FORMER AIR PRODUCTS C.E.O. AND NOTED PHILANTHROPIST DEXTER BAKER HAS DIED IN TEXAS FOLLOWING AN ILLNESS.  THE 85-YEAR-OLD BAKER SERVED AS AIR PRODUCTS' C.E.O. FOR SIX YEARS BEGINNING IN 1986 UNTIL RETIRING IN 1992.  BAKER'S NAME IS ATTACHED TO BAKER HALL AT LEHIGH UNIVERSITY, THE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER AT MUHLENBERG COLLEGE AND A SWIMMING POOL AT THE TREXLER SCOUT RESERVATION.  SERVICES FOR BAKER WILL BE SUNDAY AFTERNOON AT THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN BETHLEHEM.

  MILLIONS OF PENNSYLVANIANS WILL CAST VOTES TUESDAY AND PLAY A KEY ROLE IN DETERMINING WHETHER REPUBLICANS OR DEMOCRATS CONTROL THE WHITE HOUSE AND THE U.S. SENATE.  PENNSYLVANIANS WILL ALSO DECIDE CONTESTS FOR CONGRESS, ATTORNEY GENERAL, TREASURER, AUDITOR GENERAL AND MOST STATE LEGISLATIVE SEATS.  POLLS CLOSE AT 8 P.M.  NEARLY 8.5 MILLION VOTERS ARE REGISTERED IN PENNSYLVANIA.

  DEMOCRATIC SENATOR BOB CASEY WAS WOBBLY AND IN TROUBLE IN HIS RACE AGAINST TOM SMITH UNTIL LAST MONTH WHEN HE KICKED OFF A NEW AD CAMPAIGN.  "HE'S HAD ON A VARIETY OF PEOPLE AND TALKED ABOUT A NUMBER OF CIRCUMSTANCES WHERE HE'S PROVIDED LEADERSHIP AND ASSISTED THE STATE DURING THIS RECESSION.  THAT WAS TOM SMITH'S MAIN CHARGE THAT CASEY WAS 'SENATOR ZERO' AND THE MOST INEFFECTIVE U.S. SENATOR," SAYS POLITICAL ANALYST TERRY MADONNA.  MOST POLLS NOW SHOW CASEY WITH A FIVE TO SIX POINT ADVANTAGE ON SMITH.

  REPUBLICAN SENATE CANDIDATE TOM SMITH LIKES WHAT HE'S SEEING IN SOME VERY RECENT POLL NUMBERS.  "OUR INTERNAL POLLING SHOWS IT DEAD EVEN AND THAT WAS ABOUT TWO DAYS AGO," SMITH SAYS.  SMITH IS CONVINCED REPUBLICAN VOTER ENTHUSIASM WILL MEAN A VICTORY FOR HIM OVER INCUMBENT SENATOR BOB CASEY AND A WIN FOR MITT ROMNEY IN BOTH PENNSYLVANIA AND NATIONALLY TODAY.

  A JUDICIAL RULING MEANS YOU WON'T BE REQUIRED TO PROVIDE I.D. WHEN YOU VOTE ON TUESDAY.  HOWEVER, IT DOESN'T MEAN YOU WON'T BE ASKED TO SHOW IT.  "POLL WORKERS ARE INSTRUCTED TO ASK FOR ID.  IF VOTERS DON'T SHOW ID, THEY THEN WILL RECEIVE A PAMPHLET THAT WAS PROVIDED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE GIVING THEM INFORMATION ON HOW TO OBTAIN ID FOR FUTURE ELECTIONS," LEHIGH COUNTY CHIEF CLERK OF ELECTIONS TIM BENYO SAYS.  HE EXPECTS VOTER TURNOUT TO BE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF 70 PERCENT.

  ELECTIONS OFFICIALS SAY POWER'S BEEN RESTORED TO MORE THAN 200 POLLING PLACES IN PENNSYLVANIA OVER THE PAST SEVERAL DAYS.  DEPARTMENT OF STATE SPOKESMAN RON RUMAN SAID EIGHT OR NINE REMAINED WITHOUT ELECTRICITY AS THE DAY BEGAN MONDAY, BUT OVER THE FOLLOWING FEW HOURS ALL OF THEM HAD BEEN PUT BACK ONLINE.  MORE THAN 250 WERE WITHOUT POWER FRIDAY.  A BUCKS COUNTY SPOKESMAN SAYS OFFICIALS HAD TO MOVE ONLY ONE POLL, IN RIEGELSVILLE, TO A FIRE HALL THAT HAS A GENERATOR.  RUMAN SAYS ONLY FIVE OTHERS REMAIN WITHOUT POWER, AND THEY ALL HAVE GENERATORS.  UTILITY OFFICIALS SAY ONLY ABOUT 11,300 CUSTOMERS REMAIN OUT IN PENNSYLVANIA, DOWN FROM MORE THAN 1.2 MILLION AFTER LAST WEEK'S STORM.

  POWER REMAINS OUT FOR 643 PPL CUSTOMERS, ALMOST ALL OF THEM IN BUCKS AND LEHIGH COUNTIES.  SEVERAL THOUSAND MET-ED CUSTOMERS ARE STILL WITHOUT ELECTRICITY, INCLUDING 2900 IN NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, NEARLY 2000 IN BUCKS COUNTY AND ANOTHER 1700 IN MONROE COUNTY.

  SOME SCHOOLS WERE CLOSED ALL LAST WEEK DUE TO HURRICANE SANDY, BUT IT'S POSSIBLE THEY MIGHT NOT HAVE TO MAKE UP ALL THOSE MISSED DAYS.  THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT SAYS IT HAS THE DISCRETION TO GRANT WAIVERS FOR INDIVIDUAL SCHOOL BUILDINGS WITHIN A SCHOOL DISTRICT.  THE ONLY WAY AN ENTIRE DISTRICT CAN BE GRANTED A WAIVER FOR THE 180-DAY REQUIREMENT IS VIA THE LEGISLATURE AND A SPOKESMAN FOR THE SENATE LEADER SAYS THAT IS A POSSIBILITY.  ERIK ARNESON SAYS SOME SCHOOLS ARE CONSIDERING ASKING FOR A WAIVER. 

  THE NORTHAMPTON COUNTY CORONER HAS IDENTIFIED THE BODY OF A MAN FOUND INSIDE A BURNING MINIVAN OVER THE WEEKEND.  BUT NORTHAMPTON COUNTY CORONER ZACK LYSEK SAYS MORE TESTS WILL BE NEEDED TO DETERMINE WHAT KILLED 46-YEAR-OLD STEPHEN NEMES OF BETHLEHEM.  NEMES' BODY WAS FOUND AFTER FIRE CREWS EXTINGUISHED THE FIRE SATURDAY EVENING IN THE VEHICLE IN A REMOTE AREA OFF ROUTE 512 IN PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP.  LYSEK SAYS THE CAUSE AND MANNER OF DEATH ARE PENDING FURTHER INVESTIGATION AS WELL AS WHETHER CRIMINAL ACTIVITY WAS INVOLVED.  BUT DISTRICT ATTORNEY JOHN MORGANELLI CALLS THE DEATH "SUSPICIOUS."

  A TEEN SAYS SHE FELT COERCED BY FRIENDS WHEN SHE VANDALIZED A NATIVITY SCENE OUTSIDE A LOCAL CHURCH EARLIER THIS YEAR.  NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD ELIZABETH BOSSERT PLEADED GUILTY TO CRIMINAL MISCHIEF ON MONDAY AND WAS SENTENCED TO PROBATION FOR THE JANUARY 3 DISFIGURING OF A BABY JESUS STATUE.  THE PORCELAIN FIGURE WAS FOUND HANGING FROM A TREE NEAR TRINITY EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN BANGOR WITH SATANIC REFERENCES SCRAWLED ON IT IN RED MARKER.  BOSSERT WAS ALSO ORDERED TO PAY FOR THE DAMAGE.

  OFFICIALS SAY A LEHIGH VALLEY MAN CLEARING DEBRIS FROM HIS PROPERTY FOLLOWING LAST WEEK'S MASSIVE STORM DIED WHEN HE WAS RUN OVER BY A TRACTOR.  THE NORTHAMPTON COUNTY CORONER'S OFFICE SAYS 67-YEAR-OLD THOMAS UNGER DIED FRIDAY EVENING IN LEHIGH TOWNSHIP.  UNGER'S DEATH WAS RULED AN ACCIDENT.  SIXTEEN DEATHS HAVE BEEN REPORTED IN PENNSYLVANIA IN CONNECTION WITH THE STORM.  THOSE INCLUDE RESIDENTS KILLED BY CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING, FALLING DEBRIS OR STORM-RELATED CRASHES.

  PENN STATE'S PRESIDENT SAYS THE SCHOOL HAS BEEN STRENGTHENED BY IMPROVEMENTS TO COMPLIANCE AND GOVERNANCE IN THE YEAR SINCE FORMER ASSISTANT FOOTBALL COACH JERRY SANDUSKY WAS ARRESTED ON CHILD SEX ABUSE CHARGES.  RODNEY ERICKSON SAYS THE PAST YEAR HAS BEEN DIFFICULT, BUT THAT PENN STATE IS A BETTER UNIVERSITY.  HE SAYS THE SCHOOL REMAINS A DIVERSE INSTITUTION FOCUSED ON ACADEMICS, RESEARCH AND SERVICE. 

  THE GRAVE OF FORMER REPUBLICAN GOV. RAYMOND SHAFER HAS BEEN DESECRATED BY VANDALS WHO DUG DOWN TO HIS BURIAL VAULT AND PAINTED GRAFFITI ON A FAMILY MONUMENT.  SHAFER'S DAUGHTER, DIANE SHAFER DOMNICK, CONFIRMS THAT HER FATHER'S GRAVE WAS TARGETED IN THE VANDALISM AT ST. JOHN'S COMMUNITY CHURCH OF GOD AND THE CHURCH'S NEIGHBORING CEMETERY.  BOTH ARE ABOUT 80 MILES NORTH OF PITTSBURGH, NEAR MEADVILLE.  DOMNICK AND POLICE HAVEN'T SAID WHAT WAS PAINTED ON THE CHURCH OR THE SHAFER MONUMENT, BUT SHE SAYS "MY FATHER'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS WERE TARGETED."  SHAFER DIED IN 2006 AND SERVED AS GOVERNOR FROM 1967 TO 1971.  HE WAS ALSO A PROSECUTOR, STATE SENATOR, LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR AND SERVED IN THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION

  THE HERSHEY CO. HAS WON APPROVAL TO TEAR DOWN PART OF THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY BUILT BY FOUNDER MILTON HERSHEY FOLLOWING THE SHIFTING OF PRODUCTION ACROSS TOWN.  THE DERRY TOWNSHIP DESIGN REVIEW BOARD ON MONDAY APPROVED THE CHOCOLATE MAKER'S PLAN TO TEAR DOWN MUCH OF THE EAST CHOCOLATE AVENUE BUILDING, LEAVING BEHIND THE ICONIC SMOKESTACKS AND BUSHES THAT SPELL OUT "HERSHEY COCOA."  HERSHEY SHUT DOWN PRODUCTION AT THE PLANT EARLIER THIS YEAR AS IT STARTED UP LINES AT A $750 MILLION EXPANSION OF A PLANT IN WEST HERSHEY.  THE COMPANY PLANS TO RENOVATE PART OF THE REMAINING BUILDING AND TURN IT INTO OFFICE SPACE.  PREVIOUSLY APPROVED DEMOLITION HAS ALREADY BEGUN AT THE SITE.