SCRANTON — A probation official in northeastern Pennsylvania agreed to plead guilty to tampering with juvenile court records.

Sandra Brulo is the fourth figure to be charged in an unfolding courthouse corruption scandal in Luzerne County. Court documents filed Tuesday say she will plead guilty to obstruction of justice.

The 56-year-old Brulo allegedly tampered with the records to evade liability in a civil suit filed on behalf of hundreds of juveniles who might have been improperly sentenced to detention.

Her co-defendants in the suit are former Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan. They pleaded guilty last month to fraud after prosecutors accused them of taking kickbacks to send juvenile offenders to private detention centers.

PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh-area man serving a federal prison sentence for violating his probation on a multimillion-dollar video poker machine conviction was charged with running another gambling organization involving bookmaking and poker machines.Defense attorney Wendell Freeland said John "Duffy" Conley, 45, plans to plead guilty to the new charge, which was filed late Monday.Conley spent nine years in prison after his 1995 conviction for running a video poker operation from which he made $15 million a year.He returned to prison in May 2006 for violating his probation on that conviction by running the sports betting and video poker enterprise detailed in the new charges. He faces up to five more years in prison upon conviction.

PHILADELPHIA — A group of lawmakers is reviving a proposal to require municipalities that don't have police departments to pay fees for state police protection.A Western Pennsylvania legislator who has proposed such a bill before said there are two reasons he thinks the time is ripe to reintroduce it.State Rep. John Pallone said Gov. Ed Rendell said in his budget address he would consider the idea. And the Westmoreland County Democrat said the threat of a $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion budget deficit will give the proposal more traction.Opponents say local governments already are struggling and the fees would cause worse financial problems. Pallone proposes municipalities of more than 10,000 that don't have police pay $100 per resident for trooper protection.

INDIANA — A defense attorney said a state trooper will testify he had no role in the slashing death of a Western Pennsylvania dentist.Kevin Foley, 43, is charged with criminal homicide in the April 2006 slaying of Dr. John Yelenic at his Blairsville home.Defense attorney Richard Galloway said Foley will testify today in Indiana County Court. Foley is expected to testify he went home after playing in a pickup hockey game and wasn't with Yelenic the night he was killed.Prosecutors are trying to convict Foley of first-degree murder. He was living with Yelenic's estranged wife when the dentist was murdered.The couple's divorce was so bitter, Yelenic's defense attorney sought a posthumous divorce decree.

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh City Council is barring residents from placing couches and mattresses on their porches.The council unanimously voted Tuesday to ban the furniture from porches after several sofas were burned during spontaneous outdoor celebrations that followed the Steelers' sixth Super Bowl victory Feb. 1.In general, council members say such furniture is a fire hazard as well as an eyesore. The law will be enforced through complaints by residents.The legislation now goes to Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. Should he approve it, it will take effect in two weeks.The penalty for keeping unwanted furniture on the porch will be a fine of between $200 to $500 for every day it remains outside.

HARRISBURG — An eastern Pennsylvania Republican was sworn in as the replacement for a state senator who died last year.David Argall was sworn in Tuesday to fill the seat of Sen. Jim Rhoades, who died of injuries suffered in an October car crash.Argall had been a state representative for 24 years and held the positions of GOP whip, Appropriations Committee chairman and caucus chairman.The Senate district includes all of Schuylkill and parts of Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Monroe and Northampton counties.A special election for Argall's House seat was scheduled for May 19, the same day as the primary.

LEHIGHTON — Pennsylvania State Police said the chunk of concrete that went through a windshield last week in the Poconos, killing a driver, didn't come from a bridge.Police say the concrete came from the road and was somehow kicked up by another vehicle running over it on the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.Police said it was a freak accident that killed Pierre Louverture, 48, of Long Pond on Friday in Franklin Township, Carbon County. A front-seat passenger grabbed the steering wheel to guide the car out of traffic.