The region’s largest newspaper is making some big cuts, and it may be tougher for people outside of the Pittsburgh-area to get the Post-Gazette.

According to the Post-Gazette, daily distribution is being discontinued effective April 1 in the areas that are, essentially, beyond Beaver County to the west and northwest; beyond Butler County to the north; beyond Greensburg/Latrobe to the east; beyond West Newton to the southeast; and beyond the Washington, Pa., ZIP code to the south and southwest .

The Post-Gazette felt the need to make this change within a limited, further-outlying geographic portion of its overall distribution area in order to be able to support growth within its core market.

Customers were notified of the change by letter or insert, and the PG has made an electronic edition available to all of the affected subscribers, according to the Post-Gazette.

The print version of the Sunday Post-Gazette will continue to be delivered to all of its current Sunday subscribers and stores where it is currently sold. The Sunday PG is not affected by this change.

Dragged down by cratering yellow-pages sales and dwindling local online ad revenues, Erie based, Idearc Media has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The plan is to get out from under $9 billion worth of total debt, and the company said it has reached a deal with creditors to slash that to about $3 billion in secured bank debt.  Locally  if job losses occur locally, as many as 100 may lose jobs. RR Donley, Idearc’s closest competitor is also feeling the heat o a low stock value, declining revenues and higher costs to print the yellow page books.Idearc expects to emerge with a cash balance of roughly $150 million post-reorg, and that the remainder of its bank debt and bonds will be converted to equity. “Essentially we have a company with good potential being held back by a terminally ill balance sheet,” CEO Scott W. Klein said, in the official release.

Formerly a division of Verizon, Idearc went public in 2006. It made a number of investments to bolster its local online advertising footprint since then, including a $3.3 million investmentinto hyper-local community site AmericanTowns.com, and buying outrival InfoSpace’s online directory business for $225 million. It also offers free and subscription-based business listings, display, video and paid search ads across Superpages.com.

Honda Motor Co. is offering voluntary buyouts, cutting workers’ pay and imposing 13 non-production days at its North American plants to reduce its output this summer by 62,000 vehicles. Honda spokesman Ron Lietzke said Tuesday that the buyouts will be offered at most of the Japanese automaker’s facilities in the North America, where it employs 35,600 people. Sweetened retirement packages are also being offered, he said.

Overall compensation will be reduced for its North American employees, with top executives experiencing the biggest cuts, Lietzke said. He would not say how much salaries would be reduced.

The company builds Honda Accords and Acura TLs and RDXs in Marysville, Ohio; Honda Civics and Elements at a factory in East Liberty, Ohio; and engines and other components in Anna, Ohio. The company also has a plant in Lincoln, Ala., that makes the Odyssey minivan, Pilot sport utility vehicle and V-6 engines. It also builds transmissions in Tallapoosa, Ga., and builds all-terrain vehicles, lawnmowers and other products in the U.S.

Between May and July, the 13 non-production days will include up to two days per month on which employees can’t go into work. They can choose to either cover that time with vacation or take no pay.

Kutztown University has canceled its men’s soccer and swimming programs in an effort to save money.

Kutztown President F. Javier Cevallos says the school will save $100,000 over the next year by eliminating the teams.

School officials say the athletic department made today’s decision after hiring a consulting firm, Alden & Associates, to analyze the school’s 23 varsity sports on criteria including athletic and academic success, attendance and fundraising.

The decision to discontinue the programs is effective immediately.

A Meadville man will serve a minimum prison sentence of nearly three years for firing a rifle in the city in April 2008.

Ellis H. Munson, 36, was sentenced this afternoon to consecutive 12-to-24-month sentences on his conviction in January of simple assault, recklessly endangering and terroristic threats.

Crawford County Judge John Spataro also sentenced Munson to 12 to 24 months on his conviction of a second count of recklessly endangering, but made that sentence concurrent to the other three charges.

Munson was given credit for 69 days that he has already served in jail.

Today, Gov. Ed Rendell carried out that goal, if only in a very small way, by hiring a retired Philadelphia executive at a one-year salary of $120,000 as co-leader of the state’s new Stimulus Oversight Commission.

Ronald J. Naples will work with state General Services Director James Creedon and 12 other members to make sure the $9.8 billion in federal stimulus money is spent as it was intended, on transportation, health care, energy, education and other areas.

The $9.8 billion is a two-year amount. The stimulus program will last only two years. Mr. Rendell said that up to $500,000 a year can be spent on staffing and other administrative costs. Mr. Naples hasn’t decided if he will be around for the second year of the program.

Mr. Naples will work 30 to 40 hours a week, Mr. Rendell said.

A Butler County doctor faces charges that he sexually abused two Butler County Boy Scouts over the course of six years, starting two decades ago when the boys were teenagers.

State police charged David Allen Evanko, 55, of Butler, with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, statutory rape, corruption of minors and indecent exposure in the abuse, which, police said, happened on “various dates and times from 1989 to 1995″ at “various locations within Butler County.”

Dr. Evanko, who runs a family practice in Chicora, was arraigned and held in the Butler County Jail on $50,000.

New Kids On The Block — featuring all five original members, including Donnie Wahlberg — have announced a new string of North American show dates, including a stop at the Post-Gazette Pavilion on June 11.

Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. at www.livenation.com, the Post-Gazette Pavilion ticket office (10 a.m.-noon)and charge by phone 1-877-598-8703. Reserved seats are $79, $59 and $39. Lawn is $10 (the first week); $20 after that; 4-packs for $40.

While the region did well overall, two counties had unemployment rates above the national average. Armstrong County’s rate was 9 percent and Fayette County’s hit 8.4 percent.

Allegheny County had the lowest unemployment rate in the area at 6.4 percent

The Pittsburgh area’s seasonally adjusted unemployment was up in February, but remained below the statewide jobless rate.

The seven counties that make up the Pittsburgh metropolitan statistical area had an unemployment rate of 6.9 percent, which was four-tenths of a percentage point higher than in January. The region’s unemployment rate was below the rest of the state’s, which was 7.5 percent for February.

The nation’s rate in February was 8.1 percent.