ERIE — GE Transportation has a deal to sell 150 locomotives to Kazakhstan's state-run railroad, most of which will be kits that are assembled in that country.

The company has a plant in Grove City which makes engines for locomotives, but it is not yet known how this agreement might affect operations there. GE announced the deal Sunday which calls for five prototypes of its shunter locomotives to be built at its plant in Erie. The remaining locomotives will be shipped to Kazakhstan as kits to be assembled there.

The locomotives are scheduled to be delivered in 2012.

The deal is between GE Transportation and two of Kazakhstan's Joint Stock Companies, Locomotiv and Kurastyru Zauty. Terms of the deal were not released. GE Transportation announced a 15-year, $500 million service contract with Kazakhstan's state-owned railroad last May.

BRADDOCK — A Western Pennsylvania borough council has approved the demolition of a community hospital, ending a two-month deadlock.Braddock borough council unanimously approved a county redevelopment proposal Tuesday night that would demolish the shuttered UPMC Braddock hospital.UPMC closed the 123-bed hospital Jan. 31 because it was losing money. Opponents protested the closing, saying the hospital was a vital community resource and the town's largest employer.Some borough officials hoped to find another medical provider who would use the building. Earlier this month a judge threw out a challenge to the closing by community members.The land would be used for an urgent care clinic and community college space.

WASHINGTON — A measure to restore eligibility for the jobless to receive up to 99 weeks of unemployment checks appears on track despite objections from Republicans concerned about its $18 billion cost. Democrats are also seeking to extend those benefits through Memorial Day instead of risking another cutoff in just three weeks.The extension is needed, said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., to give House-Senate negotiators more time to iron out a separate and more complicated bill to extend jobless benefits through the end of the year and revive expired tax breaks enjoyed by both individuals and businesses.Democrats were counting on Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, and perhaps one or two other Republicans to help the measure through a procedural thicket today. Republicans are trying to derail the measure unless it is paid for with spending cuts from elsewhere in the $3.7 trillion federal budget.