Local

• Charter school organizers were met with skepticism and near hostility by school officials in Hermitage, Sharon and Farrell. Residents weren't much kinder during three public hearings Monday on the proposed Shenango Valley Regional Charter School.
  
• Mercer County Area Agency on Aging will be spending a lot less to remove asbestos from the Shenango Valley Multi-Service Center than it had planned, if the low bid holds up.
  Monday, the agency's board awarded Greenmoor Inc. of Avella, Pa., a $136,000 contract contingent upon review by consultant Kenneth P. Brant of Safety Dynamics Inc., Lowellville, Ohio.
  
• Mercer County Prison Board on Monday announced it was restricting telephone access for county jail inmates.
  The move came after discovery of a scam in which inmates billed long-distance collect calls to randomly chosen members of the public.
  
• An architect has presented plans to refurbish three Mercer County Housing Authority playgrounds with new, safer equipment and improved landscaping.
  John O. Buerkle Jr. of Pashek Associates PC of Pittsburgh estimates it would cost $191,000 to implement his plans, just short of the $195,000 budgeted for the work. The story ran Thursday
  
• The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board has denied the city of Farrell's petition to intervene in the proposed transfer of a liquor license, but is giving the city the opportunity to present more information.
  The city filed the petition in response to the attempt to transfer the former Villa Arena liquor license to the Farrell Inn. The story ran Thursday.
  
• State police troopers have joined the effort to help shorthanded Southwest Mercer County Regional police to patrol Farrell streets on weekend nights. Five troopers last weekend assisted Southwest police. Mercer County Sheriff's deputies, who began occasional weekend patrols last month, also assisted. The story ran Thursday.
  
• A woman whose four small children died in a house fire after she left them alone in a second-floor apartment with faulty wiring and no fire escape told police, "I know that it's so bad," a detective testified Friday.
  "She said she knew she was wrong" to leave her children alone, Charles Gaffney, investigator for the Mercer County district attorney's office, said at a preliminary hearing for Anarean Anderson, 22, of Farrell. "She said, I know it. I know that it's so bad."
  District Justice Henry Russo, Hermitage, ordered Ms. Anderson to stand trial on four felony counts of child endangerment.
  Four of her five children -- Brooke Hamlett, 5; Jalen Eilam, 4; A'Son Eilam, 3; and TreVon Eilam, 1 -- died of smoke inhalation on the second floor of their duplex apartment in Farrell on Nov. 30.
  
• When 8-year-old Aimee Buchanan of Sharon wrote a letter last year to Chelsea Clinton's cat Socks, she thought it was nothing more than a handwriting assignment for her second-grade class at Case Avenue Elementary School.
  A few months later, Aimee and her family received a phone call from Frederick Courtright, editor of the Permissions Co. in High Bridge, N.J., telling them that Aimee's letter had been selected for a book to be published by Simon and Schuster entitled "Dear Socks, Dear Buddy." The book was put together by First Lady Hillary Clinton.
  Two copies of the book arrived at the Buchanan home Dec. 5. This week, Aimee donated one of the books to the Case Avenue library.
  The story ran Saturday.
  

Nation/world

• President Clinton, through his legal team, on Monday began mounting a vigorous impeachment defense before Republican House Judiciary Committee members. The defense was aimed at undecided GOP lawmakers who will decide Clinton's fate in the full House.
  
• Most American adults say fundamental changes are needed in the Social Security program, but they don't want to pay for them by working more years until retirement or by paying higher taxes.
  Four out of five in an Associated Press poll are opposed to raising the retirement age to 70 and seven out of 10 oppose raising payroll taxes across the board to help shore up the system, a Wednesday story said.
  
• The thin sheaf of pages shook in his hands as President Clinton invited punishment without impeachment. "I understand that accountability demands consequences," he said.
  Minutes later on Friday the House Judiciary Committee approved the first article of impeachment for his conduct in the Monica Lewinsky grand jury inquiry.
  

Region

• Pennsylvania residents often complain about the state's fragmented and parochial patchwork of local governments, but getting voters to approve changes to a political landscape they are familiar with is a hard sell.
  When given the choice, local voters have rejected proposals to merge or consolidate local governments far more often than they have approved them, a Wednesday story said.
  
• A new Sunshine Law will give citizens and community groups greater leverage to make sure local officials conduct their business in public. A Wednesday story explained the law that takes effect Monday.
  The leverage will come with the threat that local governments could be forced to pay a challenger's legal fees if they flagrantly disregard state law on open meetings.
  

Sports

• Sharon High football team had its dream of a state championship shattered by Shady Side Academy, 21-14, in the PIAA Class western regional championship game in Erie. Marlin Jackson caught a 54-yard touchdown pass from Jeff Valentino and T.J. Phillips ran 3 yards for the Tigers' two TDs.
  The story ran Sunday.
  
• Notre Dame 6th-grade girls basketball team won the annual Dave Hoover tournament title with a 33-6 victory over Grove City. Hallie Arena's 16 points paced the Lady Vikings.
  The story ran Monday.
  
• Sharon High girls basketball team commenced the campaign by outscoring archrival Farrell, 76-44, paced by Muhsinah Saleem's 19-point performance.
  The story ran Tuesday.
  
• Hickory High boys basketball team rallied from a 6-point deficit with approximately 30 seconds remaining and upset Mercer, 58-54, in overtime in a Mercer County Athletic Conference interclassification contest.
  The story ran Wednesday.
  
• Jeff Valentino and teammate T.J. Phillips of Sharon shared the most valuable player award for the Mercer County Athletic Conference's AAA-AA football division, as voted by the circuit's coaches. Valentino passed for 2,066 yards and 23 TDs and Phillips rushed for 2,275 yards and ended his scholastic career with an all-time county best 6,241 yards.
  The story ran Thursday.
  
  
• Farrell High boys basketball team notched its third consecutive victory of the new season under first-year head coach Bill Michaels via an 82-39 rout of New Brighton. Urbie Flint bucketed 20 points to pace the Steelers, according to Friday's paper.
  
• Sharon High boys basketball team claimed its first win of the season after four straight setbacks via a 51-47 non-league decision over Meadville. The story appeared in Saturday's Herald.