National and State News-Friday, March 30th

WHITE HOUSE (AP) - President Bush plans to do some damage control today when he visits Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He'll talk to veterans and hospital staff, trying to reassure them the government is doing something following the scandal over shoddy treatment of wounded soldiers.

CAPITOL HILL (AP) - A Democratic congressman from Virginia doesn't think the Congressional leadership will give in to the White House on troop withdrawal language attached to an Iraq war funding bill. Jim Moran says voter backlash could result. The White House wants no strings attached and promises a veto.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Animal rights advocates say a dog and cat food recall should be expanded to dry varieties too. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals plans to make the appeal today in Washington, saying dry foods are also making pets sick. The government and veterinarians say there's no such trend.

PARIS (AP) - If the late Pope John Paul achieves sainthood, a mysterious nun who claims a miraculous cure from Parkinson's disease could have a lot to do with it. Today, she'll be a mystery no longer. Sister Marie-Simon-Pierre, described as gentle and reserved, is addressing a news conference in Paris.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Enjoy the blossoms but keep off the trees. That's the word from the National Park Service as the National Cherry Blossom Festival kicks off tomorrow in Washington. Each year, visitors veer off the paths and climb the trees or put their kids on branches for photos, causing damage.

GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) - The woman who was allegedly held as a "slave" by a Greensburg family says she wasn't physically restrained. Nineteen-year-old Emily Nicely testified yesterday that she stayed as long as she did because she was in love with the family's 17-year-old son. The family accused of keeping her for about six months must stand trial.

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (AP) - Prosecutors say an Altoona man has received one of the longest sentences for child sexual assault in Blair County. Forty-one-year-old Brian Corle has been sentenced to 46 years and ten months to 177 years in prison. He had been convicted in July of 40 counts of sex-related offenses against four children.

SOMERSET, Pa. (AP) - The state says Somerset County Jail officials properly screened a murder suspect before he committed suicide in the jail on March tenth. Jailers checked on 39-year-old William Jerome Cornell every 15 minutes, but he still managed to hang himself.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - The former general manager of a Greensburg funeral supply business has pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Federal prosecutors say 51-year-old John Parillo Junior of Scott Township defrauded people who paid in advance for caskets and burial vaults. He was general manager and an officer of Celestial Burial Case Company from 1997 through October 2001.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A Pittsburgh man who prosecutors say threw some of the money he stole from a bank onto the street as he fled has been convicted. Federal prosecutors say a jury yesterday found 56-year-old Tony Atkinson guilty of one count of bank robbery for holding up a P-N-C Bank in downtown Pittsburgh in July 2003.