Flight 93 memorial will get more treesSHANKSVILLE — Hundreds of volunteers are again set to plant thousands of trees at the Flight 93 National Memorial.More than 15,000 seedlings will be planted Friday and Saturday.The new seedlings will cover 23 acres of hillside near where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in an abandoned strip mine in Shanksville after being hijacked by four terrorists during the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Forty passengers and crew died as they crashed the plane while fighting for control with the hijackers.More than 2,000 volunteers have planted nearly 75,000 seedlings since the projects began in 2012. Organizers hope to reforest the entire site with more than 150,000 trees.

Bill would overhaul truancy response HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Senate is advancing legislation in response to a 2014 jail-cell death of a mother of seven who was serving a weekend sentence for her children’s absences from school.The bill passed unanimously Tuesday and goes to the House of Representatives.Berks County Democratic Sen. Judy Schwank says the bill would make teachers and school administrators responsible for truancy issues and get them involved early, rather than making courts the first response.It also would offer parents the opportunity to perform community service, instead of going to jail, if they’re convicted of violating school attendance requirements and can’t afford the fine.Eileen DiNino of Reading died of natural causes during a two-day sentence to erase about $2,000 in truancy fines and court costs that had accrued since 1999.

Comcast pays $490M to founder’s widowPHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia-based Comcast Corp. has paid its founder’s widow nearly $490 million in perks and to cash out life insurance policies in her name.Founder Ralph Robert was 95 when he died in June and his 94-year-old widow, Suzanne, was paid $326 million to cover perks her husband was awarded in 1992. The cable television giant also paid $164 million to end insurance policies on Suzanne Roberts’ life that were becoming expensive because of her age.Comcast says the cost to the company will be less than the $490 million paid out, however, because of corporate tax benefits and because the cash value of the life insurance policies was more than what was paid to Roberts’ widow.