PITTSBURGH — A company closing its Western Pennsylvania zinc plant says Shell Chemical LP has extended and amended an option agreement to purchase the site, which Shell might use for an ethane cracking plant.

According to a news release Tuesday, Horsehead Corp.'s agreement extends the time Shell has to buy the site about 35 miles northwest of Pittsburgh and includes plans to start demolishing the zinc plant early next year at Shell's expense.

Shell officials did not immediately comment on the announcement, but a company spokesman aid in November that the company's “evaluation of the site continues” although that “typically takes several years.”

The new plant would convert ethane from Marcellus and Utica Shale natural gas into other products.

CLAYSVILLE — Police in Western Pennsylvania say a head-on crash between two sport utility vehicles on Christmas night killed both drivers and injured two other people, including an 8-month-old baby.State police in Washington County say one SUV heading north on Route 128 in Morris Township crossed the center line and collided with a southbound SUV at about 6:40 p.m. Wednesday.Police say 46-year-old Shari Cox of Prosperity was pronounced dead at the scene and 28-year-old Stephen Breese of Washington, Pa., died at Washington County Hospital.A 30-year-old woman was flown to UPMC Presbyterian and the 8-month-old baby was flown to Children's Hospital. Both were passengers in Breese's SUV. Their conditions weren't immediately available.

BIGLERVILLE — Authorities say a coroner has been called to the scene of a reported plane crash in central Pennsylvania.Emergency dispatchers in Adams County say the crash was reported between 5:30 a.m. and 6 a.m. today in Butler Township.Officials said they had no information injuries.Federal Aviation Administration officials were heading to the scene and will investigate along with the National Transportation Safety Board.The FAA said there was no immediate word on what type of aircraft was involved or its starting point and destination.

PITTSBURGH — James Ecker, a prominent defense attorney who stoically accompanied some of the Pittsburgh area's most celebrated criminal defendants for decades, has died.The Allegheny County medical examiner's office says Ecker was 84 when he died in his sleep of natural causes before his body was found about 9 a.m. Wednesday.Ecker cut a distinguished figure with his white hair and dapper dress.Among others, he represented John Vojtas, a Brentwood police officer acquitted in the death of Jonny Gammage, a black motorist and cousin of then-Pittsburgh Steelers player Ray Seals, who died during a 1995 traffic stop.Ecker also represented Thomas Hose, a former school security guard serving five to 15 years in prison for keeping a female student captive for a decade.Law partner Brent McCune says Ecker “was the ringmaster” in many high-profile cases.

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh police are hoping surveillance video will help them find a man who smashed a storefront window at the downtown Macy’s store and stole 15 to 20 pairs of Levi’s jeans on Christmas Day.Officers responded to the burglary alarm about 1 p.m. Wednesday.The video shows the man grabbing the jeans, which sell for about $60 a pair, and fleeing in a vehicle.The store called in workers to clean up the glass and board up the broken window, which police say was smashed with a socket wrench or similar type of instrument.The video shows a black man wearing a puffy black jacket, black jeans and a black and gray baseball cap.