BRADFORD — The state Department of Environmental Protection blamed an Ohio-based gas and oil drilling company for fouling at least seven water wells in north-central Pennsylvania.

The DEP said Schreiner Oil and Gas of Massillon, Ohio, caused the problems by drilling 26 oil or gas wells recently in Bradford Township, McKean County. The DEP said the company's wells caused methane gas to migrate into the underground water supply, fouling two water wells with methane and five others with high levels of iron and manganese.

The company is providing bottled water to the affected residents and paying for one family to stay in a hotel because of methane in their well.

Schreiner officials did not immediately return a call for comment Monday.

PITTSBURGH — The first U.S. double hand transplant took place at a Pittsburgh hospital.A spokeswoman for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center said patient Jeff Kepner went into surgery Monday morning. The surgery was expected to take up to 20 hours.Kepner, 57, is a native of Lancaster who lives in Augusta, Ga. He told the Sunday News of Lancaster he looks forward to holding his 13-year-old daughter, who was 3 when he lost his hands and feet to a bacterial infection.Surgeons at the Pittsburgh hospital recently transplanted a hand onto a Marine who was hurt in a training accident.