PITTSBURGH — Drivers are navigating into the peak season for deer-vehicle crashes, a category in which Pennsylvania leads the nation. A study by State Farm put the state’s total at about 120,000 for the 12 months that ended in June 2012. The study says the average claim was about $3,400, which means the antlered ruminants do hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.

State Farm says Michigan has the second-most such crashes, at 87,000. Drivers in West Virginia are most likely to hit a deer, a 1 in 38 chance. The odds in Pennsylvania are 1 in 73. The peak season runs now into mid-December.

Legionnaires’ again found at VA hospitalPITTSBURGH — The bacteria that causes Legionnaire’s disease has been found again at a Pittsburgh Veterans Affairs hospital where a two-year outbreak of the disease previously sickened 21 patients and killed five.VA spokesman David Cowgill said the bacteria was found in a “limited number” of plumbing fixtures at the hospital in the city’s Oakland section on Oct. 7.Cowgill said stricter testing standards implemented after the previous outbreak detected the bacteria.Water restrictions are in place at the hospital, where hot and cold water systems have been treated with shock chlorination to kill the bacteria. The water restrictions will remain until the bacteria is gone, possibly another two weeks.

Woman killed when house burnsCASTLE SHANNON — Authorities say a woman was killed in a pre-dawn fire in a Pittsburgh-area home.Firefighters in Allegheny County said the blaze was reported shortly before 4 a.m. today in a duplex in Castle Shannon.Officials said a neighbor first saw the flames and managed to get the woman out of the house and onto the porch, but she later died of her injuries.Fire officials said the victim had medical problems and there were oxygen tanks and other medical devices inside the home.Fire Chief Bill Reffner said the tanks could have exploded and put nearby homes in danger, but they seemed to be intact.The neighbor had some burns on his hands but wasn’t seriously injured. The cause of the blaze is under investigation.