State News-Friday, Dec. 8th

EBENSBURG, Pa. (AP) - Western Pennsylvania hasn't received as much snow as some expected as cold northern air settled across the state, but the cold and slick roads did cause traffic accidents across the region, some fatal. Officials report overturned tractor trailers and cars skidding off ice- and snow-covered roads. State police say Revloc resident Cheryl Cassett died after she lost control of her vehicle and crashed into a tree while driving on a snow-covered road in Cambria County. Police say Gloria Cunningham died in a chain-reaction accident during a snow squall on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Bedford County. A passenger, Lancaster resident William Cunningham was injured. Only about an inch of snow fell in the Pittsburgh area, while farther north, near Lake Erie, Meadville received at least five inches of snow.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Officials say fire that raced through a southwest Philadelphia row house killed two women and two children. Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers says the one-alarm fire that broke out around 9:30 p.m. Thursday fully engulfed the first floor of the two-story house by the time firefighters arrived, and neighbors were outside screaming. Fire officials say it took less than a half hour to extinguish the blaze. But a 34-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene. And an 18-year-old woman, an 8-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy were taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where they were pronounced dead. Fire officials also say a 17-year-old boy who climbed out a
second-floor window was rescued from the roof and treated for a hand injury. Ayers says at one point, about 100 firefighters were at the scene. He says no fire detectors or alarms were found in the home. Officials are trying to determine what started the fire.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - An E. coli outbreak linked to Taco Bell restaurants has left the fast-food chain with a challenge to reassure customers its food is safe even as the suspected cause of the outbreak remains unconfirmed. About four dozen people in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey became sick after eating at Taco Bell. Two more cases of E. Coli are suspected in Utah and South Carolina. The chain has removed green onions from its 58-hundred restaurants nationwide after testing by an independent lab suggested the bacteria may have come from scallions. Taco Bell also told customers it has sanitized the affected restaurants and set up a toll-free number at 1-800-TACO-BELL for worried consumers to call.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A federal mediator involved in contract talks at The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News wants to bring negotiators back to the bargaining table on Monday. The Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia, the papers' largest union, put strike preparations on hold until then. The talks stalled Wednesday night on management's proposal to freeze the pension and union members have been preparing for a strike. The other nine unions at the newspapers have reached agreements on their contracts and ratification votes by members are scheduled to take place through next week.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Pittsburgh has received a more than 300-thousand dollar grant for biodiesel and fuel tanks as part a 3 million dollar statewide investment in alternative fuels. City officials say they will use the grant to buy more than one million gallons of biodiesel, some to be produced from grease and waste oil from Heinz Field, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Officials also plan to equip city vehicles with biodiesel technology. Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen McGinty says the program is designed to boost the production and distribution of biofuels made in Pennsylvania. point-five million gallons of biodiesel.