Briefly...
CITY/REGION

PHILADELPHIA

Operation Rice Bowl kickoff

For the 37th consecutive year, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia is participating in Operation Rice Bowl, a nationwide effort administered by Catholic Relief Services to alleviate hunger. It works both locally and abroad through prayer, fasting, learning and giving, said Bishop John J. McIntyre, who will preside at today's kickoff at the Visitation Food Cupboard at the Cardinal Bevilacqua Community Center, 2646 Kensington Ave.

Parishioners in the Archdiocese donated almost $337,000 to Operation Rice Bowl during Lent 2011. Of that amount, about $85,000 stayed in the Archdiocese and helped the Office for Nutritional Development Services fight hunger in the region, the Archidocese said. The rest was distributed to Catholic Relief Services to combat hunger and other basic human needs overseas.

PENNSYLVANIA

Got milk? Got sick

Pennsylvania health officials said that 12 people in Pennsylvania and Maryland who consumed raw milk from the same farm in Chambersburg have been stricken with illnesses that suggest that the product may have contained harmful bacteria.

The Department of Health said that it had confirmed six more cases in the three days since it reported that the Family Cow store, in Chambersburg, had voluntarily suspended production. The department recommends that buyers discard any product purchased after Jan. 1. Raw milk is not pasteurized.

The farm said it sells raw milk at its farm store and at dropoffs, grocery stores and markets around Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, the Lehigh Valley and south-central Pennsylvania.

Murder-plot trial opens

Opening statements are scheduled today in the Chester County trial of a woman accused of having instigated the beating death of her husband. Jury selection was completed yesterday for the trial of Morgan Mengel, 36, who is charged with murder, criminal conspiracy and possessing instruments of crime.

Prosecutors allege that Mengel poisoned Kevin Mengel Jr., 33, then had Stephen Shappel, 22, beat him to death with a shovel and dispose of his body near a high school.