KEYSTONE CLIPS Valley rainfall above average

The Shenango Valley continues to enjoy a wetter-than-normal year, according to statistics kept by the Shenango Valley Division of Consumers Pennsylvania Water Co.
Rainfall for the month of June was about a half-inch below normal, but a wet spring has left the Shenango Valley with a total of 23.05 inches of rainfall so far in 2002.
The average for the first six months is 18.47 inches, based on the average of 22 years of data.
The wet year follows a couple of years in which rainfall was below normal.
The Valley recorded only 34.71 inches of rainfall in all of 2001, compared with the annual average of 39.35 inches, the water company said.
Snowfall is converted to inches of rain for statistical purposes.
TV guest
A familiar face was on CNN's "Talk Back Live" program last week.
Lawrence County District Attorney Matthew Mangino appeared Wednesday as a guest to discuss the alleged police brutality case in Inglewood, Calif., and the arrest of a Detroit woman charged with involuntary manslaughter for leaving her two children locked in a car in the sweltering heat.
Mangino said a CNN producer contacted him to appear on the show after seeing the district attorney on local television.
He made his 25-minute national television appearance from a studio in Pittsburgh that had a satellite link to the show's Atlanta location.
Mangino said CNN producers asked him to return again if there is a topic he was interested in discussing.
Free car beds
The Lactation Center at the Womancare Center of UPMC Horizon, 875 N. Hermitage Road, Hermitage, is offering free car beds for infants if their parents can't afford to buy one.
The Dream Ride Infant Car Bed allows the baby to lie flat, the only safe mode of transportation for infants who are not old enough to sit up in a car seat.
The beds sell for $80 retail, but the Womancare Center is offering them for $50 and, if a baby's parents can't afford to pay, the Quota Club International of Sharon will pick up the tab for them.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has approved the Dream Ride for transporting medically fragile infants, and it is also approved for use in aircraft, according to the Womancare Center.
XCONTRIBUTORS: Harold Gwin of the Sharon Bureau and Laure Cioffi of the New Castle Bureau.