Briefly... CITY/REGION

Indictment charges owner, ship's crew in ocean-dumping

The Hong Kong owner, captain and crew of the Liberian-flagged container ship M/V Valparaiso Star have been charged with failing to disclose illegal discharges of oil-contaminated sludge and bilge water into the Atlantic Ocean.

Coast Guard inspectors reported in January that the crew had falsified records to conceal the dumping, according to a federal indictment filed in Philadelphia yesterday.

Albright College to honor

Philly businesswoman Sunday

Lorina L. Marshall-Blake, who has long been active in the Philadelphia business world and who was removed as a candidate for an at-large City Council seat before the Tuesday Democratic primary, will be the baccalaureate preacher at the 148th commencement of Albright College Sunday in Reading.

She also will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters degree.

Leukemia victim brings drive for marrow donors to city today

Patrick Pedraja, an 11-year-old leukemia patient who is also the son of a Miami-Dade, Fla., police officer, is bringing his national drive for bone marrow donors to the city today.

His "One Child's Dream/Driving for Donors" tour, will be at Fraternal Order of Police headquarters, 1336 Spring Garden St., from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Free oral-swab tests will be administered in the lobby.

Contact Alice Kaplan at the National Marrow Donor Program at 215-451-4122 or visit www.marrow.org.

Platform set up to view work at President's House site dig

A viewing platform will be opened for curious folks this weekend at the digging site of the President's House on Market Street near 6th.

A park ranger will be on hand to answer questions about the historical dig tomorrow and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Presidents George Washington and John Adams lived in the house.

Thus far, archaeologists have unearthed a host of artifacts dating back to the mid-19th century.

No death penalty for man

charged in '02 Delco murders

Delaware County prosecutors won't seek the death penalty for Walter Rosengarth, 67, who is mentally disturbed, charged with shooting Miles and Mary Warner to death in December 2002 because, he said in a statement, he thought they were poisoning him.

Rosengarth was arraigned yesterday before Common Pleas Judge Robert C. Wright on first-degree murder and related charges.

The Warners, both 81, were found shot to death in their Chadds Ford home on Dec. 10, 2002. Assistant District Attorney Joseph Brielmann presented the case. *

- Staff and wire reports