Agreement

The Chester Upland School District has reached an agreement in legal action against the state Department of Education where the department will provide about $30.2 million to pay off the district's debts and allow it to open for the coming school year. The settlement was presented before U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson on Friday. A final hearing is set for Aug. 15. In a related settlement, the state agreed to pay Chester Community Charter School more than $12 million. In June, the school received $5.5 million from the state related to delinquent charter-school payments from the district.

Despite the bravado and sometimes delusion that has accompanied Lenny Dykstra's fall from grace, the former Phillies outfielder has decided to make a plea agreement in his federal bankruptcy case. Dykstra was facing more than 90 years in prison for bankruptcy fraud, obstruction of justice and money laundering. Prosecutors allege he took $400,000 worth of furnishings from his $18 million mansion in 2009 and sold them. Additional charges were added in April, regarding selling baseball equipment that prosecutors say was part of his bankruptcy estate.

District 1199C of AFSCME's National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia reached a tentative agreement on a new contract covering 1,300 workers, mostly support staff, the union said. The union said it is still in contract negotiations with 12 other area employers, including Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Hahnemann University Hospital, and Temple University Health System. Existing agreements at those facilities expire Sunday and cover about 6,000 additional workers, the union said.

MOSCOW - High-level nuclear talks involving Iran and six world powers fizzled Tuesday, creating increased opportunity for Israel to use the setback to argue that military force is the only way to stop Tehran from developing atomic arms. As she announced the indefinite pause in negotiations, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said they could be resumed - but only if a low-level July 3 meeting of technical experts in Istanbul, Turkey finds enough common ground to warrant such a step.

The Philadelphia School Reform Commission on Friday renewed operating agreements with two city charter schools and approved additional students for those two and a third charter. And in a special session otherwise devoted to charter-school issues, the SRC assured parents from Creighton Elementary that the five-member panel will vote next week on whether the school's teachers will be given permission to try to turn it around. "We have to take a vote that resolves the Creighton issue by the end of next week," SRC Chairman Pedro Ramos said.

US Airways on Friday took a step toward merging with bankrupt American Airlines, as it reached agreements with American's unions for pilots, flight attendants and mechanics. The three unions, which represent about 55,000 American employees, announced their support of a merger, which would create the world's largest airline under the American Airlines name. American said it will continue its efforts to emerge from bankruptcy as a stand-alone company. Philadelphia is one of US Airways' three main hub cities, and it would remain a hub for the merged airline, according to US Airways chief executive Doug Parker.

BEIRUT - Syria promised to comply with a U.N.-brokered cease-fire beginning Thursday but carved out an important condition - that the regime still has a right to defend itself against the terrorists that it says are behind the country's year-old uprising. The statement Wednesday offered a glimmer of hope that a peace initiative by special envoy Kofi Annan could help calm the conflict, which has killed about 9,000 people. But the regime still has ample room to maneuver. In comments carried on the state-run news agency, Syria said the army has successfully fought off "armed terrorist groups" and reasserted state authority across the country.

Parke Bank, of Sewell, said it reached agreements with federal and state regulators that require it to clean up its balance sheet by eliminating assets from its books that have already been classified as a loss, among other measures. The bank entered into the consent orders with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance after a recent regulatory examination. Parke had net loans of $605.79 million on Dec. 31 and reported net income of $7.27 million for the year.

The Philadelphia Orchestra Association and Kimmel Center are in accord on the main points of a revamped relationship, but have not yet fleshed out their agreement on paper, lawyers for both sides said Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The two groups have agreed to a "term sheet that fully resolves all the issues," but "it's not binding yet because it requires documentation," said orchestra bankruptcy lawyer Lawrence G. McMichael. The terms, he reported, have been approved by the boards of both groups.