HARRISBURG — The board that governs Pennsylvania's 14 state-owned universities is being urged to comply with Gov. Ed Rendell's plan to trim state spending by 4.25 percent.

Rendell asked the State System of Higher Education to freeze part of its state aid as part of a broader effort to head off a potential state budget deficit in the face of declining revenue.

The board's finance committee on Wednesday recommended the system return up to $22 million in state funding if Rendell says it's necessary to help balance the budget.

The full board was set to consider the request at its meeting today.

HARRISBURG — Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll remains in a Baltimore hospital for cancer treatment, but Gov. Ed Rendell said she is in "fairly good spirits."Rendell told reporters Tuesday Knoll has been up, talking to her family and communicating well.However, he also cautioned she faces a very serious challenge to her health.Knoll has been a patient at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center for more than two weeks.The 78-year-old Knoll said she was diagnosed with neuroendocrine cancer in early July and has undergone radiation and chemotherapy treatments.

BETHLEHEM — An eastern Pennsylvania company is sending out a shipment for U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan who might savor a smoke break.Cigars International will ship 18,000 cigars, worth $65,000, from its plant in the Bethlehem area, 50 miles north of Philadelphia. They'll be distributed to various locations in Iraq and Afghanistan.A May-through-September promotion promised a matching donation of cigars to troops if customers bought three premium cigars for $5.Company President Keith Meier said the cigars are intended as a treat for soldier cigar-fanciers who have "been overseas and under duress."

ALLENTOWN — An attorney for a woman ordered to remove a so-called "bubble home" from the yard of her eastern Pennsylvania residence said his client needs it to survive.Elizabeth Feudale-Bowes said the galvanized steel and porcelain metal shed where she spends 10 hours a day is a sanctuary from an outside world that makes her violently ill. The 52-year-old Feudale-Bowes said she has been diagnosed with environmental illness, though some doctors suggest the ailment is psychological.The South Whitehall Township zoning board ordered the shed removed and recommended exploring other options, such as an addition to the house.Feudale-Bowes' attorney, John Karoly, said denial of Wednesday's application to appeal that order could be a death sentence for Feudale-Bowles.

PITTSBURGH — A former Pittsburgh police chaplain is accused of keeping money for the family of a 12-year-old girl killed in a shooting.Keith Smith, 61, of Crafton, is charged with theft for asking for $332 from a church for the family of Jolesa Barber.Barber was killed Jan. 28 when two gunmen opened fire on her sister's Pittsburgh home. Police said Barber was an innocent bystander in a gang-related dispute.Investigators believe Smith used the scheme with other victims' families. Police Lt. Kevin Kraus said Smith was convicted in 1994 of a similar scheme.Smith was fired in August after police received complaints that church leaders couldn't identify a Christian denomination that had ordained him.