By Bill Vidonic, Times Staff

ALIQUIPPA - An Aliquippa man who was shot early today died of his wounds just before 10 a.m.

Darius Odom, 21, was shot three times in the 300 block of Todd Street in the city around 2:30 a.m., according to police Chief Ralph Pallante.

Pallante said Odom died in the operating room of UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh at 9:52 a.m.

No arrests have been made yet in the fatal shooting. For further details, revisit timesonline.com or read Friday’s Times.

NEW YORK (AP) - The sale of most of General Motors’ assets is moving closer to completion, after a bankruptcy judge denied motions by groups with asbestos and injury-related claims seeking to halt the sale and appeal directly to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.
The sale remains scheduled to close by July 10.
On Tuesday, a group representing people with product liability claims filed a motion asking that their appeal of U.S. Judge Robert Gerber’s approval of GM’s asset sale plan be fast-tracked to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, skipping district court.
In addition, a group representing people with asbestos-related claims against the automaker filed a motion asking that GM’s sale be put on hold until their appeal can be heard by a federal district court judge.
Gerber refused both motions Tuesday evening. In a detailed written ruling, Gerber said he denied the request for a stay of the sale because he saw no “substantial possibility” that the groups would prevail at the 2nd Circuit, given how that court previously ruled on Chrysler’s similar sale.

EASTVALE - The Beaver Falls Municipal Authority reported a major line break Monday at the Eastvale Water Treatment Plant.
As a result of the break, many customers in Beaver Falls experienced discolored water. Once repairs are made and water service is restored, customers may continue to see discolored water for the next few days while the system is being flushed.
Anyone who has the discolored water should run their cold water for only as long as it takes to clear up, the authority reported.
“The water authority regrets any inconvenience this may have caused to our customers, and we hope to have the situation resolved as quickly as possible,” the authority said in a news release.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - The Pittsburgh Penguins have agreed to terms on a one-year contract with forward Ruslan Fedotenko, who joined the team a year ago as a free agent.
The 30-year-old winger had 16 goals and 23 assists in 65 regular-season games, before scoring seven goals in 24 playoff games during the Penguins’ run to their third Stanley Cup championship.
Fedotenko has also played with Tampa Bay and Philadelphia since he debuted with the Flyers in 2000, a year after they signed him as an undrafted free agent.
Fedotenko is the first Ukrainian born player to win the Stanley Cup, accomplishing that first for Tampa Bay in 2004 when he scored two goals in the Lightning’s Game 7 win over Calgary in the finals.

Also, defenseman Nate Guenin, who has played in 12 NHL games, has signed a two-way contract with his hometown Pittsburgh Penguins for the 2009-10 season.
Guenin, of Sewickley, will make $500,000 if he plays in the NHL and $105,000 if he plays at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL).
The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Guenin had 14 assists in 62 games last season with the Philadelphia Flyers’ AHL farm team, which also plays in Philadelphia. He played in one game with the Flyers.
Guenin, 26, was a fourth-round draft pick by the New York Rangers in 2002.
Guenin, who signed Friday, would be the third Pittsburgh-area player to play for the Penguins, joining Ryan Malone and Bill Thomas.

CHECK ON MAXIE
Condition updates on Max Williams are available at www.caringbridge.org. Williams’ page on the site can be accessed by typing “Maxie” into the name space.
Visitors to the site also can leave get-well wishes online.
Eric Poole, Calkins Media
PITTSBURGH - Former Miami Dolphins offensive and defensive lineman Max Williams remains in critical condition after collapsing Wednesday in an apparent cardiac arrest.
Williams, of Ellwood City, is in Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh, where he is undergoing treatment. Bonnie Goatley, a close friend of Williams and his wife, Karen, said he is “holding his own.”
On Friday, Williams, who turned 69 Sunday, was reportedly breathing 90 percent on his own, and doctors were preparing to perform tests to determine the nature of the cardiac arrest that felled him Wednesday morning.
Friends and family can obtain online updates on Williams’ condition and send get-well messages by going to the Caring Bridge Web site.

According to an update late Friday morning on Caring Bridge, Williams had opened his eyes and was acknowledging visitors.
Williams was leaving Apple Rehabilitation Center in Ellport Wednesday after a workout session when he suddenly collapsed. Staff at Apple immediately began caring for the ex-pro football player and initiated CPR, moves that Goatley said saved his life.
“Thank God they had people there and they started doing CPR,” she said. “If they didn’t, he would not be here.”
He was transported by ambulance to Ellwood City Hospital, where emergency room staff stabilized his condition, and taken by helicopter to Mercy Hospital.
Williams, a North Carolina native, attended Southeastern Louisiana University and played in the American Football League and NFL for the Houston Oilers and Miami Dolphins from 1965 to 1970.
Many of his Dolphins teammates were members of the squad that made NFL history in 1972 by becoming the only team to go unbeaten throughout an entire season and win the Super Bowl.
Williams moved to the Ellwood City area after marrying Karen, and was a head football coach at New Brighton High School and an assistant coach at Lincoln High School, as recently as two years ago.
He also was the owner of Maxie-Mum fitness center, now Air Fitness, on Lawrence Avenue.
Goatley said the family is grateful for the outpouring of well-wishes and support for Williams since he was hospitalized.
“We want to thank everybody for their continuous support and prayers,” she said.
Eric Poole can be reached online at epoole@ellwoodcityledger.com.

BEAVER - Local residents are holding a Tea Party rally from 11 a.m. to noon Saturday in front of the Beaver County Courthouse on Third Street in Beaver.

Similar nationwide rallies are being held to protest government spending.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Dozens of Pennsylvania lawmakers and staffers have received subpoenas in the public corruption trial centered on the use of taxpayer money for campaign purposes.
A western Pennsylvania newspaper reported Friday at least 39 subpoenas from defense attorneys have been served in Capitol offices.
Former Democratic whip Mike Veon and 11 others connected to the House Democratic caucus were charged last summer with using government employees for electioneering. Prosecutors say staffers were paid bonuses out of taxpayer money for working on campaigns. Three staffers have agreed to plead guilty.
The subpoena recipients will have to appear for a pretrial motions hearing next week and may have to testify at trial.

The accident on the inbound lanes of the Parkway West near the I-79 interchange has been cleared, reports PennDOT.

Both lanes of traffic are reopened.Motorists, however, should expect delays in the area.

NEW YORK (AP) - Jermaine Jackson says he would like to see Neverland Ranch as his brother Michael’s final resting place.
In an interview broadcast Thursday on NBC’s “Today” show, Jermaine Jackson also said he wishes he had died instead of his younger brother, and that Michael was “a gift from Allah.”
“He went too soon. I don’t know how people are going to take this, but I wish it was me,” Jermaine Jackson said.
When asked why he felt that way, Jermaine Jackson said he always felt that he was Michael’s “backbone.”
“Someone to be there for him. I was there and he was sort of like Moses. Things he couldn’t say, I would say them. During the trials, during everything …”
Jermaine Jackson said that when he rushed to UCLA Medical Center last Thursday, where the 50-year-old pop singer was pronounced dead, “I wanted to see Michael, and I wanted to see my brother, and seeing him there lifeless and breathless was very emotional for me, but I held myself together because I know he’s very much alive.”
“His spirit is, and that was just a shell, but I kissed him on his forehead and I hugged him, and I touched him and I said, `Michael, I’ll never leave you. You’ll never leave me.”‘
On Wednesday, Jackson family spokesman Ken Sunshine said a public memorial was in the works but it wouldn’t be held at Neverland.

President Barack Obama was asked straight out on Thursday: Kobe or Michael?
As in, who’s the best? Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant, a four-time NBA champion? Or the basketball legend to whom he is most often compared, Michael Jordan, who retired as a six-time champ with the Chicago Bulls and is widely regarded as the best player of all time?
Obama told The Associated Press that Bryant is terrific, but he hasn’t seen anyone as good as Jordan.
Obama, a basketball fan who hails from Chicago, is certainly no Lakers hater. He picked Bryant’s team to defeat the Orlando Magic in the finals this year, and he was right.