HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania lawmakers are nearing a key vote that could result in paychecks going out to state workers within about a week.
The state House on Tuesday began debate on a budget bill that would be sent to Gov. Ed Rendell so he can pare it down by using his line-item veto authority. It’s expected to pass overwhelmingly.
It’s a way to pay tens of thousands of workers while legislative negotiators and the governor continue to haggle over a 2009-10 spending plan.
Rendell’s office says he plans to announce on Wednesday which programs will survive his veto pen.
The budget is being held up by an ideological dispute over the benefit of balancing the budget by raising or expanding taxes versus cutting existing programs.

WASHINGTON, Pa. (AP) - More than $1,500 in funny money found its way into the cash registers of western Pennsylvania businesses over the weekend.
Fourteen merchants took in 15 fake $100 bills in South Strabane Township. In Washington, police say three merchants took in four counterfeit $50 bills.
South Strabane police Detective John Bruner says the fake $100 bills are from the 2006 series. He says many of the bogus Benjamins were discovered at banks after late-night deposit bags had been emptied.
City police Detective Jack Hancock has been working with the U.S. Secret Service to investigate the rash of fake bills for almost nine months.
Other communities are seeing counterfeit money as well. On Friday, Monongahela police warned business owners and residents of fake $50 bills being circulated in the area.

CONNEAUT LAKE, Pa. (AP) - A crew from A&E Television is looking for ghosts at a landmark hotel in northwestern Pennsylvania.
The crew from the cable channel’s “Paranormal State 3″ series is scheduled to wrap up shooting Tuesday of an episode for the upcoming third season at the Hotel Conneaut. No air date has been set.
The hotel is part of the Conneaut Lake Park amusement park and resort complex about 80 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. Ghost watchers claim the hotel is home to spirits of a dancing couple in its ballroom, a bride named Elizabeth, and children riding a bicycle, among others.
The show stars Paranormal Research Society founder Ryan Buell and his team. Buell’s group was founded as a student club at Penn State University in 2001.

FOLSOM, Pa. (AP) - Rep. Joe Sestak on Tuesday announced he would challenge Republican-turned-Democrat Sen. Arlen Specter, setting the stage for a Pennsylvania primary race likely to center on Specter’s Democratic credentials.
Sestak, a former Navy vice admiral, made the announcement at a VFW hall in Folsom in his suburban Philadelphia district. He scheduled five campaign stops in Pennsylvania on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The second-term Democrat said he wants to put “principles over politics.”
“The great American dream is not about getting ahead,” he said, “it is about doing well … and creating a world for the next generation in which they are inspired to do the same.”
In April, the five-term Specter severed his decades-long ties with the Republican Party. He said, in part, it was to avoid a Republican primary challenge from former Rep. Pat Toomey, who nearly beat him in the 2004 primary.
Sestak, 57, faces an uphill battle in challenging the White House-backed Specter, who has millions more in the bank. But Sestak enters the race with enough money to get off to a competitive start and he has the potential to give Specter, 79, a serious run.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - It’s not a done deal, but a vote in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives makes it likely that state employees will soon be collecting their pay again.
The House voted 187-to-11 on Monday to position a state budget bill that would pay tens of thousands of state workers for a final vote on Tuesday.
If it passes, then Gov. Ed Rendell is expected to use his line-item veto to pare billions of dollars from the budget, leaving just enough so that workers are paid, including back pay.
An alternative budget that was crafted by a conservative Democrat with the help of Republicans was withdrawn.
Pennsylvania began its new fiscal year July 1 without legal authority to pay most of its employees or bills.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Gov. Ed Rendell plans to sign a bill that gives seven more weeks of unemployment benefits to many jobless Pennsylvanians.
The resumption of checks to about 20,000 who have already exhausted more than a year of state and federal benefit checks should start almost immediately, Rendell said Monday. He was expected to sign the bill Tuesday, Rendell spokesman Ken Snyder said.
The bill was passed unanimously by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives earlier Monday. The Senate passed it last week after amending it ensure it covered people who exhausted their benefits before the bill becomes law.
Up to 60,000 workers in Pennsylvania who will have depleted the first 72 weeks of unemployment benefits by Dec. 31 would be eligible for the extra seven weeks of checks.
The state’s maximum unemployment compensation payout, including $25 from the federal economic stimulus package, is $583 per week.

By Ken Thomas, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The House voted overwhelmingly Friday to rush $2 billion into the popular but financially strapped “cash for clunkers” car purchase program, heeding calls from consumers eager to keep taking advantage of thousands of dollars in trade-in incentives.
House members approved the measure 316-109 within hours of learning from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood that the program was running out of money.
President Barack Obama said he was encouraged by the House action to keep alive a program that had “succeeded well beyond our expectations.” Senate action is likely next week, ensuring the program won’ be affected by the sudden shortage of cash.
Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., said of the program: “This is a test drive, and people bought it big time.”
Called the Car Allowance Rebate System, or CARS, the program is designed to help the economy and the environment by spurring new car sales. Car owners can receive federal subsidies of up to $4,500 for trading in their old cars for new ones that achieve significantly higher gas mileage.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said the new money for the program would come from funds approved earlier in the year as part of an economic stimulus bill.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the cars purchased under the program were much more fuel-efficient than the bill requires.
“Consumers have spoken with their wallets, and they’ve said they like this program,” said Rep. David Obey, D-Wis.
Some Republicans argued that Democrats were trying to jam the legislation through. A number of lawmakers also complained that many dealers have been left to contend with a chaotic government-run program.
“The federal government can’t process a simple rebate. I’ve got dealers who have submitted the paperwork three times and have gotten three rejections,” said Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich. “What is a dealer supposed to do?”
There had been a $1 billion budget for rebates for new car sales in the program that was officially launched last week and has been heavily publicized by automakers and dealers.
The program offers owners of old cars and trucks $3,500 or $4,500 toward new, more fuel-efficient vehicles, in exchange for scrapping their old vehicles.
In the Senate, Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., had proposed a plan that would have required the new vehicles to be vastly more fuel-efficient. When Feinstein supported the $1 billion funding plan in June, she said she received “absolute assurance” from Senate leaders that if the program continued beyond November it would be modeled after her bill.
Feinstein and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, asked the Transportation Department Friday for more details on how the program has worked. “Congress needs this data in order to determine if the fleet modernization program delivered significant fuel economy gains and oil savings,” Feinstein and Collins wrote.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said the administration assured lawmakers that “deals will be honored until otherwise noted by the White House.” But he suggested that “people ought to get in and buy their cars.”
At the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs sought to assure consumers that the program was still running and would be alive “this weekend. If you were planning on going to buy a car this weekend, using this program, this program continues to run.”
It was unclear how many cars had been sold under the program.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said about 40,000 vehicle sales had been completed through the program but dealers estimated they were trying to complete transactions on another 200,000 vehicles.
John McEleney, chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association, said many dealers have been confused about whether the program will be extended and for how long. Many had stopped offering the deals Thursday after word came out that the funds available for refunds had been exhausted.
The clunkers program was set up to boost U.S. auto sales and help struggling automakers through the worst sales slump in more than a quarter-century. Sales for the first half of the year were down 35 percent from the same period in 2008, and analysts are predicting only a modest recovery in the second half.
With so much uncertainty surrounding the program, North Palm Beach, Fla., dealer Earl Stewart said he planned to continue to sell cars under the program but would delay delivering the new vehicles and scrapping the trade-ins.
“It’s been a total panic with my customers and my sales staff. We are running in one direction and then we are running in another direction,” he said.
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AP Business Writer Stephen Manning in Washington contributed to this report.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE, Ohio (AP) - Two Ohio police chiefs accused of snooping on the surrogate mother for actors Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick were charged with several felonies on Friday.
Special prosecutor T. Shawn Hervey said the men conspired to take items from the woman’s eastern Ohio home to sell to celebrity photographers.
At an arraignment Friday, Martins Ferry Police Chief Barry Carpenter was charged with two counts of burglary, one count of receiving stolen property, one count of theft in office, one count of unauthorized use of property or services and one count of tampering with evidence.
Bridgeport Police Chief Chad Dojack, 30, was charged with two counts of complicity to burglary and one count of complicity to receiving stolen property.
Both men pleaded not guilty and are free on their own recognizance. Neither of the men could be reached for comment. There are no residential telephone listings for them.
Hervey said that Carpenter is alleged to have entered the home of Michelle Ross and removed items from the home identifying Ross as the surrogate mother. Along with Dojack, Carpenter attempted to sell the items to photographers, Hervey said.
Carpenter, 32, also is accused of using his office to commit the crimes, destroying evidence and illegally using a law enforcement computer system, Hervey said.
“It is extremely troubling that the persons sworn to uphold the law and protect the public are now charged with violating those oaths,” Hervey said.
He also said it was troubling that society “is so celebrity crazed that a market exists and tens of thousands of dollars are exchanged for pictures and stories of celebrity scandal.”
“Unfortunately, the city and Belmont County are now living their own Hollywood soap opera,” the prosecutor said.
The alleged burglary took place in mid-May in the eastern Ohio town of Martins Ferry, and the allegations against Carpenter and DoJack surfaced about a week later.
Ross is no longer believed to be staying in the Martins Ferry area, officials have said.
The surrogate mother gave birth to twins June 22 at an Ohio hospital was not home at the time of the alleged burglary.

By Ken Thomas, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The House raced Friday to pass legislation pouring an additional $2 billion into the popular - but financially strapped - “cash for clunkers” car purchase program.
Reps. Sander Levin, D-Mich., and Betty Sutton, D-Ohio, revealed the floor plan after he and other lawmakers were assured by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood that the program would continue at least through Friday while the Obama administration looked for more money.
Democrats in both the House and Senate were exploring the possibility of votes as early as Friday to replenish the funding.
At the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs sought to assure consumers that the program is still running and will be alive “this weekend.”
“If you were planning on going to buy a car this weekend, using this program, this program continues to run,” Gibbs told reporters.
He would not commit to any timeframe beyond that.
But Gibbs said administration officials and bipartisan leaders of Congress were working Friday morning “to find and develop ways to continue to fund this program.”
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said it wasn’t clear when a Senate vote would be held.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said about 40,000 new vehicles had been purchased through the program but dealers estimate another 200,000 vehicles have been sold in transactions that have not yet been completed through the program.
Earl Stewart, who owns a Toyota dealership in North Palm Beach, Fla., said the changing messages on the program has created confusion among his customers and his staff. Stewart’s accounting department also could only enter about a dozen of the 47 sales he made into the government Web site set up to handle the transactions, leaving him wondering if he will get refunded for the remaining vouchers.
With so much uncertainty surrounding the program, Stewart said he planned to continue to sell cars under the program Friday but would delay delivering the new vehicles and scrapping the trade-ins. Drivers would be put in loaners until he is abosolutely sure the program is still going.
“It’s been a total panic with my customers and my sales staff. We are running in one direction and they are running in another direction,” he said.

By Ken Thomas, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration promised on Friday that the financially strapped “cash for clunkers” program will be good at least through the day.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said he got the word from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood as members of the Ohio and Michigan congressional delegations huddled on Capitol Hill to discuss ways to keep the popular program going.
“Beyond Friday,” Levin said, “depends on whether the administration can find some money.”
One participant in the meeting said they were examining possible funding sources and whether there were any glitches in the computer system. The participant, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talk, said they were also studying how many dealers had enrolled in the system.
Through Wednesday afternoon, more than 23,000 dealer franchises were participating, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The administration dispatched Brian Deese, a top adviser to the Treasury’s auto task force, to the Hill meeting.
John McEleney, chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association, said many dealers have been confused about whether the program will be extended and for how long. Many had stopped offering the deals Thursday after word came out that the funds available for the refunds had been exhausted.
“We are hoping for some clarity from the White House and Congress before the day is over,” McEleney said Friday.