Remember when Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl was taking heat for having pictures on his campaign Web site that looked suspiciously like shots that also appeared on the city's site? Well, those shots are long gone.

But if you type in a very similar Web address that includes the mayor's name, you'll see a shot of a woman who looks like she may be volunteering, but not for campaign door-knocking.

We won't provide the Web address here, but let's just say that it has more links than the mayor's official campaign site, and offers considerably more in the way of, um, position papers. We here at Early Returns aren't allowed to click on the links provided, and will just accept on faith that they include information, videos, and chat that are what we will charitably call adult in nature.

Informed today of the site, a mayoral staffer who asked not to be named said, "Oh, my God!" The immediate assumption there was that some "prankster" got hold of the Web site domain name.

The domain is apparently held by a firm called Sedo's Domain Parking, which is offering it for sale to the highest bidder. With $695,000 in his campaign fund, we assume the mayor might consider buying it.

It's unclear why anybody else would want it. Data provided by Sedo's indicates that the site including the mayor's name got just 44 hits in the last month. It wasn't immediately clear whether the mayor's campaign site was getting more hits than that featuring the "volunteer," who, unlike the mayor, has only one hand on her very bare hip.

Exemplary state employees

Eileen O. Smith, Lynn Dzedny and Alfred Baldassare are top-notch employees, says Gov. Ed Rendell, who yesterday recognized them for community service, humanitarianism and safety.

They were among 19 state employees -- and the only three from southwestern Pennsylvania -- being recognized with awards for initiative, leadership, customer service, innovation, cost savings, safety, heroism, community service and humanitarianism.

They were selected from 695 nominees and received plaques and certificates of appreciation.

Ms. Smith is a community health nurse for the Allegheny County Department of Health. She received a Community Service Award for founding Caring Habits, a violence prevention initiative active in 30 schools. Ms. Smith also volunteers her time in a pastoral role in faith-based and human-rights related organizations, the governor's office said.

Ms. Szedny, an employment interviewer with the Department of Labor and Industry, received the Humanitarian Award. Ms. Szedny, of Beaver County, helped a despondent, mentally disabled client find a job, receive financial counseling, find transportation and secure a new home.

Mr. Baldassare, of Westmoreland County, is a licensed professional geologist for the Department of Environmental Protection. He received the Safety Award for developing internationally recognized expertise in groundwater contamination.

"The impact of their work stands as an irrefutable endorsement of the exceptional human talent and abilities that reside within state government," Mr. Rendell said.

Hot in Harrisburg

Who says the General Assembly doesn't care about global warming?

Well, one committee does, anyway.

The House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee voted 18 to 8 today for House Bill 110, the Pennsylvania Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act. It now moves to the full House for action.

It would require the Department of Environmental Protection to publish a report on "the impacts of global warming for Pennsylvania." The agency also would have to create an annual inventory of greenhouse gases emitted in the state and design a plan of action to reduce gases that trap heat.

"This vote proves that global warming is neither a Republican nor Democratic issue," said John Hanger, president of PennFuture, an environmental group. Supporters "know that our failure to stop global warming will destroy Pennsylvania's future."

'Real' Republican not recommended

Joseph Weinroth's campaign for Allegheny County Common Pleas Court judge has been stressing he's the only "real" Republican on the ballot -- a reflection on the eight Democrats who cross-filed to appear on both ballots in next week's primary.

Given the heavy Democratic voter registration roles in Allegheny County, the former candidate for mayor in Pittsburgh already faced an uphill battle for one of four available seats on the bench. That effort got a little harder today when the Allegheny County Bar Association released its assessment of Mr. Weinroth's legal ability and rated him "not recommended at this time."

That is the second lowest of four possible ratings. Highly recommended, recommended and unqualified are the others.

Mr. Weinroth's rating means, "The candidate's legal ability, experience and reputation indicate that, at some future time in his or her legal career, he or she may have the potential to excel as a judge, but the candidate is not yet at that stage."

Two Democrats, Kelly Eileen Bigley and Kathleen Miskovich, previously were deemed not quite ready yet. All of the other candidates were either highly recommended or recommended.

We'll find out what the voters think next week.

Early Childhood priority

Gov. Ed Rendell's proposal for increasing funds for early childhood education has been lost among the proposed tax increases, mandatory health care initiative and possible sale of the Pennsylvania Turnpike to generate money for road and bridge repairs.

But Mr. Rendell and the Pre-K Today Coalition are doing their best to bring attention to the request for an additional $100 million in the 2007-08 state budget.

Mr. Rendell may have inadvertently drawn more attention than he wanted to the proposal during a May 1 speech to Pennsylvanians for Effective Government. In what his office says was a trip of the tongue while he was trying to change words mid-sentence, the governor uttered what some thought was a vulgarism, according to capitolwire.com.

The governor was trying to say he hoped the Legislature didn't fool around with the early childhood proposal when another word might have slipped out. The governor's spokesman, Chuck Ardo, said the governor didn't say a dirty word and if he did it wasn't what he meant to say.

The Pre-K Today Coalition is hoping to draw a little more positive attention to the issue during a rally at the Capitol today during Early Childhood Action Day. A key portion of the governor's proposal would provide special services to an additional 11,000 pre-kindergarten children at risk of academic difficulty.

The coalition claims it represents 530 business owners, law enforcement officials and organizations from across the state.

Elks, consider yourselves warned

In Harrisburg, the state House could vote today or tomorrow on House Bill 747, which would allow the state Game Commission to auction off one elk license -- that is, a license to hunt one elk. The four-legged kind that roam in the woods, not the fraternal brotherhood group. Of course, it won't really be a sport until they give the elk a rifle, too, but that's another subject.