Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 1

Pirates warm to Neil Walker One of America's Great Newspapers 50 CENTS THURSDAY, MAY 27, 2004 VOL. 77, NO 301 52704 FINAL SPORTS. PAGE Dl MP in i I. hn i 1 1 fit! mm Parents' persistence pays off Act 47 team recommends cuts in spending, increases in taxes Michele Campbell, left, and Darlene Yaras, whose children go to Pittsburgh Board of Education voted to keep the school open. Mann Elementary School, show spares 3 schools Lake Fong Post-Gazette their emotion after the "However this vote comes out, so be it, but our work is not yet finished." School board president Bill Isler The district currently has room for 50,149 students but just 34,619 are enrolled.

The original closing plan would have reduced the percentage of unused seats in the district from 31 percent to 22 percent. News that Bon Air, Horace Mann and Schaeffer elementary schools would not close after ail immediately brought tears of relief to many parents, several of whom have been protesting the closings for months. But even before school board members cast their vote, school board president Bill Isler warned that district officials will continue to close schools to pare extra seats. Superintendent John Thompson has said he next will turn his attention to par tially empty high schools. "However this vote comes out, so be it, but our work is not yet finished," Isler said, moments before the final decision.

The overall plan to close the schools passed 8-1, with only council member Mark Brentley Sr. voting against the package as a whole. Several board members, however, voted against closing particular schools. Board members Theresa Colaizzi, Jean Fink, Floyd McCrea and Dan Romani-ello voted against closing Bon Air, Mann and Schaeffer elementary schools. With Brentley vot- SEE SCHOOLS, PAGE A-13 By Timothy McNulty Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Pittsburgh's distressed city team filed an economic recovery plan yesterday that is stuffed with enough spending cuts and tax increases to affect, and maybe anger, every person living and working in the city.

That share-the-pain approach is necessary to yank Pittsburgh out of its fiscal distress, which "now stands on the precipice of a full-blown crisis," the Act 47 team said in the 233-page recovery plan it filed yesterday. Act 47 highlights The city's fiscal recovery coordinators yesterday proposed about $53 million in annual tax increases and $33 million in spending cuts next year, with the cuts growing to $66 million by 2009. The plan includes: Raising the occupational privilege tax from $10 per year to $120 a year, instituting a payroll tax on for-profit companies of $5.25 per employee per month and 0.3 percent annually on total payrolls, and reducing other business taxes. Or, if that doesn't win approval by the state Legislature, increasing wage taxes for city residents from 1 percent to 1.5 percent, instituting a 1.4 percent wage tax on non-residents employed in the city, and increasing city property taxes from 10.8 mills to 11.34 mills. Cutting the parking tax from 50 to 30 percent.

A 17 percent firefighter wage cut in 2005, followed in 2006 by cutting at least 168 firefighter positions and seven of the city's 35 fire stations. Permanently closing 16 of 32 swimming pools and 9 of 19 recreation centers. A two-year wage freeze for all city workers. The city faces a $70 million shortfall next year, which will grow to $113 million by 2009, the team of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia-based government experts found after five months of study. To fill it, they recommended increases to worker and business taxes that need state approval, or alternatively, commuter taxes and property tax hikes that can be implemented locally.

They also mandated a raft of government spending cuts, most of them targeting the city government workforce, particularly firefighters and their stations. SEF CITY, PAGEA-8 Panel told city's debt burden is far too big By Ed Blazina Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The oversight board looking for long-term solutions to Pittsburgh's financial problems found out yesterday what a daunting task it faces. At a time when the board is looking for ways to cut costs, consultants reported that the city was severely underfunding its employee pension program by at least $18 million a year and had no money set aside to cover potential health care costs, which could reach $29 million a year for active and retired employees. On top of that, the city's debt has pushed above $2 billion and little can be done to reduce its annual debt payment of $90 million a year through 2012. After listening to the grim reports, William Lieberman, chairman of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, remarked sarcastically, "It's been an afternoon of SEE DEBT, PAGE A-8 low prices that forced some dairy farmers to thin herds and sell cows to the butcher, the store price in Pittsburgh this month jumped to an all-time high of $3.51 for a gallon of whole milk.

It will go up again in June to $3.58 a gallon, another record. The recent surge comes SEE MILK, PAGE A-16 Prisoner abuse no secret to many at Abu Ghraib By Amy McConnell Schaarsmith Pittsburgh Post-Gazette In a surprising last-minute move, the Pittsburgh school board voted last night to close just 10 of the 13 schools administration officials wanted to shutter this August, sparing three elementary schools defended fiercely by parents. The proposal administration officials announced March 4 would have closed 16 schools and saved more than $8 million a year in operating costs. The more modest plan approved last night will save the district less money, although administration officials are unsure of how much less. NICHOLS CONVICTED Nearly a decade after the Oklahoma City bombing, Terry Nichols was found guilty of 161 state murder charges yesterday for helping carry out what was then the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil.

He could get the death sentence he escaped when he was convicted in federal court in the 1990s. Story, Page A-10 Bridge C-5 Business D-10 Classified C-7, F-9 Comics C-4 Crosswords C-7 Divorces C-9 I Food Local Documents show soldiers, civilians had know ledge of mistreatment, photographs By Michael A. Fuoco and Cindi Lash Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison and the existence of photographs of them being maltreated were known to many others beyond the seven members of the 372nd Military Police Company charged so far in the scandal, documents obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette indicate Many of the documents, which come from a probe by the Army's Criminal Investigation Division, also appear to support the contention of the six MPs currently facing charges that military intelligence officers directed the company to "soften up" detainees prior to interrogations. The seventh MP, Spc. Jeremy Sivits of Hynd- man, Bedford County, pleaded guilty last week.

And some documents also raise the possibility that others, military and contracted civilian personnel alike, were involved with or witnessed abuse. Blake Ellis, a spokesman for the legal team representing Pfc. Lynndie England, who is shown in some of the more scandalous photos, said the accused MPs have maintained all along that their treatment of detainees was directed by superior officers and those from military intelligence and other government agencies. "The superiors knew about this because they ordered it to be done," Ellis said. "It's unfair because the superiors who now deny that may end up with their careers over, but these soldiers are looking at doing time, at going to Fort Leavenworth and having their lives ruined." The investigative documents include a SEE PRISON, PAGE A-7 How the price of milk reached a record high U.S.

says al Qaida plans big attack By Ann McFeatters Post-Gazette National Bureau WASHINGTON Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller III yesterday said there was "credible intelligence from multiple sources" that al-Qaida terrorists were planning a major attack on the United not say whether such an attack would be made inside the United States or directed at U.S. citizens abroad, they said intelligence sources recently reported that the terrorist network was "90 percent" finished in its preparations to launch such an attack. SEE TERROR, PAGE A-6 By Jim McKay Pittsburgh Post-Gazette What do the prices of cheese and butter in Chicago have to do with how much you pay for milk at Giant Eagle? Just about everything. And the result is that you're paying more for a gallon of milk than ever before. After two years of record- 36 26301 States this summer.

"This disturbing intelligence indicates al-Qaida's specific intention to hit the United States hard," Ashcroft said. "Beyond this intelligence, al-Qaida's own public statements suggest that it's almost ready to attack the United States." While the two officials presented no specifics and could C-10 C-3 B-5 B-l D-l C-8 Search libraries as For a link to visit post-gazette ccs Marriages Movies Obituaries Brian O'Neill Sports Television Weather A stray thunderstorm this afternoon. High 76, low 58 PogeA-2 Editorials A-14 F-l Horoscope C-5 Lottery B-2 Magazine C-l Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper far back as 1990. details on our archive service, www.post-gazette.com 7r.