HARRISBURG — Hundreds of people rallied in the Capitol to support legislation for a universal health-care system in Pennsylvania.

State Rep. Kathy Manderino and Sen. Jim Ferlo were among the speakers Tuesday, although their bills are not expected to see action in the Legislature.

Under the bills, workers would pay a 3 percent income tax surcharge while companies would pay a 10 percent payroll tax. But supporters say a system in which everybody pays and receives care is less expensive than a current system of premiums, copays, worker's compensation and more.

EBENSBURG — The Pennsylvania Department of Education is investigating whether children in a conservative Amish sect are being educated since their Western Pennsylvania school was padlocked in a dispute over the legal use of outhouses.David Beyer, an attorney who represents the Swartzentruber Amish, says the children aren't being taught at home. Local school officials say the students haven't been enrolled since a Cambria County judge ordered their private schoolhouse padlocked in March.An education department spokeswoman, Leah Harris, says officials are looking into the "unique" situation.

EAST SPRINGFIELD — A coroner says a 51-year-old man likely slipped and fell into an Erie-area creek before his body was discovered by a fisherman whose hook snagged on the man's corpse.Erie County Coroner Lyell Cook says an autopsy didn't show any kind of trauma, but instead showed that 51-year-old Dennis Merritt drowned.Merritt lived in a motel near the creek in the Erie suburb of Waterford Township, where his body was discovered Sunday morning. The waterway is an outlet of Lake LeBoeuf near French Creek.