PITTSBURGH — The University of Pittsburgh's Center for Vaccine Research estimates that more than one in five people in the Pittsburgh area got the swine flu last year.

The study is based on 100 anonymous blood samples taken from each of several age groups, and the results were then extrapolated for Allegheny County's 1.2 million residents.

Based on the sample results, the scientists estimate that 261,000 county residents got the flu — or about 21.5 percent of all residents.

The study found that school-age children were the most likely to get the swine flu, about 45 percent of them did. People over 70 fared better. Only 5 percent of them got the flu.

NEW CASTLE — An Ohio man is charged with setting fire to a Western Pennsylvania mobile home he used to rent after police say heavy snows kept him from driving away.Thirty-three-year-old Robert Lee Armstrong, of Warren, Ohio, is charged with arson, burglary and other crimes in the Feb. 14 fire in North Beaver Township, Pa.Police say Armstrong was identified as a suspect because he was still at the scene of the fire when firefighters arrived. North Beaver police say Armstrong's car was stuck in deep snow and there was no evidence anyone entered the trailer — except for footprints leading to it from Armstrong's car.Police say Armstrong broke in and set curtains on fire in a dispute with his former landlord. Police say Armstrong confessed at an Ohio where he's held in an unrelated case.

HARRISBURG — State Auditor General Jack Wagner says a confusing process is leaving some homeowners in Pennsylvania without the property-tax cut for which they qualify.Wagner said Tuesday that homeowners should check right away to see if they are receiving the tax cut, which is financed by a state tax on slot-machine gambling revenue.Wagner says homeowners who are not getting the tax cut should get a "`homestead exclusion" application from their school district or county and submit it by the March 1 deadline for this year.

HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Bar Association is appointing a 30-member panel to consider possible changes to the state constitution.The creation of the "constitutional review commission" was announced Tuesday amid continuing calls for holding the state's first constitutional convention in more than 40 years.The panel has 18 months to complete its review and make recommendations. Its members include lawyers, judges and constitutional scholars.Association President Clifford Haines said it's clear Pennsylvania's government is not working for its people. He said the panel will focus on areas that include legislative reapportionment, local government, public education and taxation.The commission is chaired by former Commonwealth Court President Judge James Gardner Colins.By The Associated Press