State News-Monday, Dec. 4th

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Former Philadelphia City Controller Jonathan Saidel is dropping out of the mayor's race. The announcement comes within a week of opening his campaign headquarters. Saidel says he can't be as committed to the race as he'd need to be to win. Saidel's withdrawal leaves Congressman Chaka Fattah, former City Councilman Michael Nutter and businessman Tom Knox as the only declared candidates for the Democratic primary. Congressman Bob Brady, state Representative Dwight Evans and electricians union leader John Dougherty have also said they are considering entering the race. The Democratic primary is crucial because of the party's dominance in Philadelphia, which hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1948.

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A King of Prussia-based company that operates two major Las Vegas hospitals has rejected a union's call for a new round of contract negotiations. This could mean that 800 nurses at Valley and Desert Springs will go on strike this morning. An operator at the headquarters of Universal Health Services said last night that no one was available to immediately discuss the situation. Nevada Governor-elect Jim Gibbons is urging another round of negotiations to try to break the logjam. The two hospitals represent one of every three hospital beds in the Las Vegas core. Hospital officials began preparing for the strike by installing fences around their parking lots.

CHICAGO (AP) - A pediatrician at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh says children's hospitals might be contributing to the childhood obesity problem. Doctor Hanna Sahud says dozens of children's hospitals have fast-food restaurants inside. She says that implicity encourages poor eating habits at the same time the profession says obesity is a huge medical problem. Sahud's research appears today in the journal Pediatrics. She conducted the research while at Chicago's Children's Memorial Hospital, which has one McDonald's inside and another across the street. The study shows that parents of kids treated at Children's Memorial were twice as likely to rate McDonald's food as relatively healthy than those whose kids were treated elsewhere.

LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) - Amtrak's promise of faster and improved service between Philadelphia and Harrisburg so far appears to be neither. Commuters say the trains are habitually late. PennDOT ponied up half of the 145 million dollar cost of upgrading the Keystone Corridor service. PennDOT spokesman Rich Kirkpatrick says the department is "gravely disappointed" so far. Amtrak spokeswoman Karina Romero acknowledges that during the first week of the new service in early November, 50 percent of trains were late. She says performance has improved in recent weeks, with more than 80 percent of trains on time last week.

BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) - The gussied-up Victorian homes, garland-covered lamp posts and red-and-silver bow-adorned Christmas tree at the top of the hill make Bellefonte in central Pennsylvania look like a scene from a Norman Rockwell painting. That's because everything must look picture-perfect for the town's biggest event of the year. It can be tough for mom-and-pop businesses to compete with shopping malls and big-box stores. So some small towns have retro weekends -- like Bellefonte's "Victorian Christmas," -- or unusual promotions will draw more holiday dollars. The country charm of horse-and-buggy rides and gingerbread house competitions dot the retro weekend calendars in towns like Bellefonte, Brookville, Ligonier and Wellsboro.

GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP) - Gettysburg College will receive a two million dollar gift to expand its athletic facility. College President Katherine Haley Will says the promised donation by alumnus Robert Ortenzio would be the school's single largest gift from a living donor. Ortenzio is the chief executive of Mechanicsburg-based Select Medical Corporation, which runs 97 specialty hospitals and more than 600 outpatient rehabilitation clinics. At Gettysburg, he was an All-America wrestler who held the school's record for career wins with a 97-17-and-3 tally. The funds will help build a 120,000-square-foot addition to the college's athletic facility.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A federally funded survey has found three out of four people recognize "Mr. Yuk." The scowling green face has been the symbol of poison prevention since the character was created in 1971 at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh to replace a skull and crossbones. The survey was sponsored by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.

EXETER, Pa. (AP) - A part-time police officer in Exeter, Luzerne County, is under investigation for allegedly sleeping behind the wheel of a parked patrol car during a stakeout. Police Chief John McNeil says the November 18th incident is under investigation. He wouldn't identify the officer. The officer was stationed outside a West Pittston home, where authorities were looking out for a man who was wanted on allegations of child molestation. McNeil says he received an anonymous phone call on the day the man was arrested that an officer was sleeping in his cruiser when he was supposed to be monitoring the suspect's house. An investigation is continuing.

EASTON, Pa. (AP) - A man who pleaded guilty to molesting two girls told a judge he did it because of his wife's excessive bingo playing. Northampton County judge didn't like it when 49-year-old Floyd Kinney Junior, formerly of Wind Gap, said he did it because his wife was never home. Kinney said his wife would sometimes argue with him over money and that he was angry she was spending too much money on bingo. Records say Kinney molested one of the girls, who's now 26, from 1992 to 1997. He sexually assaulted the second girl, who's now 17, for a year beginning in January 2005, records say. Defense attorney Richard Yetter said his client was not articulate and may not have been doing a good job of conveying his rationale to the judge.