Gay GOP legislator among nation’s first
HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania state Rep. Mike Fleck is among the country’s first Republican state legislators who are openly gay, according to a national advocacy group for gay and lesbian public officials.
Denis Dison of the Washington, D.C.-based Gay & Lesbian Victory Institute said Monday that Fleck also is currently the nation’s only openly gay sitting Republican state legislator.
Fleck, 39, of Huntingdon County, came out in an interview published Saturday in The Daily News of Huntingdon County. He represents a conservative district between Altoona and State College.
Fleck told the Altoona Mirror newspaper Saturday night that he had been working toward the decision for months.
Fleck is the first and only current legislator from either party in Pennsylvania’s Legislature who is openly gay.
Med tech in hep C case pleads not guilty
CONCORD, N.H. – A traveling hospital worker accused of stealing drugs and infecting patients with hepatitis C through contaminated syringes pleaded not guilty to the charges in New Hampshire federal court on Monday.
The man worked in Pittsburgh for a time.
David Kwiatkowski, whom prosecutors describe as a “serial infector,” was indicted last week on multiple charges of tampering with a consumer product and illegally obtaining drugs.
Until May, Kwiatkowski worked as a cardiac technologist at Exeter Hospital, where 32 patients were diagnosed with the same strain of hepatitis C he carries. Before that, he worked in 18 hospitals in seven states.
Patients in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan and New York have since been tested for hepatitis C.
Kwiatkowski had a temporary job at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center-Presbyterian in 2008.
Town’s Nativity moves to private property
ELLWOOD CITY – A Nativity display is up outside a former church in this western Pennsylvania community after a lawsuit threat prompted the town to remove the display from public property.
Ellwood City’s Nativity scene was put in place Sunday. A local attorney paid for the new display and set it up outside the former church.
Mayor Anthony Court said the new creche in the new location “doesn’t sit well” with him. He said city council should have stood up to the complaint from the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation.
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash
NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash
Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country
Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital
Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest
Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting
CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools
$1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest
NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor
Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool
Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids
Raw: Bear Falls From Tampa Tree
Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics
Terror Suspect Due in Court in Idaho Friday
Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge
Could Tobacco Be the Next Biofuel?
Wash. State Releases Draft Rules for Legal Pot
Dying Man's Blinks Lead to Murder Conviction
Officials: Texas Tornado Likely Had 200 Mph Wind
Brothers Arrested in NOLA Parade Shooting
