PITTSBURGH — A utility has agreed to pay an $86,000 fine and change its maintenance procedures in light of the death of a woman killed by a downed power line 3½ years ago.

The tentative agreement between West Penn Power and the Public Utility Commission requires the utility to inspect its power lines and make any necessary repairs. The commission still must finalize the agreement, which follows the June 2009 accident in which a power line fell onto and fatally burned 39-year-old Carrie Goretzka in the backyard of her Hempfield Township home in front of her daughters.

A jury in December ordered the utility to pay the victim's family $109 million. West Penn appealed.

LOS ANGELES — The number of U.S. homes entering the foreclosure process fell in January to a level not seen since the peak of the housing boom, a consequence of a package of state laws aimed at stemming foreclosures that went into effect in California at the beginning of the year.So-called foreclosure starts — when a home with a mortgage gone unpaid is placed on a countdown clock to possible foreclosure — declined 28 percent nationally last month from January 2012, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday.Foreclosure starts also fell 11 percent from December, the firm said.The last time fewer homes entered the foreclosure process in a single month was June 2006, when the U.S. housing market was roaring and home values were rising — trends that helped homeowners avoid foreclosure.January's decline in foreclosure starts was most pronounced in California. The number of homes in the state that started on the path to foreclosure plunged 75 percent from a year earlier and sank 62 percent from December.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu was suspended 20 games by the NBA after testing positive for steroids.The NBA said Turkoglu tested positive for methenolone, an anabolic steroid. He began serving the suspension Wednesday night when the Magic hosted the Atlanta Hawks. Turkoglu took full responsibility for the positive test and apologized to the Magic organization, fans and fellow teammates. He said he took medication from a trainer in Turkey this past summer to help him recover from a shoulder injury and mistakenly neglected to check it against the NBA's list of banned substances.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky received the news it dreaded when freshman forward Nerlens Noel was declared out for the season with a torn ligament in his left knee.Noel tore his ACL on Tuesday night when No. 25 Kentucky lost at Florida. An MRI revealed the injury, and the 6-foot-10 forward will have surgery in the next two or three weeks. The projected recovery period is six to eight months.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Just more than 24 hours after firing Scott Howson, the Columbus Blue Jackets announced the hiring of Jarmo Kekalainen of Finland as the first European to be a general manager in the National Hockey League.Kekalainen, director of amateur scouting with the St. Louis Blues 2002-10, held a news conference Wednesday in his native Finland at the same time the Blue Jackets Blue Jackets held theirs in Ohio.

MINNEAPOLIS — After leading the Minnesota Vikings to a surprising playoff berth last season, coach Leslie Frazier had a contract option picked up for 2014.The Vikings announced they exercised the fourth-year option.