HARRISBURG — The man who's been overseeing state parks and forests under Gov. Ed Rendell is resigning.

Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Michael DiBerardinis will leave the post April 3.

DiBerardinis helped establish the Pennsylvania Wilds to market the large forests in northcentral Pennsylvania to tourists.

The state also aggressively worked to protect parts of state forests as natural areas under DiBerardinis.

The Philadelphian has been in the job since 2003, the year Rendell became governor.

He was recreation commissioner during Rendell's tenure as Philadelphia mayor.

HARRISBURG — The head of Pennsylvania's student-aid agency is taking on the additional duty of overseeing the agency's fundraising arm.James Preston was appointed Wednesday as president and chief executive officer of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Foundation. Preston holds the same positions at the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency.The nonprofit foundation has raised millions of dollars in private contributions for block grants for nursing schools across the state to provide financial assistance for students.The foundation's last president, Michael Hershock, was fired Monday in a dispute over his travel expenses.

PHILADELPHIA — A federal jury has finished its first day of deliberations in the corruption case of a long-powerful Philadelphia Democrat.Former lawmaker Vincent Fumo is charged with using his large Senate staff to work on his homes, farm and political campaigns.Jurors resume deliberations Monday. They are meeting in the courtroom, which offers electronic access to the 1,300 trial exhibits, many of them e-mails.Fumo is also charged with using employees of a charity for similar chores. He's also accused of failing to pay for the use of a museum yacht and with destroying evidence.Fumo is named in 137 counts of the 139-count indictment as two counts were recently dropped. Co-defendant Ruth Arnao, the charity's director, faces 45 counts.

PITTSBURGH — The University of Pittsburgh is freezing wages for 11,800 workers on its main campus and four satellite facilities instead of laying off workers.Chancellor Mark Nordenberg says the economy and related budget issues make the move necessary.The wage freeze is for fiscal year 2010 which begins July 1.Nordenberg froze his salary and those of other administrators in December.Nordenberg says he agreed with the wage freeze recommendation, which came from a budget advisory panel of university employees and students.

PITTSBURGH — An unidentified 25-year-old Pittsburgh-area man is the first person to die from the flu this season in Allegheny County.The county health department says it is investigating whether the man had other health problems that would have made him susceptible to the flu and pneumonia because it is unusual for a person that young to die.Department spokesman Guillermo Cole says an autopsy might be performed. Cole says he doesn't know where the man lived or exactly when he died.The county has confirmed 122 cases this flu season, which typically runs from October to May. More than 330 cases were reported by this time last year, though officials believe hundreds of flu cases go unreported.