Published: April 26, 2009 11:22 pm      

In brief: Murtha probe request expected, paper says

An activist for campaign-finance reform is expected to call for an investigation of U.S. Rep. John Murtha this week, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The New York Times report says Fred Wertheimer, president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Democracy 21, will be joined by others in asking the U.S. House ethics committee to investigate the Johnstown Democrat and “a handful of other lawmakers close to him.”

The question, the newspaper reports, is whether the lawmakers “traded earmarks for contributions and other benefits from PMA Group,” a lobbying firm that has been raided by federal prosecutors.

Calf reported stolen

FORT HILL – Someone stole a 1-day-old Black Angus calf from a farm in Addison Township, Somerset County.

State police said the theft happened between 10 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Sunday at a farm along High Point Road. Anyone with information may call state police in Somerset at 445-4104.