National and State News-Wednesday, June 6th

ROSTOCK, Germany (AP) - Despite White House optimism, global warming is likely to be one of the contentious issues at the G-Eight summit that starts today in Germany. And there could be fireworks tomorrow at a side meeting between President Bush and Russia's Vladimir Putin, who has denounced U-S plans for a European missile defense system.

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - The Republicans who want President Bush's job have used a debate in New hampshire to start putting some distance between themselves and their unpopular party leader. They used a New Hampshire debate last night to criticize Bush's war
policy, diplomacy and efforts to revamp immigration laws.

BAGHDAD (AP) - Car bombs exploded again in Baghdad today, rocking an area near the city's holiest shrine and killing at least seven people. Police say another 27 people were wounded. The
bombings are being blamed on Sunni extremists. In southern Iraq, an aide to a key Shiite cleric was shot and killed.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) - Police in Overland Park, Kansas, continue an intense search for a missing 18-year-old woman caught on videotape being abducted from a mall. The tape shows Kelsey Smith being forced into her car. Police are also looking for a dark Chevy truck and a man they say is a person of interest.

ATLANTA (AP) - Lawyers for a former honor student serving a ten-year jail sentence in Georgia are asking a judge today to set him free. They claim the sentence was grossly disproportionate to the crime, consensual sex at a teen party in 2003 when he was 17.
Even the sponsor of the tough predator's law says it wasn't intended for people like Genarlow Wilson.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The state Senate's Public Health and Welfare Committee will hold a hearing on hospital-acquired infections today. Both the House and Senate are working on bills regulating hospitals that aim to reduce the number of hospital-acquired infections. Governor Ed Rendell proposed such regulations in January as part of a wider plan to reduce health insurance bills.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Opening statements are planned today in the trial of a Philadelphia man accused of being a lookout in a robbery that led to the death of a parking lot
attendant. Zaire Thompson of the city's Hunting Park neighborhood is charged with murder even though he isn't accused of firing the shot that killed 18-year-old William Palmer last year. Palmer was the son of two Philadelphia police officers. Thompson's lawyer has said that a security video merely showed his client was at the scene, not that he was participating in the
robbery.

WAYNESBURG, Pa. (AP) - A judge is scheduled to hear a challenge today to the results of the May 15th primary for Greene County district attorney. Democratic challenger David Pollock says incumbent Marjorie Fox shouldn't have been listed on the ballot under that name. He notes that she's registered to vote under her married name, Marjorie Niedbala. She has used her maiden name of Fox throughout her legal career. Fox also won the Republican write-in tally by six votes. But about 80 of those voters wrote only a last name on their ballot, Fox or Pollock. Pollock says his middle name is Fox and he will try to convince the judge that some of those votes may have been meant for him.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Allegheny County prosecutors say a woman who put her miscarried fetus in her freezer will not be tried on one of the charges against her. District attorney spokesman Mike Manko says a charge of abuse of a corpse against 22-year-old Christine Hutchinson of Pittsburgh will not be in court documents when she is formally arraigned. Last month, a district judge ordered Hutchinson to stand trial on that charge as well as concealing the death of a child.
Hutchinson had the miscarriage, wrapped the fetus in two bags and put it in a beer carton in her freezer April 22nd. Police, acting on a tip, found the remains in her freezer May 17th.
The county medical examiner determined the fetus died in utero, apparently from natural causes.

Jerome Bettis' Grille 36, named after the number he wore as a running back for the Steelers, is set to open to the public today. Invited guests at an event yesterday at the restaurant
with its football shaped bar and patio overlooking Pittsburgh included wide receiver Hines Ward, former Steelers Kordell Stewart and Mike Logan, Steelers President Art Rooney the Second and former Titans running back Eddie George. The casual dining spot also features several dozen flat-screen T-Vs. It's located in the Del Monte Building near Heinz Field.
Bettis is partnering with Celebrity Ventures of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in the eatery.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Luke Ravenstahl says he just fervently wishes people would stop referring to him as the youngest mayor of a big city. He'd like people to call him the mayor of Pittsburgh. Ravenstahl spoke to about 150 people yesterday at the Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock, Arkansas, as part of the institution's distinguished lecturer series.
Ravenstahl was just 26 when he was sworn into office nine months ago, after the death of then-Mayor Bob O'Connor. He says he always had to provte himself to those who thought he was too young and inexperienced to lead.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A Somerset County property owner is demanding (m) millions for his portion of the land where a memorial to the crash of Flight 93 is planned. That's outraging families of the victims. Patrick White is vice president of Families of Flight 93. He says Mike Svonavec asked for ten (m) million dollars for the 273 acres he owns. White says he thinks Svonavec believes his land is worth more because "it has the blood" of the 40 victims of the
crash of Flight 93. Svonavec won't confirm the 10 (m) million dollar figure, but he says he's just seeking fair market value and he's waiting for an appraisal. Svonavec has also angered victims' families by placing a box seeking donations on his land. He says he needs the donations to
cover the cost of security guards.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The state Senate wants to crack down on home-improvement scams.
Senators approved a bill 46-to-one that sponsor Senator Robert Tomlinson says will do just that. The bill would establish a statewide database of contractors who are have registered with the attorney general's office and create the criminal offense of home-improvement fraud.
Under the bill, penalties would be tougher if the victim is 60 or older. The bill still requires approval from the House of Representatives and Governor Ed Rendell before it can become law.
In addition, the bill would require contracts for all work that exceeds 500 dollars, and set specific contract rules to ensure that the scope and cost of the work is clearly understood by the
customer.

FAIRLESS HILLS, Pa. (AP) - A seven-foot gray seal has wiggled out of a net and splashed back into the Delaware River, where sightings have been occurring since Saturday. The director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, in Brigantine, New Jersey - Bob Schoelkopf - made an attempt to throw a net over the 300-pound male seal yesterday in an area of woods and marshes in suburban Philadelphia, about 50 miles upriver from where the river becomes salty.
Schoelkopf says he had to release the net before the seal dragged it - and him - into the river.
A Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission spokesman, Bill Edwards, says he has been tracking the seal since Saturday. Sightings were reported Saturday near Paulsboro, New Jersey, and Sunday near Bristol. Schoelkopf says gray seals are typically found from Massachusetts north but more have been seen along the New Jersey shore lately. This one apparently followed shad and striped bass up the Delaware River.