MONROEVILLE — A municipal council approved plans for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to build a seven-story hospital on the site of a former hotel in the suburbs.

UPMC bought the Palace Inn hotel in Monroeville near the Pennsylvania Turnpike for $19 million in March. At the time, the health care network said it would convert the building into a health facility.

But Monroeville council has now given UPMC permission to build a full-service 120-bed hospital.

The plans include the former hotel site and construction on 13 adjacent parcels, which have been consolidated and rezoned.

UPMC said the new hospital will create 300 to 400 jobs.

NATRONA — A man was killed in a hail of gunfire outside a bar near Pittsburgh.The Allegheny County Medical Examiner is not releasing the name of the man, who was 32 years old and believed to be from New Kensington.Police said the man was across the river at Granma's Inn, a tiny bar in the Natrona section of Harrison Township, when he was shot shortly after midnight.County and township police are searching for suspects. They said the victim became involved in a dispute and was shot outside the bar. Police have found more than a dozen shell casings at the scene.

CHESWICK — The first flu case of the season in Pennsylvania's second most-populous county has been confirmed.Allegheny County Health Department officials said a 20-year-old woman in Cheswick was tested and treated for a Type A flu virus.The health department said the woman did not need to be hospitalized and has recovered.The health department is offering flu vaccines for $25. The shots protect against two strains of Type A/Brisbane flu as well as the Type B/Florida flu.

UNIONTOWN — A man pleaded no contest to pulling the emergency brake in a moving car as a prank, flipping the car over and killing his best friend.Emmett Cooke, 50, of Dunbar Township, faces up to 18 months in jail when he is sentenced in Fayette County court on Feb. 17.Cooke pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment in the crash that killed Terry Kurosky, 49, of Uniontown on May 7, 2007. Both men were riding in a car driven by a third man when Cooke pulled the brake.State troopers said Cooke told them he had done the same thing several times in the past "and nothing happened."

CHURCHILL — The medical examiner's office today confirmed two people are dead at the scene of an early morning house fire in the Pittsburgh suburb of Churchill.The fire badly damaged the home not far from Route 22, about 10 miles east of the city. Neighbors described the victims as elderly and said one of the them was disabled.The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's office is not immediately releasing the victims' names.County homicide detectives are investigating, which is routine in a fatal fire. It's not clear if investigators know what caused the fire.