SCRANTON — A former county president judge who took part in a massive kickback scheme involving for-profit juvenile detention centers was sentenced Friday to 17½ years in prison.

Former Luzerne County Judge Michael Conahan, 59, apologized to the incarcerated youths, the legal community and the public.

“The system is not corrupt,” he said. “I was corrupt,” he said.

Conahan pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy last year. He and former Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. were charged with taking bribes from the builder of a pair of juvenile detention centers and extorting cash from the facilities' co-owner. The state Supreme Court overturned about 4,000 juvenile convictions in the wake of the so-called “kids for cash” scandal.

Ciavarella was convicted of some of the charges at trial. He was sentenced last month to 28 years in prison.

ERIE — A state legislator says politicians may not be able to do much to force the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and insurer Highmark to settle their dispute over health coverage.At a public hearing in Erie, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Don White, R-41st, said the state's role may be even more limited than he first thought, the Erie Times-News said.White said part of the problem is that Pennsylvania doesn't have antitrust legislation. A series of state hearings on the dispute haven't brought the two companies together.UPMC says it won't renew an existing contract because a recent Highmark acquisition made it a direct competitor. That's led many people to worry about future coverage.

PITTSBURGH — A federal appeals court has refused a preservation group's request to consider its appeal to stop the demolition of the former Civic Arena.A Pittsburgh newspaper reported Friday that the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request by Preservation Pittsburgh to stop the demolition pending an appeal.The court said the appeal wasn't likely to succeed and said it appears U.S. District Judge David Cercone's was correct when he ruled earlier this month that he had not jurisdiction to stop the demolition.

PITTSBURGH — Boxer Paul Spadafora, the former International Boxing Federation lightweight champ, has been arrested suspicion of drunken driving.Jefferson Hills police said in a press release Friday that the 36-year-old boxer from McKees Rocks was stopped for driving 66 mph in a 40 mph zone Thursday night and appeared to be drunk.Police said Spadafora failed field sobriety tests and was arrested before he was released to the custody of a friend. Police will mail him a court summons for driving under the influence.Spadafora had been mounting a comeback since his release from prison in April 2006 for shooting his ex-girlfriend in October 2003.

PITTSBURGH — A judge said next week’s juvenile court trial of a boy accused of killing his father’s pregnant fiancee when he was 11 will stay closed to the media.Lawrence County Judge John Hodge on Friday denied requests by three newspapers that the trial be opened to the public.Prosecutors originally charged Jordan Brown, of Wampum, as an adult in the February 2009 slaying of 26-year-old Kenzie Houk. Another county judge originally refused defense requests to move Brown’s case to juvenile court, but relented last month after the Superior Court ordered him to reconsider that decision.