PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said he reached a deal with the city's nonprofit community that averts the need to impose a first-of-its-kind tax on students.

The mayor declined to give dollar amounts. But he said the deal is for "the largest individual contribution to the city" and includes two universities and insurer Highmark. He said their contributions will be "a catalyst" for others to give.

Three city officials had earlier confirmed a deal had been reached.

Ravenstahl had proposed the tax as a way to generate $16 million a year to help pay for the city's massively underpaid pension fund. Ravenstahl has been searching for ways to get nonprofits to help the city's budget.

CLINTON, N.C. — To folks in his North Carolina hometown, Willie Parker's most memorable move might be somewhere other than on the field for the Pittsburgh Steelers.The Sampson Independent reported the Clinton native donated thousands of dollars in toys and bikes after a large number of presents were stolen from a local community center around Halloween.Sampson Center director Tim Boykin said Parker read a newspaper story about the theft. Without the donation, Boykin feared more than 200 children would go without presents this year. Instead, Boykin said Christmas was saved with one phone call from Parker, who played his high school football at Clinton High School.Boykin said he thinks Parker donated 90 percent of the toys the center has collected since the theft.

HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections is planning to send 2,000 inmates to facilities in other states to lessen crowded conditions in state prisons.Prison system spokeswoman Sue McNaughton said Monday within two months the inmates will be shipped to the Muskegon Correctional Facility in Michigan and the Green Rock Correctional Center in Chatham, Va.Pennsylvania will be paying those states $62 per prisoner per day.Inmates will be selected if they get relatively few visits, have no medical or mental-health issues and at least three years left on their sentences.There are now more than 51,000 inmates in Pennsylvania state prisons, while the capacity is about 44,000. Three new state prisons are planned.

CONNEAUT LAKE — A search for ghosts at a landmark hotel in northwestern Pennsylvania will be featured in the next episode of A&E Television's "Paranormal State 3."The episode airs at 10:30 p.m. today on the cable network.Crews were at the Hotel Conneaut in August to tape the episode.The hotel is part of the Conneaut Lake Park amusement park and resort complex about 80 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. Ghost watchers claim the hotel is home to spirits of a dancing couple in its ballroom, a bride named Elizabeth and children riding a bicycle, among others.The show stars Paranormal Research Society founder Ryan Buell and his team. Buell's group was founded as a student club at Penn State University in 2001.