MONROEVILLE — Two state lawmakers want to offer steeper liquor discounts to licensed establishments to help offset a new 10 percent drink tax that takes effect in Allegheny County on Jan. 1.

State Sens. Sean Logan, D-Monroeville, and John Rafferty, R-Montgomery County, have introduced a bill that would increase the discount from 10 percent to 16 percent for licensed establishments. Rafferty says the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board made nearly a half-billion dollars in profit last year and can afford the discount to help out small businesses.

The PLCB says it is willing to work on a solution to help licensees.

The per-drink tax was enacted to help Allegheny County pay for public transit.

PENN HILLS — A 10-store Pittsburgh-area carpet chain unexpectedly shut its doors ahead of Christmas.Store managers, employees and customers of Prizant's Carpet say recent months have been full of complications, including cancelations, payment issues, credit problems and delays in providing merchandise to people who had paid in full ahead of installation.Former manager of the chain's Pleasant Hill location Brian Paul says he was told last Thursday to close immediately. He says company representatives told him all the locations would be shutting down. Five other stores closed earlier in the month.Prizant's has stores in the Point Plaza in Butler Township and along Route 19 in Cranberry Township.Phone calls by several newspapers to the company's Penn Hills headquarters have not been returned.

LATROBE — The state police are still investigating the death of a Latrobe man who was hit by a pickup while he and a friend searched for a cell phone along a rural road in Westmoreland County.Police say 18-year-old Adam Dunn died after being hit about 4 a.m. Sunday along Marguerite Lake Road in Unity Township. Dunn's friend was also struck and taken to a Pittsburgh hospital, where his condition is not yet available.Police say a pickup truck and a sports car driving hit both men as they were walking on the road.Police know who was driving both vehicles. But police are trying to reconstruct the incident before determining whether charges will be filed.

BRADDOCK — A $37 million renovation of a Pittsburgh bridge that brings visitors to the Kennywood amusement park will begin in May.The two-year project on the Rankin Bridge is beginning nearly six months ahead of schedule. More than 22,000 people who use the bridge daily will be detoured while the work is under way.

PITTSBURGH — The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center says it will no longer seek a tax break from the city in exchange for a $100 million scholarship program for high school students.UPMC announced the pledge to the Pittsburgh Promise scholarship program earlier this month, but included a stipulation that it would not give the full amount if it were ever required to pay the city money in lieu of taxes. Like all city nonprofits, UPMC does not pay city or school property taxes.After UPMC made its pledge, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl asked the City Council to give the medical center a break if some form of tax-like payment were to be levied on nonprofits, leading to criticism of both the mayor and UPMC.In a statement Wednesday, UPMC said it was waiving the tax-break condition and would make its initial $10 million contribution and $90 million in matching donations to Pittsburgh Promise."We believe it is more important to move forward with the program than to worry about a hypothetical situation, which is highly unlikely to arise," UPMC general counsel Robert Cindrich said.Pittsburgh Promise was established last year to give tuition assistance to any student who graduates from a city public school with good grades and a clean disciplinary record.