PITTSBURGH — City Council delayed voting on a first-of-its-kind tax on college tuition Wednesday after Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said the city was making progress with colleges and other tax-exempt nonprofits.

Ravenstahl wants to use the $16.2 million he said the 1 percent tuition tax would generate to plug a pension funding shortfall. Universities, nonprofits and students oppose the idea, and universities have rejected his alternate idea of paying $5 million a year in lieu of taxes.

"My goal is to come to an agreement with the nonprofit community before the end of the year, and I am more hopeful than ever that we can do that," Ravenstahl wrote in a letter sent to council Wednesday morning. "It is my hope, if talks continue as they have, that we will have new and strong partners in our efforts to complete our financial recovery."

Council delayed a preliminary vote until Monday.

Councilman Jim Motznik said five of council's nine members favor the tax.

Some nonprofits voluntarily give some money to the city, but the amount has dwindled from about $6 million several years ago to $1.6 million, Motznik said.

Mary Hines, president of Carlow University and chairwoman of the Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education, said the delay was a good sign.

"The more we can have this dialogue with each other, the more we're coming to the recognition of what would be the best decision for the city of Pittsburgh," she said.

While past council meetings drew large numbers of students to protest the tax, just a few attended Wednesday.

Christina Weaver, 20, a junior studying social work at Carlow University, said the levy would amount to taxation without representation because she cannot vote in the city. Other students live and work in the city and already pay taxes, she said.

"I work over the summer at an amusement park and save every penny to be able to afford to come to the city during the year," she said.

Based on her tuition, her tax would be $200.

"That for me is books for a semester. It's a phone bill for four months," she said. "That's a lot of money to a student who makes maybe $4,000 a year."

Pittsburgh has about 65,000 college students.

HARRISBURG — Gov. Ed Rendell announced $220 million in new austerity measures, but described the latest spending clampdown as precautionary and said he hoped no further state layoffs would be required.The plan combines reductions in discretionary grant programs, a 1 percent across-the-board cut in state agency spending and the use of 2008-09 surpluses in some programs.These actions will turn a projected $96 million deficit into a projected $124 million surplus by the end of the fiscal year in June, Rendell said."These cuts are minor when you take the entire scope of the ($27.8 billion) budget into consideration," Rendell told a news conference at which he and state budget chief Mary Soderberg assessed the state's finances nearly halfway through the current fiscal year.The Democrat said the possibility of a surge in tax collections or additional federal aid to states could allow the measures to be rolled back later on.Conversely, he acknowledged sluggish revenues could force more drastic measures, including layoffs in addition to the 721 state workers who lost their jobs this year.But Rendell said, "We believe we can accomplish this without further layoffs."

HARRISBURG — A new poll shows most Pennsylvania Republicans and Democrats are undecided about which gubernatorial candidates to support in the May primary.The Quinnipiac University poll released today showed 47 percent of Republicans and 59 percent of Democrats are still making up their minds.The survey shows Republican Tom Corbett remains the best-known candidate for governor. He's the state attorney general whose ongoing investigation of the Legislature has kept his name in the news for months.Among all voters, 43 percent held favorable opinions of Corbett, while 50 percent said they don't know enough to form an opinion.More than 70 percent said they didn't know enough about other candidates named in the poll: Republican Jim Gerlach and Democrats Chris Doherty, Joe Hoeffel, Tom Knox, Dan Onorato and Jack Wagner.

HARRISBURG — Gov. Ed Rendell's appointee to head the Department of Agriculture has the Senate's approval.The state Senate voted Wednesday to confirm Russell Redding to replace Dennis Wolff.Wolff stepped down in August after 6Z\x years in the job. Redding was one of Wolff's top aides, working in the department since 1995 and running its day-to-day operations as executive deputy secretary since 2003.Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Brubaker, R-Lancaster, said Redding ably represented Pennsylvania's interests when Congress passed the federal Farm Bill last year.In a statement, Pennsylvania Farm Bureau President Carl Shaffer called Redding "exceptionally qualified."The 50-year-old Redding once owned a dairy farm in Adams County.

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Public Schools are partnering with Indiana (Pa.) University in an effort to increase the numbers of black students who attend the state-owned university.The Heinz Endowments is funding the $160,000 effort called The Promise Plus. The program will expose Pittsburgh students to IUP's campus as early as elementary school, and will target city schools with a large percentage of black students.The Pittsburgh Promise program awards scholarships to city school graduates who want to attend college. The program is meant to stem the exodus of students from city schools. But despite the program, just 91 black males got scholarships out of 700 awarded last year.

WASHINGTON — Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha returned to work after being hospitalized for abdominal pains.Murtha was released from the hospital Wednesday morning.The 77-year-old Democrat was back on the House floor during discussion of military spending for fiscal year 2010.He had been admitted to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., on Sunday night.A spokesman said he was diagnosed with a gallbladder problem.The 19-term Democrat was the first Vietnam veteran elected to Congress. He chairs the influential House Defense appropriations subcommittee.