HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania's 50-year-old Library Code may soon be modernized.

The state Senate's Education Committee today was due to hear from a slate of experts about proposed changes to library regulations, reforms to account for current technology, and new standards for employees, collections, facilities and accessibility.

A government report on Pennsylvania libraries issued in December recommended a slew of changes, including minimum levels of local funding and consolidation of services.

HARRISBURG Lawyers have picked a jury for the corruption trial of three former Republican aides in the state House of Representatives.A spokeswoman for Dauphin County Judge Richard Lewis said Tuesday the lawyers finished choosing 12 jurors and four alternates. At least one more alternate is to be picked today.The trial is scheduled to start Monday.The defendants are accused of illegally using taxpayer-owned computers and other resources to bolster House election campaigns. They are Brian Preski, the longtime chief of staff to former House Speaker John Perzel; former Rep. Brett Feese, a one-time House GOP whip; and former Feese aide Jill Seaman.Six other GOP defendants have pleaded or plan to plead guilty in the case, including Perzel.

PHILADELPHIA — A U.S. appeals court has thrown out a ban on drilling in the Allegheny National Forest.The unanimous three-judge panel says the government only controls surface rights.The court says mineral rights are privately owned, and those owners should enjoy reasonable access to the surface to drill for oil and gas below.Tuesday's ruling is a setback for environmental groups who had gotten the National Forest Service to stop issuing the drilling permits until lengthy environmental impact studies could be done.The ruling upholds a lower-court judge who had temporarily lifted the ban.

HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Corbett is in Washington to meet with Republican members of Pennsylvania's congressional delegation about a plan to change how the state awards electoral votes in presidential elections.Corbett's spokesman, Kevin Harley, says he made Tuesday's trip at the request of the congressional Republicans.Corbett is a leading proponent of the plan to replace the current, winner-take-all system that gives all the electoral votes to the candidate who wins the statewide election. The proponents say it would be fairer to award the electoral votes to the winner in each congressional districts plus a two-vote bonus for the statewide winner.Critics, including state Republican Party chairman Rob Gleason, say the change would cost Pennsylvania clout in national politics and wipe out the state's reputation as a presidential battleground.

PITTSBURGH — A couple filed negligence lawsuits Tuesday against the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center-Presbyterian Hospital and University of Pittsburgh Physicians.The lawsuits allege that UPMC allowed an April transplant to proceed, even though tests had shown the kidney was infected with Hepatitis C.UPMC said in a statement that it sincerely regrets the human error behind the problem, but that “any allegation of a cover-up is completely false.” UPMC said once the error was discovered it informed the patients and national transplant oversight officials.The lawsuits were filed by Michael Yocabet and Christina Mecannic, partners who have been together for 21 years. She donated the kidney to him, and the lawsuit said UPMC didn’t tell either of them Mecannic’s kidney was infected until after the transplant.Harry Cohen, the couple’s lawyer, said Yocabet faces potential long-term problems from Hepatitis C.