HARRISBURG — The road to re-election for veteran U.S. Rep. John Murtha just got a good bit smoother.

A state judge on Tuesday ruled that the lone Republican running in the primary for the western Pennsylvania seat did not collect enough signatures to make the ballot.

Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson said Republican candidate Bill Russell's nominating petition contained only 993 valid signatures, seven fewer than required.

That left Murtha, 75, a Democrat, without opposition in the primary or general election.

Russell, 45, left the Army two years short of retirement and moved from Washington, D.C., to Johnstown to challenge Murtha. He said Tuesday that bad weather and other factors made it difficult to collect enough signatures in the heavily Democratic district.

HARRISBURG — As Ralph Nader jumps into the presidential race, he says he will again try to get on the Pennsylvania ballot.Nader is still entangled in a legal fight stemming from his last attempt to get on the state ballot in 2004.But he tells The Philadelphia Inquirer the state should give voters a choice.In an interview Monday, Nader told the newspaper Pennsylvania is "a poster child" for keeping small-party and independent candidates from gaining a ballot spot.

HARRISBURG — Gov. Ed Rendell says the state's two-plane fleet will be reduced to one.Rendell has suggested that selling state planes could save money since he first campaigned for governor in 2002.Now the smaller, less-used of two planes, a 1982 Beech King Air 200, has been put up for sale.Spokesman Chuck Ardo says the twin-engine turboprop has been valued by an appraiser at $1.4 million and is a good buy at an asking price $70,000 less than that.Ardo said the administration does not expect any negative impact on travel scheduling.