Lt. Gov. Knoll, Sen. Fumo return to Pa. Senate

Associated Press

September 16, 2008 03:43 pm

— HARRISBURG - The state Senate is back in Harrisburg after a two-month break, with the state's cancer-stricken lieutenant governor presiding.

Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll received a brief ovation from senators during the hour-long session, the chamber's first since she revealed in August that she has neuroendocrine cancer.

In brief comments to reporters, Knoll said it feels good to be back, although her family and aides are saying little about her condition or prognosis.

Also on the floor was Sen. Vincent Fumo, the Philadelphia Democrat who is facing a federal corruption trial.

Fumo is not running for re-election and hadn't planned on returning to the Senate floor after July, but the start of his trial this week was postponed because of the presiding judge's illness.