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Good evening! Here’s a look at AP’s general news coverage today in Pennsylvania. For questions about the state report, contact the Philadelphia bureau at 215-561-1133. Ron Todt is on the desk. Editor Larry Rosenthal can be reached at 215-446-6631 or [email protected].

A reminder this information is not for publication or broadcast, and these coverage plans are subject to change. Expected stories may not develop, or late-breaking and more newsworthy events may take precedence. Advisories, digests and digest advisories will keep you up to date.

Some TV and radio stations will receive shorter APNewsNow versions of the stories below, along with updates.

UPCOMING TOMORROW:

PENNSYLVANIA ATTORNEY GENERAL

NORRISTOWN — State Attorney General Kathleen Kane goes on trial Monday on charges she leaked secret material to a grand jury to embarrass enemies and then lied about it to a grand jury. By Maryclaire Dale. UPCOMING: 500 words by 1 p.m. EDT.

OTHER TOP STORIES:

REL–MORMON TEMPLE-PHILADELPHIA

PHILADELPHIA —A new Mormon Temple is set to open near Logan Square in Philadelphia’s Center City next month. Once dedicated, the temple will host ritual services for members in good standing with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Church leaders expect nearly 160,000 members of the general public to tour the space between Aug. 19 and Sept. 9, afterwhich only church members will have access to the space. The faith has origins in Pennsylvania, but the 152nd temple comes as the Philadelphia-region has reached a “critical mass” in its faithful. By Megan Trimble. SENT: About 650 words. AP Photos.

DEATH ROW WOMAN

LOCK HAVEN — A central Pennsylvania judge has thrown out the death penalty imposed on a woman convicted of killing her World War II-veteran neighbor with a hatchet more than a dozen years ago. SENT: About 380 words.

CASSELTON DERAILMENT-LAWSUIT

FARGO, N.D. — A Pennsylvania steel company named in a lawsuit over a fiery oil tanker train derailment near Casselton says it should not be held liable for the 2013 accident.

EXCHANGE:

EXCHANGE-UNEMPLOYED MINERS

NEMACOLIN — A steady drizzle fell over the United Mine Workers union hall in Nemacolin Thursday morning as unemployed miners streamed into the two-story building next to the post office to pick up boxes of food and supplies. Nearly nine months after Alpha Natural Resources closed its Emerald Mine near Waynesburg, costing 235 miners their jobs, the harsh economic reality has set in for many of the company’s former workers still in shock over the loss of their livelihoods. More than half are still unemployed and many who found new jobs get less than half what they did before. Greene County Commissioner Blair Zimmerman, who was a miner for 40 years, said some are still having trouble letting go of mining after experiencing earlier down cycles. “People have that mentality – and they’ve lived it – that layoffs are temporary,” Zimmerman said. “But times have changed. It’s not the same world. Mike Jones, (Washington) Observer-Reporter.

EXCHANGE-FIRE TOWERS

SOMERSET — High atop a heavily wooded stretch of the Laurel Summit where ferns and mayapples carpet the forest floor, it’s easy to miss the narrow path off Fire Tower Road near the Westmoreland-Somerset county line. The road — a pair of rough dirt ruts through lush green woods — leads to a clearing where one of the region’s last iconic fire towers stands watch over the seemingly endless mountains. At one time, 449 of the storied towers — most were built in the 1920s and 1930s — stood watch over 3.2 million acres of state forest and game lands. But their numbers were dwindling — at least 380 are no longer standing — until recently when they experienced a rebirth thanks to private efforts. Although park enthusiasts view the hard-to-miss fire towers with nostalgia, the state’s move to make them operational again stems from the high cost of using airplanes to monitor forests during peak fire season. Debra Erdley, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

EXCHANGE-HAM RADIO STATIC

BRISTOL — When he decided to become a ham radio operator, Charles Dillenbeck, of Bristol Township, went all out for his new hobby. He purchased the Cadillac of radios — an $8,000 model that allows him to chat for a few hours every night with amateur radio enthusiasts around the world. Five antennae surround his house. Then one night this spring, the static he normally heard on different frequencies became much louder, so loud he could barely hear the the people with whom he was chatting. He suspects the culprit is a new LED light fixture the township installed as part of its plan to replace incandescent street lights with cost-saving LED bulbs, and a recent report supports his theory. Peg Quann, Bucks County Courier Times.

EXCHANGE-CEMETERY CLEANUP

ALTOONA — Wendy Lynch grew up in the area of Fifth Street and Bell Avenue and used to walk through Oak Ridge cemetery to get to her grandparents’ house. When she saw the condition in 2013, she was appalled. “I couldn’t believe it,” Lynch said. “It looked like a horror story.” So she got involved through a Facebook group called Volunteers Unite to Clean Up Altoona, PA Cemeteries, but it became apparent that the situation at Oak Ridge required a lot of work so the group changed just to focus on that location. “It’s not real organized, but they get it done,” Lynch said of the volunteers who carve out time on weekends – a few hours here and there – to cut grass, trim around headstones or remove dead trees and branches. Lynch said some of the more dedicated volunteers of the past are getting older, and fortunately, this year a new crop of volunteers has helped get the cemetery into much better shape than it had been in the spring. Greg Bock, The (Altoona) Mirror.

EXCHANGE-CITY CORN

YORK — Gumercindo Minaya thinks flowers are a waste of time — you can’t eat them. So when he turned his daughter’s yard into a massive garden, he didn’t plant marigolds or roses. He planted corn. Rows of the tall stalks now fill the backyard of her corner lot on Madison Avenue in York. But, when he was planting, he didn’t stop in the backyard. “When I saw he planted outside of the fence it was already too late,” Dolores Minaya said, chuckling. Corn stalks line both sides of the sidewalk next to the house and continue to the front. Minaya’s yard is like a chunk of farm land picked up and plopped into the city. Kate Penn, York Daily Record.

IN BRIEF:

DRIVE-BY SHOOTING OUTSIDE BAR — Authorities are asking for help from the public in investigating a drive-by shooting outside a western Pennsylvania bar that killed one man and injured two women.

SUSPICIOUS DEATH-MISSING CAR — Prosecutors say they plan to seek the death penalty against a man charged in the beating death of an elderly man in his home.

MISSING MOTHER STRANGLED — A northeastern Pennsylvania man convicted in the strangulation death of his ex-girlfriend apologized to the victim’s family before he was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.

WOMEN DEAD ON ROAD — A man has pleaded guilty to dumping the body of a female houseguest along the side of a road on Valentine’s Day after she overdosed inside his central Pennsylvania home.

FATAL KNIFE FIGHT IN ALLEY — A defense attorney is seeking bail for a teenager ordered to stand trial in the stabbing death of a woman in a northeastern Pennsylvania alley.

YORK SHOOTINGS — Authorities in central Pennsylvania say one person died and two other people were injured in three shootings in York, including a 10-year-old child hit by a stray bullet.

ELEVATOR MISHAP-PHILADELPHIA — Court officials are to announce Sunday whether Philadelphia’s main criminal courthouse will reopen for business Monday following last week’s elevator malfunction.

SPORTS:

BBN–PADRES-PHILLIES

SAN DIEGO — Paul Clemens and the San Diego Padres play the middle game of a three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies, who counter with Jerad Eickhoff. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos. Game starts 5:40 p.m. EDT.

BBN–REDS-PIRATES

PITTSBURGH — The Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates continue a three-game series on Saturday night at PNC Park. Ivan Nova, acquired in a trade with the Yankees on Monday, makes his first start for Pittsburgh. Game begins at 7:05 p.m. EDT. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos.

FBN–STEELERS-SHAZIER

LATROBE, Pa. — Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier took another step forward in his second NFL season but injuries remained a concern. The former first-round pick hopes to put it all together in his third season. UPCOMING: 600 words by 6 p.m. EDT.

GLF–US WOMEN’S AMATEUR

SPRINGFIELD, Pa. — South Korea’s Eun Jeong Seong and Italy’s Virginia Elena Carta set up the first all-international U.S. Women’s Amateur final in 106 years Saturday — and guaranteed a rare season sweep.

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MARKETPLACE: Calling your attention to the Marketplace in AP Exchange, where you can find member-contributed content from Pennsylvania and other states. The Marketplace is accessible on the left navigational pane of the AP Exchange home page, near the bottom. For both national and state, you can click “All” or search for content by topics such as education, politics and business.