SPRINGDALE — More than 90 teachers are on the picket line for a second day in the Allegheny Valley School District, the first teachers strike since 1994 for the schools about 15 miles upriver from Pittsburgh.

The teachers' last contract expired on June 30, 2009.

Negotiations stalled this summer over what the union is calling "meat and potato issues," that is salaries and benefits.

School board President Scott Redman says the district can't afford the union's proposal, though neither side would provide details.

The teachers can only strike for 14 days, however, because they must return to class in time for students to get 180 days of instruction by June 15.

Springdale High School is the district's flagship.

STATE COLLEGE — Penn State leaders have launched new initiatives this fall in an effort to reduce problems associated with excessive alcohol use.Initiatives include some stricter campus judicial guidelines governing alcohol-related violations, a new Alcoholics Anonymous meeting on campus, and more collaboration between University Park campus students and administrators with State College borough residents.University vice president Damon Sims said Friday more than 200 residence hall students alone had been cited for alcohol violations over the school year's first two weeks.But Sims says continued high numbers shouldn't diminish long-standing efforts to try to solve alcohol-related problems that have plagued Penn State and other schools around the country for years.

NEW CASTLE — Police say a 26-year-old man has died in an Ohio hospital after being shot in a western Pennsylvania bar.A New Castle police news release says Melvin Harper was shot in the hand and abdomen outside Wise Guys Bar.Police responded about 2:10 a.m. Friday to a report that shots had been fired in the bar's parking lot, about 45 miles northwest of Pittsburgh and a few miles from the Ohio border.Harper was taken to St. Elizabeth Hospital in Youngstown, Ohio, where he died.Nobody has been charged in the shooting.Police say an autopsy has been scheduled for Friday.

PITTSBURGH — The former Pittsburgh Hilton Hotel could be aligned with Wyndham Hotel & Resorts as part of a Chapter 11 buyout plan proposed by a doctor.Hilton pulled its name from the hotel a few days before Shubh Hotels Pittsburgh LLC of Boca Raton, Fla., filed for Chapter 11 protection last week, citing $10 million to $50 million in assets but $50 million to $100 million in debts.In a plan presented to a federal bankruptcy judge in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Dr. Kiran Patel wants to buy 89 percent of the hotel as part of a bankruptcy reorganization, and buy Shubh's remaining 11-percent stake over the next three years.As part of that deal, Wyndham has agreed to invest $1 million to upgrade the spa and market the hotel as a Wyndham Grand location.