In a report that generally augured well for medical care, the death rate in Pennsylvania’s hospitals from things such as heart attack fell to 4.2 percent in 2008, down from 5.1 percent in 2002, according to a Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council report released Thursday.

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives Friday passed a bill that would allow Philadelphia to close a $700 million budget gap by deferring pension payments and temporarily raising the sales tax in the city from 7 percent to 8 percent, according to the Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus.

Ninety-seven percent of entrepreneurs said they have had to make cuts and live within their means — and Pennsylvania legislators should, too.