Ex-Trump delegate from Pennsylvania to run for U.S. Senate

HARRISBURG >> Another Republican is in the running to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey in next year’s election.

Andrew Shecktor, who ran successfully last year as a delegate for Donald Trump to the Republican National Convention, said he will formally announce his campaign for the Republican nomination in the coming days. Shecktor has filed candidacy paperwork with the Federal Election Commission.

The 60-year-old Shecktor also is a Berwick borough councilman in northeastern Pennsylvania. This would be his first race for statewide office.

Also running is Republican state Rep. Rick Saccone of suburban Pittsburgh.

In the meantime, some members of Congress and top state lawmakers are gauging their chances against Casey or considering running for governor next year against Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.

Ex-Navy servicemen gets 10 years in online sex case

HARTFORD, CONN. >> A former Navy petty officer who pleaded guilty to enticing young girls to perform sexually explicit acts during online video chats has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Adam Simpson was also sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Hartford to five years of probation.

The 30-year-old Simpson, of Benton, Pennsylvania, was stationed at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, Connecticut, and served aboard the USS Hartford at the time. He pleaded guilty in June to using an interstate facility to entice a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity. He was also discharged.

Prosecutors say Simpson enticed girls between the ages of 12 and 16 to engage in sexually explicit conduct, which he recorded and saved. He also lied about his age to deceive the girls.

Pennsylvania eyes new fees to add drinking-water inspectors

HARRISBURG >> Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration says it wants to impose new fees on public water utilities to pay for more inspectors and resolve a federal official’s warning it isn’t adequately enforcing safe drinking water standards.

Wolf’s Department of Environmental Protection says it hopes to start the rulemaking process in May and begin hiring more inspectors in September 2018. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had no immediate comment Wednesday.

The DEP says the $7.5 million in new fees would likely be passed onto Pennsylvania’s 10.7 million water customers. Drinking-water inspectors dropped from 81 in 2009 to 61 currently amid years of cuts to DEP’s budget. They inspect 8,500 public water systems.

Judge turns down appeal request by 3 Penn State ex-officials

HARRISBURG >> The trial judge is turning down a request by three former Penn State administrators for permission to immediately appeal his decision keeping in place felony charges of endangering the welfare of children.

Judge John Boccabella ruled Tuesday against Penn State exPresident Graham Spanier, former Vice President Gary Schultz and former Athletic Director Tim Curley.

Their trial remains scheduled to begin with jury selection in Harrisburg March 20.

The three face criminal charges over how they responded to complaints about Jerry Sandusky while they were among the university’s top-ranking officials.

Sandusky, a former assistant football coach at Penn State, is serving decades in prison after being convicted in 2012 of 45 counts of child sexual abuse.

Girlfriend of man who shot trooper won’t face more charges

EASTON >> A state appeals court says Pennsylvania authorities cannot prosecute a woman accused of having illegally purchased a gun later used to kill a state trooper because she has already been punished by federal authorities.

Thirty-one-year-old Emily Gross was sentenced in 2011 to seven months in federal prison after pleading guilty to lying on a firearms purchase form in 2009 for her boyfriend. She said she listed Daniel Autenrieth’s address because she believed she would soon be moving in with him.

Authorities said Autenrieth later kidnapped his son and led troopers on a high-speed chase before dying in a Monroe County shootout that also killed Trooper Joshua Miller.

Woman pleads to conspiring in murder of woman found in shed

YORK >> A central Pennsylvania woman has pleaded guilty to conspiring with a man sentenced earlier to life in prison for killing his ex-girlfriend and hiding her body in a shed.

Twenty-one-year-old Natasha Stover pleaded guilty Tuesday in York County to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, obstructing the administration of law and conspiracy to obstruct the administration of law.

Prosecutors say Stover helped 23-year-old Marcus Bordelon plan the April 2015 murder of 21-year-old Samantha Young and helped him move Young’s car away from his home after the slaying.

Authorities said Stover, Bordelon’s girlfriend at the time, wasn’t present when the murder was committed. Bordelon stabbed Young to death inside his Wrightsville home