Striking teachers to return TuesdayNATRONA HEIGHTS — Teachers in one Western Pennsylvania school district must return to school a few days earlier than anticipated.A Pittsburgh newspaper reports teachers in the Highlands School District will return to class on Tuesday.The teachers, who went on strike Wednesday, initially believed they could strike for up to eight class days. That’s because a state law requires students to complete 180 classroom days by June 15.But the state teachers’ union determined the Highlands teachers wrongly counted four in-service days as classroom days, which can’t happen in the event of a strike. In-service days require teachers to work even though students aren’t in class.As a result, the strike can only last four days, or through Monday.The teachers and the school district have been bargaining since January 2015.

Mentally ill inmates no longer in solitary HARRISBURG — The U.S. Department of Justice says Pennsylvania corrections officials have stopped regularly placing inmates with serious mental illness and intellectual disabilities in solitary confinement.The Justice Department said Thursday it has closed its civil rights investigation into the state Department of Corrections following what it called “significant improvements” in how it treats mentally ill and disabled prisoners.The federal probe found that state prisons were using solitary confinement as a means of warehousing mentally ill inmates because of serious deficiencies in the state’s mental health program.Justice officials said the corrections department now provides these inmates with “specialized treatment to meet their individualized needs” and is “headed in the right direction.”Wolf signs contract review legislationHARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf has signed Republican-penned legislation to require a fiscal analysis of proposed contract agreements for public employees under the governor’s jurisdiction before they are approved.The Democratic governor signed the bill Thursday. It passed both chambers with nearly every Democratic lawmaker opposed to it.Under the bill, the fiscal analysis would be carried out by the Independent Fiscal Office, a nonpartisan legislative agency.The governor’s administration would have to provide the agency with information about the proposed contract at least 20 days in advance of its execution.Wolf also renewed his call for lawmakers to pass other transparency measures.That includes legislation banning themselves and other public officials from taking gifts, requiring them to report outside income, strengthening lobbying oversight and limiting campaign contributions.

Jobless rate rises in MarchHARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate rose three-tenths of a percentage point to 4.9 percent in March as the number of people working or looking for work hit a record level.Even with the jump, the state’s jobless rate remained below the national level, which was 5 percent.The state Labor and Industry Department said today that total nonfarm jobs rose more than 15,000 in March, with the largest gain reported in construction.Pennsylvania’s civilian labor force was up 30,000 to a record of just over 6.5 million.