State News-Tuesday, Oct. 3rd

NICKEL MINES, Pa. (AP) - A fourth child is dead of wounds from the shootings at an Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County. A hospital spokeswoman says the seven-year-old girl died about 4:30 this morning at Penn State Children's Hospital in Hershey. Spokeswoman Amy Buehler Stranges says the girl's parents were with her when she was taken off life support. The girl died shortly after. A six-year-old girl remains in critical condition and a 13-year-old girl is in serious condition at Penn State Children's. The names of the children are not being released.
Three girls, ages eight, ten and 12, were flown to The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where a spokeswoman says they underwent surgery but remain in critical condition today. One other victim was taken by helicopter to Christiana Hospital in Delaware, but officials there decline to release information this morning.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former President Clinton and first lady Laura Bush will be in the Philadelphia suburbs this week as headliners at competing fundraisers. The White House says Mrs. Bush will speak at a breakfast on Wednesday for Representative Curt Weldon, a 10-term Republican. The campaign for Weldon's Democratic opponent, Joe Sestak, says Clinton will be the honored guest at a fundraiser on Thursday. Weldon is the vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Sestak, a former Navy vice admiral, served as Clinton's
director for defense policy. Clinton and former President George Bush will be in Philadelphia on Thursday to receive the Liberty Medal for their work on behalf of victims of Hurricane Katrina and the South Asian tsunami.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A new study says 60-percent of cases in which patients were allegedly hurt by missed or delayed diagnoses were at least in part the result of basic errors by doctors. The study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine reviewed 307 medical malpractice claims, many involving cancer. The researchers found most claims involved several factors, but doctor mistakes were major ones. They included failure to order appropriate diagnostic tests, not creating proper follow up plans and not obtaining an adequate patient history or conducting a proper physical exam. The study's lead author says it all shows doctors could use more help in making decisions.

CARLISLE, Pa. (AP) - Dickinson College is the nation's "fittest college" in rankings published by Men's Fitness magazine. The magazine's second annual survey of nearly 12-thousand, five-hundred students at 115 colleges and universities will be published in the October issue and hit newsstands this week. Editor-in-chief Neal Boulton says the rankings are based on student responses to questions about their diet and exercise habits and about the availability of fast food, nutritionists and fitness trainers on campus.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - State education officials hope to triple the number of board-certified teachers in Pennsylvania by next fall. They plan to do it by setting up four new training centers under a one-point-two million dollar program. Four universities will receive 75-thousand dollars each in state money to establish Centers for Teaching Excellence. The centers will recruit top teachers and train them to earn certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Centers at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and Gannon University in Erie were unveiled on Monday. Two more will be opened next week at Temple University in Philadelphia and East Stroudsburg University. State Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak says only 250 of Pennsylvania's 120-thousand teachers are board-certified. The state hopes to have 500 more certified teachers next year.