HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Scranton's status as a “distressed” city under a state program does not prevent it from having to pay arbitration awards to police and fire union members.

The high court ruled 6-to-1 against the city in a case that was closely watched by public-sector unions and Pennsylvania municipalities.

The justices overturned previous decisions in the city's favor in county court and in the state Commonwealth Court.

The city had challenged the right of an arbitration panel to award benefits to police officer and firefighters that went above the terms of the city's financial recovery plan under the Municipalities Financial Recovery Act, often referred to as Act 47.

Police and firefighters may not strike, but rather have their disputes handled by arbitration, wrote Justice J. Michael Eakin, in a concurrence joined by one other justice.

HARRISBURG — A bill aimed at giving Gov. Tom Corbett unprecedented power to force Pennsylvania's financially troubled capital into a state-sanctioned plan to deal with its staggering debt appeared Wednesday to be all but law — the latest step in a fight over who should absorb Harrisburg's obligations.Without debate, the state House voted 177-18 to send the bill to Corbett, who was not in Harrisburg on Wednesday. Once it is on his desk and he has time to review it, he will sign it, likely this week, said a spokeswoman for the Republican governor.The bill opens the door to what observers say is the most aggressive intervention by the state government into the affairs of a Pennsylvania municipality. It would enable the governor to order a financially troubled city to obey financial plans drawn up by his appointees, including a receiver who would have the power to sell city assets and file for federal bankruptcy protection, but not raise taxes.

ALLENTOWN — Pennsylvania environmental regulators said Wednesday they have given permission to a natural-gas driller to stop delivering replacement water to residents whose drinking water wells were tainted with methane.Residents expressed outrage and threatened to take the matter to court.Cabot Oil & Gas has been delivering water to homes in the northeast village of Dimock since January of 2009. The Houston-based energy company asked the Department of Environmental Protection for approval to stop the water deliveries by the end of November, saying Dimock’s water is safe to drink.An agency official wrote that the ruling was made because Cabot has satisfied the terms of a December settlement.