National and State News-Wednesday, March 21st

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush is vowing to fight any subpoenas that Congress may issue to try to get White House aides to talk about the firings of U-S attorneys. Bush says he'll only allow his aides to speak off-the-record. A House committee is to vote to authorize subpoenas today.

BAGHDAD (AP) - U-S and Iraqi troops have killed eight al-Qaida-linked insurgents in an hours-long battle near Fallujah. Five Iraqi police officers were wounded. American warplanes also took part in yesterday's fighting.

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) - The trial of a U-S soldier charged in the rape and slaying of an Iraqi teen and the killing of her family is scheduled to start today at Fort Campbell. Bryan Howard's lawyer tells a Houston newspaper that Howard is considering an offer to
plead guilty to a lesser offense. Two other soldiers already have pleaded guilty.

WASHINGTON (AP) - A new study shows a typical meal from a Chinese restaurant is loaded with more calories and more salt than the average adult needs. Even dishes with vegetables are considered nutritional no-nos. The Center for Science in the Public Interest says little has changed since it first reported on Chinese food 15 years ago.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Pop star Britney Spears has "successfully" completed her stint at a California rehab center, according to her manager. Spears checked into the Promises rehab facility in Malibu nearly a month ago after shaving her head, beating a car with an umbrella and exhibiting other bizarre behavior.

WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) - A state Senate panel will hold hearings in West Chester next month on ways the state might help university towns deal with a revenue problem. Many university communities lose income from university property that's exempt from taxes, yet they have to pay higher law enforcement and cleanup costs when students party in town.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) - Governor Ed Rendell says oil companies and Pennsylvania Turnpike officials oppose his idea to lease the turnpike to a private operator for the better part of a century. Rendell addressed municipal, planning and transit officials in State College yesterday in one of seven planned stops around the state. Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission was outlining to a Senate committee what turnpike officials say are
better alternatives to Rendell's proposal.

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) - An immigration expert testifying for the city of Hazleton says between 15-hundred and 34-hundred illegal immigrants live there. Steven Camarota says he came up with that estimate based on the number of English as a Second Language students are in Hazleton's schools. Hazleton is defending its crackdown on illegal immigrants.

ALIQUIPPA, Pa. (AP) - Police in Independence Township are looking for two dozen signs. Road signs, that is. Police Chief Robert Baron says someone stole 22 stop signs and two road
directional signs from the Beaver County township. The signs were last seen at about eleven p-m on Sunday. Baron says thieves also stole nine residential mailboxes.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - The University of Pittsburgh says a Web camera has captured rare images of a 20-minute fight for territory between two peregrine falcons atop the school's Cathedral of Learning. Anthony Bledsoe, a lecturer of biological sciences at Pitt, says no
one ever sees the fights over nests and territory. Pitt's birds don't appear to have been hurt.