State briefs
Feb. 12, 2005 Agreement reached
SHIPPINGPORT, Pa. (AP) – After working almost a year without a contract, more than 300 workers at a coal-fired power plant have a new labor agreement with FirstEnergy Corp. that requires them to pay part of their health care costs for the first time.
Members of Local 272 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represents 350 workers at the Beaver County power plant, narrowly approved a three-year contract on Feb. 2, according to union President Dave Raffa. Raffa declined to release details of the vote.
Unionized workers had been working without a contract since Feb. 15, and authorized a strike but no workers walked off the job.
Although workers will have to make a 5-percent contribution toward their health insurance costs, the contract allows the union to opt out if it finds a better deal.
The new contract also extends their pension plan through 2010 and includes raise averaging 3 percent a year.
Superintendent accused
MIDLAND, Pa. (AP) – A school district superintendent faces a disciplinary hearing that could decide whether he is fired for allegedly misusing money and trying to renovate a bathroom without seeking bids.
In court documents, school board members accuse Western Beaver Superintendent Enrico Antonini of neglect of duty, incompetence, intemperance and immorality.
The school board will hold a hearing on the charges Wednesday.
School board members claim Antonini improperly used school funds to pay the tuition of two employees to attend the University of Pittsburgh’s principal certification program. They also claim he allegedly failed to finish making a restroom accessible to people with disabilities and tried to finish the work without seeking bids.
Antonini was suspended in October but a judge ordered him reinstated after ruling the district didn’t have proper cause to suspend him.
Antonini’s attorney, James J. Ross, said Friday he believes his client will be vindicated this time, as well.
Party official resigns
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The head of Allegheny County’s Democratic committee has resigned, clearing the way for him to possibly run for a judgeship.
Pittsburgh City Controller Tom Flaherty stepped down as chairman on Thursday after leading the Allegheny County Democratic party since June 2002.
Flaherty, 54, who has been controller since 1984, became a lawyer in 1998 but has not argued any cases in court. But Flaherty said his three decades in government as a city councilman, state representative and controller have prepared him to be a judge.
Flaherty, who announced last month he wouldn’t run for mayor of Pittsburgh, said he hasn’t decided whether he will run for judge.
Candidates for municipal races can start gathering signatures on Tuesday and have to file by March 8.
County considers post
MERCER, Pa. (AP) – Commissioners in Mercer County say the county’s next elections director will be a full-time employee, one of the recommendations in a scathing report about November’s glitch-filled general election there.
Commissioners Brian Beader, Olivia M. Lazor and Michele Brooks said Thursday they agree the next elections boss should be full-time like it was before 2002 when the previous board of commissioners downgraded the position.
Former director James Bennington resigned in the wake of complaints about problems with new electronic voting machines, machine breakdowns and a lack of paper ballots as a backup.
An investigative panel issued a report this week saying county elections workers showed “remarkable negligence.”
The panel’s 22-page report found about 4,000 votes out of 52,000 cast in the presidential race between John Kerry and George W. Bush weren’t counted because of the problems.