PITTSBURGH — An Allegheny County prosecutor says Republican state Sen. Jane Orie's motions to prevent a retrial on corruption charges — or at least remove the judge and prosecution from the case — are either frivolous or amount to complaints about self-inflicted wounds.

Orie's attorney filed several motions earlier this month, including joining the prosecution in asking Allegheny County Judge Jeffrey Manning to delay her April 11 retrial. Manning scheduled it following a mistrial he declared March 3 after finding two defense documents used to discredit a key prosecution witness were forgeries.

But Deputy District Attorney Law Claus says Orie's requests are meritless, largely because he says the defense was responsible for not turning over the forged documents sooner.

The main defense argument is that the prosecution raised the forgery issue only after realizing Orie was likely to be acquitted, which the DA denies.

MOUNT JEWETT — The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources says an observation deck and other work on the remains of a historic railroad bridge in northwestern Pennsylvania is almost finished.The Kinzua Viaduct near Mount Jewett was once the tallest and largest railroad bridge in the world, until a tornado ripped 11 of its 20 support towers from their bases on July 21, 2003.The deck and walkway are being built atop six of the support towers left standing, but the $4.5 million project first expected to be finished in 2009 has been delayed by weather and other circumstances.A DCNR spokeswoman tells the Bradford Era that the work should be finished by summer's end.The 301-foot tall viaduct was built in 1882, rebuilt to handle bigger trains in 1900 and was used by freight traffic until 1959.

PITTSBURGH — A University of Pittsburgh grad who helps lead a Libyan rebel group is considered a top candidate to be the country's prime minister should the rebels succeed in toppling dictator Moammar Gadhafi or driving him into exile.Mahmoud Jibril's friends and former university colleagues tell the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that he is well-respected as one of three elected leaders of the rebel group, and is well-studied on his homeland. His 1985 doctoral dissertation focused on United States policy toward Libya, which is still seen as an authoritative study on his country.Jibril met Tuesday in London with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in London, who says a political rather than military solution could still be had in Libya. Such a scenario would include Gadhafi leaving that country.

UNIONTOWN — Seven students who became sick at a southwestern Pennsylvania high school have tested positive for elevated levels of carbon monoxide.Uniontown Area School District Superintendent Charles Machesky says two students were tested Friday after complaining they felt ill after returning home from school.He says five more high school students have since tested positive after falling ill.Machesky says several air quality tests have been performed at the school but no abnormal readings were detected. Another round of tests is set for Wednesday.The school remains open.

PITTSBURGH — The VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System has transferred eight patients to a hospital run by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, but isn’t saying why.A Pittsburgh newspaper is reporting Wednesday that the VA issued a prepared statement saying, “Last week, VA Pittsburgh leadership were concerned that the services provided on one impatient unit did not satisfy our commitment to provide effective, safe, and first-rate care to veterans.”But the VA isn’t identifying the unit or the patients involved or saying what the problem is.A VA spokesman says the facility in question is its 146-bed University Drive Division near the University of Pittsburgh campus. The patients have been moved to an undisclosed UPMC hospital, where officials say they can’t comment on that without patient names — which the VA isn’t releasing.