State News-Thursday, Oct. 5th

UNDATED (AP) - The funerals for four of the five girls killed in a shooting at a one-room Amish schoolhouse on Monday will be held today. Amish mourners had been going from home to home for two days to attend viewings for the five victims. The funeral for the fifth girl is scheduled for tomorrow.

GEORGETOWN, Pa. (AP) - The Amish community has asked reporters to keep a respectful distance from the funerals for the five girls killed by a gunman at their school on Monday. In a statement read by a Pennsylvania State Police trooper, the Amish of Lancaster County asked the media to respect their privacy and refrain from "close-up gawking and picture taking."

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton are to be at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia this evening to accept the 2006 Liberty Medal. The men are being honored for putting politics aside and raising more than one (b) billion dollars for disaster relief following the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.

GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) - Teachers in the Hempfield Area School District are planning to return to their classrooms today, ending a strike that began September 21st. The teachers' union still doesn't have a new contract. The teachers agreed to go back to work after their union and the school board agreed to six more contract bargaining sessions this month.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Smoking will be banned in most Pittsburgh-area workplaces in January under an ordinance signed by Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato. The new law will prohibit smoking in public buildings including bars, clubs and restaurants, within 15 feet of a building's entrance or exit, on subway platforms, and in pool halls and bowling alleys.