State News-Friday, Nov. 17th

PITTSBURGH (AP) - The Internet search company Google Incorporated plans an open house today at its new Pittsburgh office on the Carnegie Mellon University campus. The company has hired about 30 software engineers since it opened earlier this year. The Mountain View, California-based company says it will continue to hire workers to develop search tools at the office on the campus of. Engineers at the facility have focused on text analysis, refining the processing of search requests and improving the search engine's ability to predict what information might be useful to users. The center opened about 10 months ago and has already helped develop the selection and timing of advertisements that appear on Google's site. Construction work on the facility was completed in time for an open house scheduled for tomorrow.

ERIE, Pa. (AP) - The president of a police union says he hasn't said no to a couple who want a 350-thousand-dollar reward offered for capturing the suspect in a police killing. Lawyers for Jack and Gloria Young say their call to Warren city police led to the capture of Ralph "Bucky" Phillips. They're suing, saying the Police Benevolent Association of the New York State Troopers is wrongly withholding the reward. Meanwhile, a man accused of failing to tell authorities Phillips had stayed on his rural northwestern Pennsylvania property in August and left with a gun pleaded guilty Thursday to hindering his apprehension and was sentenced to prison. Prosecutors say Phillips stayed on the property of 31-year-old Todd Nelson, of Ludlow, within the Allegheny National Forest, and left with Nelson's 9 mm pistol. Authorities say Nelson knew Phillips was a wanted felon. Phillips is suspected of killing one New York state trooper and wounding two others.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A Pittsburgh woman is facing a one year and one day prison sentence for bank fraud. Federal prosecutors say 38-year-old Antoinette Crowley also has been sentenced to five years' probation and ordered to repay the Department of Veterans Affairs 30-thousand dollars. Prosecutors say Crowley forged a series of checks and withdrew money from her late mother's bank account. Authorities say the money came from a Department of Veterans Affairs benefit that should have stopped when her mother died. Prosecutors say Crowley invested most of the money in a failed attempt to open a nightclub called Mirage.

WASHINGTON, Pa. (AP) - Members of the largest union representing Washington County government workers have ratified a new four-year contract. It calls for pay raises, but also requires Service Employees International Union members to contribute toward their health insurance for the first time. County commissioners are expected to vote today on the contract, which expires at the end of 2009. Each employee will get a 250-dollar signing bonus because the contract was ratified before December first. Washington County court-appointed and court-related workers did not participate in the balloting. A bargaining session for them is scheduled Monday.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The state Board of Education has voted for an adjustment in scoring of a standardized test given to Pennsylvania's most severely disabled students. The Pennsylvania Alternate System of Assessment, or PASA, has been given annually since 2001. It's administered to students whose physical and mental disabilities prevent them from taking the state's regular standardized math and reading test. The test consists of 40 questions divided evenly between math and reading, with each answer graded on a scale of zero to five. To be considered proficient in math and reading under the new scoring system, students must achieve an average score of four-point-oh-nine to five, rather than four to five, depending on
the grade and difficulty of the test.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Philadelphia's University of the Arts says it more than doubled its endowment with the receipt of a 25 million dollar gift. It is the largest in the school's 130-year history. The money is being given by philanthropist Dorrance "Dodo" Hamilton, the 78-year-old granddaughter of Campbell Soup founder John Dorrance. The University of the Arts says the donation raises its endowment from 18 million dollars to 43 million dollars. This frees up other resources for scholarships, campus development and faculty hiring and retention.