says extracurricular activities will continue as scheduled.