State News - Saturday May 19

ERIE, Pa. (AP) - There are still plenty of E. coli bacteria in Lake Erie, but they won't be causing nearly as many beach closings at Presque Isle State Park. That's because park officials have decided to offer swimming advisories when E. coli meets or exceeds the federal limit of 235 colonies per one-thousand milliliters of water. Last year different beaches at the state park were closed 57 times on 16 separate days due to E. coli. Because the park hasseveral beaches, some days saw more than one beach closed at atime. Now, however, park officials say they won't close beaches unless E. coli levels reach one-thousand colonies per one-thousand milliliters -- more than four times the old standard. They say other states that use the same standard have safe beaches. Park officials also say last year was the worst in 20 years for beach visitors -- a factor they blame on all the beach closings.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) - A judge has ruled that a man who says he was robbed by a murder suspect may not testify against him at the murder trial. Samuel Goosay identified Hugo Selenski as one of the men who he said stormed into his Monroe County home and threatened him with a gun. Prosecutors hoped to use Goosay's testimony against Selinski and co-defendant Paul Weakley, noting that both crimes involved the useof duct tape and plastic flex ties. But Luzerne County Judge Chester Muroski would not allow it. Selenski and Weakley are charged in the 2002 strangulation deaths of Tammy Fassett and Michael Kerkowski. The victims' bodies were among a number of sets of human remains found on Selenski's rural property outside Wilkes-Barre.