LOCAL

LOCAL
Clarification
GIRARD -- In Wednesday's story about Girard High volleyball player Tealle Hunkus, who has verbally committed to Duke University, the reference to her father, David, was mistakenly omitted.
The Hunkus father and daughter have been making three-to-four trips to Pittsburgh each week to practice and play with the Adidas Penn Junior team that's playing in a national tournament this weekend in Salt Lake City.
REGION
Church's homerhelps Aeros
AKRON -- Jason Fitzgerald and Ryan Church homered and Brian Tallet held Harrisburg to one run over five innings as the Akron Aeros beat the Senators 6-4 Saturday night in Eastern League action.
Fitzgerald's leadoff shot in the first inning was his sixth of the season. After Maicer Izturis flied out to center field, Church followed with his third homer of the season.
Akron went ahead 5-3 in the seventh on an RBI double by Izturis and scored again in the eighth on an RBI sacrifice fly by Luis Gonzalez.
Tallet (9-1) gave up seven hits, walked two and struck out five. Ryan Larson pitched a one-run ninth to earn his second save.
Josh Karp (1-2) gave up four runs, two of them earned, on six hits in four innings and took the loss.
Harrisburg was led by Scott Hodges' one-run single in the fifth and RBI double in the ninth.
The win was a franchise-record 22nd in June for the Aeros, who won 21 in June 1998.
NATION
George pondersIndy 500 ruling
RICHMOND, Va. -- IRL president Tony George expects to rule late this week or early next week on the appeal of the disputed finish of the Indianapolis 500.
George, who spoke with The Associated Press at Saturday night's SunTrust Indy Challenge IRL race at Richmond International Raceway, did not hint which way he is leaning in the decision about whether Helio Castroneves or Paul Tracy was the true winner of the 500 on May 26.
On the next-to-last lap of the 500, Tracy passed Castroneves for the lead and an accident brought out a yellow caution flag at about the same time. Tracy's pass was ruled to have come after the yellow flew, Castroneves was put back in front and won his second straight 500.
Tracy's team owner, Barry Green, filed a protest and IRL vice president Brian Barnhart upheld his own decision making Castroneves the first back-to-back winner at Indianapolis since Al Unser in 1970-71.
Green then filed an appeal June 3, and he and Roger Penske, who owns Castroneves' car, agreed to waive any further appeals and allow George or a panel appointed by George to rule in the case after holding a hearing.
Cannon first in NHRA qualifying
MADISON, Ill. -- Scotty Cannon earned the first No. 1 qualifying position of his career Saturday, taking the top spot in the Funny Car category at the sixth annual Sears Craftsman NHRA Nationals at Gateway International Raceway.
Cannon had a 4.964-second run at 302.14 mph to become the No. 1 qualifier.
Andrew Cowin, Jim Yates and Angelle Savoie also qualified first.
Cowin took the No. 1 qualifying position in Top Fuel with a 4.635 pass at 319.75. Larry Dixon, winner of seven races this season, failed to qualify for the first time since September 1999.
Yates continued his qualifying streak, earning the No. 1 spot for the fifth consecutive race, and sixth of the season in Pro Stock.
Savoie earned her 28th career No. 1 qualifier and fourth of the season with a track-record elapsed time run of 7.171 at 187.05 to lead in the Pro Stock Motorcycle class.
Final eliminations begin today.
Francis, Carolinacome to terms
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Ron Francis signed a two-year, $11 million contract extension with the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday -- less than 48 hours before the 39-year-old captain could have become an unrestricted free agent.
Francis, who made $5 million a year the past four seasons with the Hurricanes, will earn $5.5 million each of the next two seasons after leading Carolina to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in franchise history.
"He's been our best player over the last few years, and I believe he'll continue to be our best player and continue his leadership with this team," general manager Jim Rutherford said. "We're excited to get this piece of our team put together for next year."
Stars, Predatorsmake trade
IRVING, Texas -- The Dallas Stars traded the rights to Ed Belfour, a soon-to-be free agent, and right wing Cameron Mann to the Nashville Predators on Saturday for left wing David Gosselin and a fifth-round pick in next year's draft.
Belfour will be an unrestricted free agent on Monday, and the Stars already announced they had no plans to re-sign the 37-year-old goalie.
If the Predators also don't sign Belfour, they would now be entitled to a compensatory draft pick.
Gosselin, 25, had no points and five penalty minutes in three games with Nashville this season. He also played 66 games with Milwaukee of the American Hockey League, recording 11 goals and 21 assists and 112 penalty minutes.
WORLD
Armstrong confidentfor Tour de France
PARIS -- Lance Armstrong dominated last year's Tour de France so completely that the race was over long before riders reached the finish.
Now, as the Texan prepares to bid for a fourth straight title, he has some news to make opponents tremble: He's gotten even stronger.
"On balance, compared to 1999, 2000 and 2001, I feel better," Armstrong said in an interview. "Anything can happen -- I can lose form, or have an accident. But I'm optimistic."
The 30-year-old Armstrong, who astonished the world by coming back from cancer to win cycling's toughest event three years ago, has good reason to be upbeat.
His main challenger, Jan Ullrich, won't be making the July 6 start in Luxembourg. The German, who won in 1997 and finished second the last two years, was sidelined by a knee injury in May. And former champion Marco Pantani, mired in drug problems, will also be missing, leaving few serious threats for Armstrong.
Vindicator staff/wire reports