State News-Tuesday, Jan. 2nd

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A Democratic member of the state House of Representatives says he will vote to keep Republican John Perzel as speaker today. State Democratic Party chairman T-J Rooney says Thomas Caltagirone will go down in history as a traitor. The move may ruin many of his colleagues' hopes of setting the agenda and controlling committees after 12 years of Republican rule. Democrats have a fragile 102-to-101 lead in the House after the November election.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - The head of a now-defunct suburban Pittsburgh nursing home goes on trial today on manslaughter and related charges. Martha Bell is charged in the 2001 death of 88-year-old Mabel Taylor. The Alzheimer's patient died after wandering outside in the cold. Bell has already been convicted of doctoring records to cover up inadequate care of Alzheimer's patients. In October, she was sentenced to five years in federal prison for defrauding Medicare
and Medicaid.

NORWOOD, Pa. (AP) - Police have arrested a suspect in the shooting of an officer in Delaware County. Authorities say 55-year-old Andrew Gines of Trainer was arrested in the early evening after a daylong manhunt. He's accused of shooting Officer Matthew Illich in the shoulder before dawn yesterday. The Glenolden Police Department officer was wounded as he responded to a woman's nine-one-one call.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - The new member of Congress from the Pittsburgh area says his former job as a lobbyist gives him a unique perspective. Jason Altmire says he saw firsthand how things work there and wanted to change things -- to get tougher regulations on lobbyists. Before deciding to run for Congress, Altmire had been vice president of government relations for U-P-M-C Healthsystem. Before that, he was a congressional aide. Altmire counts health care reform as his top priority. He said he wants to make it more accessible and affordable. Specifically, he wants to allow young people to buy into Medicare and to lower prescription drug prices. Like all new members of Congress from Pennsylvania, Altmire is a Democrat.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A year ago, Chris Carney was a little-known Democrat and political science professor. The former Pentagon intelligence analyst seemingly had a slim chance of toppling a four-term G-O-P congressman in a heavily Republican district. Yet voters chose Carney over Don Sherwood, a successful car dealer and family-values conservative. It happened after the incumbent admitted to an extramarital affair and agreed to settle a lawsuit with his ex-mistress for half a million dollars. Carney has been assigned a seat on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, his first choice. He says that will put him in good position to funnel money toward dilapidated roads and bridges in his sprawling, rural district in northeastern Pennsylvania.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Patrick Murphy is the only veteran of the Iraq war elected to Congress.
The suburban Philadelphia Democrat says he hopes to be a leading voice on veterans and foreign affairs issues. Murphy is assigned to the House Armed Services Committee. Murphy campaigned on a platform of bringing the troops home from Iraq. He unseated Republican Representative Mike Fitzpatrick by just 15-hundred votes. Getting elected to Congress wasn't all Murphy did in 2006. He married Lower Makefield attorney Jennifer Safford in June and they had a daughter in November.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Joe Sestak's three-star credentials got him noticed as a congressional candidate. But on Capitol Hill, he says military issues aren't the only ones he'll tackle. The retired Navy vice admiral says he was profoundly affected by his five-year-old daughter's treatment for a brain tumor. He says while he spent time in oncology wards, he saw other families without health insurance. On the campaign trail, he said he was frequently approached by voters struggling to pay for health care. Sestak says his daughter has successfully completed her treatments, but she continues to get regular checkups. Sestak also will continue to focus on military issues in his post on the House Armed Services Committee. Sestak returned recently to the Philadelphia suburbs where he grew up after 31 years in the Navy.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A newspaper reports that a Caribbean medical school started by a Pennsylvania man is under investigation. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that Thomas Uhrin, who is from Latrobe, holds himself out as a doctor at Saint Theresa's Medical University in Saint Kitts and Nevis. But the paper says Uhrin doesn't have a medical license. Uhrin did not respond to repeated interview requests by the paper. Government officials say they are concerned about Uhrin and the school, which was started last year. Health Minister Rupert Herbert says officials are investigating Uhrin's medical training and validity of his professional credentials. R-J Simms, a vice president at the International University of the Health Sciences in Saint Kitts, says Uhrin was fired in 2004 for lying about earning a doctoral degree and other matters. Vernon Veira, who is Saint Theresa's chairman, says Uhrin is qualified.