HARRISBURG — Gov. Ed Rendell is calling on library users to pressure Senate Republicans to stop advocating spending cuts that he says would decimate library services.

The Democratic governor appeared before dozens of library employees and supporters at the East Shore Area Library in Harrisburg on Tuesday.

The state's libraries received a record $75 million in state subsidies last year, and Rendell is advocating a 10 percent reduction that he said would not seriously impair library services.

But he said the Senate GOP's plan to cut subsidies by more than half would force libraries to reduce their hours, cut back on book purchases and lay off staff members.

The governor said libraries provide a vital part of many youngsters' education, and defended his plan to increase taxes to preserve important services.

PITTSBURGH — A pregnant aerobics instructor is the last victim still in the hospital from a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh-area health club a week ago.Twenty-six-year-old Mary Primis of Moon Township remains in fair condition at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. Primis was shot in both shoulders, but her unborn child is expected to survive.The last of five shooting victims taken to another Pittsburgh hospital, UPMC Mercy, was released Monday night.Primis was one of nine women wounded at the L.A. Fitness center in Collier Township Aug. 4. The 48-year-old gunman, George Sodini of Scott Township, killed himself after wounding those women and killing three others.

PITTSBURGH — A former high school chemistry teacher in suburban Pittsburgh has been sentenced to eight months of house arrest and five years of probation after pleading guilty in an online sex sting.Nicholas Salvo apologized for his actions Tuesday as he was sentenced. Prosecutors say the 35-year-old Mount Lebanon man sent sexually explicit photographs and chat room messages to an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old girl. He pleaded guilty in May to two counts of unlawful contact with a minor and one count of criminal use of a communication facility.Salvo must register as a nonviolent sex offender under Megan's Law for 10 years.Salvo taught at Mount Lebanon High School since August 1999. He was briefly head coach of the girls' tennis team before he was suspended last summer.

SCRANTON — Two former county judges in northeast Pennsylvania have until Aug. 30 to decide whether to withdraw their pleas in a kickback scheme.Former Luzerne County judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella were charged this year with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to place juveniles in private detention centers.Each pleaded guilty to fraud and tax evasion and agreed to serve 87 months in prison.But Senior U.S. District Edward M. Kosik nixed the plea agreements last month, saying they've failed to accept responsibility.Ciavarella and Conahan can withdraw their pleas and head to trial, or keep the pleas intact and let Kosik pronounce sentence.

WILKES-BARRE — An FBI agent is being credited with defusing a three-hour standoff with an armed man inside a Wilkes-Barre pizzeria.Police received a report Tuesday morning of a suicidal man with a gun inside Teberios Pizza and Pub.Authorities talked with the man by cell phone. Police say FBI agent Jim Glenn developed a rapport with the man and persuaded him to surrender peacefully.The man was taken for a mental health evaluation. No injuries were reported.