HARRISBURG — In a victory for the state pension system, a retired judge has lost his attempt to boost his retirement benefits by getting additional credit for time he served as a state legislator.

The state Supreme Court reversed a January 2006 ruling by a divided Commonwealth Court that allowed one of its own members, Senior Judge James Kelley, to convert 14.5 years of credit for his time as a state senator into a higher pension bracket.

The earlier ruling had given Kelley an increase of about 25 percent in the Senate portion of his pension. Others who served alongside him in the Senate were eligible for the higher rate but Kelly had been barred from receiving it due to his status as a judge.

The decision announced Thursday said Kelley's equal-protection rights alone were not enough to prevent the state from passing a law that kept him out of the higher bracket.

PITTSBURGH — The University of Pittsburgh says it will hold next year's tuition increase to 4 percent if the state increases its appropriation by 8.5 percent.The university is seeking more than $200 million.This fall, tuition for most students on the main campus increased by 6.5 percent for in-state undergraduates who enrolled in 2004 or later. That's up to about $12,000.

CANTON — Three more high school students were arrested after police said they made threats of violence that prompted the closure of a Bradford County school district this week.A total of five male juveniles from Canton High School were being held Thursday at a detention center in Wellsboro in connection with the threats, Bradford County chief probation officer Thomas Schuster said.All five were charged with terroristic threats and creating a risk of catastrophe. They are due at a detention hearing Friday in Towanda.While school officials did not detail the threats, district Superintendent Jeffrey Johnston has said that no weapons were involved and state police did not find any weapons during a sweep of the school.

PITTSBURGH — A dispute between a billionaire newspaper publisher and a rival paper over sealed court documents detailing his acrimonious divorce and family fortune has drawn to a close — for now.A judge on Wednesday denied a request by Richard Scaife that the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette return the documents, which were obtained by the paper after they were posted online by the court — apparently in error — for several days last month.Scaife, a Pittsburgh banking heir, publishes the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and other newspapers. He is known as a staunch political conservative who spent millions funding a series of investigations into former President Bill Clinton.Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Alan Hertzberg agreed with the Post-Gazette's contention that the newspaper had First Amendment rights to retain and publish information about the divorce case.