[naviga:h3]Cheyney may not have to repay $30M[/naviga:h3]

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s state-owned university system has agreed to forgive $30 million in loans to a financially struggling historically black college if the school can maintain a balanced budget over the next four years.

The chairman of the system’s board of governors said the plan approved Tuesday gives Cheyney University a “path forward” as it tries to close a $7 million budget gap and preserve its accreditation.

The school has until Sept. 1 to submit a plan addressing financial deficiencies to its accrediting body. The chairman said losing accreditation would almost certainly force the school’s closure.

The board also gave the university permission to cut academic programs without allowing current students to finish out their studies.

The school’s interim president said it must focus its limited resources on the most in-demand programs.

[naviga:h3]Park service restores cemetery[/naviga:h3]

SHANKSVILLE — The National Park Service has restored a family cemetery that just happens to lie within the Flight 93 National Memorial, which commemorates the hijacked airliner that crashed in Western Pennsylvania during the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The cemetery belongs to the Sorber family who buried relatives there from 1856 to 1892.

The park service said it has straightened headstones, landscaped and cleaned up the small cemetery, and fenced it in. Stephen Clark, the service’s superintendent for Western Parks in Pennsylvania, will offer tours of the fixed up cemetery on Tuesday.

Forty passengers and crew died when United Airlines Flight 93 crashed after it was hijacked by four Muslim terrorists. A federal investigation concluded the plane crashed when passengers and crew revolted against the hijackers.

[naviga:h3]Man trampled at Crawford fair[/naviga:h3]

MEADVILLE — Officials say a man thrown from a wagon and trampled by a horse at a county fair has died.

The Crawford County coroner’s office said 64-year-old Charles Burns of Saegertown was pronounced dead at 1:45 p.m. Wednesday at Meadville Medical Center about 15 minutes after the accident at the Crawford County Fairgrounds.

Coroner Scott Schell said Burns was in a wagon that was making a turn when he was ejected and landed underneath the horse. Schell said Burns died of blunt force trauma to the head. His death was ruled an accident.

Officials said Burns owned the horses and had been chairman of the fair’s draft horse department for many years. A fair board member said events would continue as scheduled.