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Lights, Camera, Eastland: Alert Reader A.M. noticed a movie set springing up on the former site of Eastland Mall in North Versailles Township last week and tipped the Almanac.

Alas, it wasn't the Denzel Washington runaway train flick "Unstoppable," which begins shooting in central and western Pennsylvania in late August.

Instead, the Pittsburgh Film Office confirms that "Warrior," a film starring Nick Nolte, shot a few scenes on the property along Pittsburgh-McKeesport Boulevard. ("But it wasn't that interesting, frankly," a source tells us.)

Shooting was done over the weekend of July 18-20. The movie, slated for 2010 release, stars Nolte as a retired steelworker training his sons to compete in a mixed-martial arts tournament.

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Auld Lang Syne: Former WMCK, WIXZ and WESA radio personality Terry Lee is selling DVDs of his New Year's Eve television show from 1977.

The DVDs, available at TL's website, feature Boz Scaggs, Sweet Breeze, Rhythm Kings, Sonny DiNunzio and other artists and list for $19.99. The special originally aired at 11:30 p.m. Dec. 31, 1977 on WPGH-TV (53).

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Bridge Bill Heads to Senate: A bill to name a bridge over Jack's Run after former White Oak Mayor Milt Lebowitz is before the state Senate Transportation Committee.

The legislation introduced by state Rep. Marc Gergely, D-White Oak, would christen the new bridge connecting Route 48 with McClintock Road and serves as one of the entrances to White Oak Park.

Lebowitz was a Korean War veteran, owner of a commercial dry-cleaning business and a borough councilman before being elected mayor in 1998. He served as mayor until his death in 2003 at 71.

As a member of the borough's recreation board in the early 1970s, Lebowitz helped develop the White Oak Heritage Hill recreation complex, including the public swimming pool, Gergely says.

Naming the bridge after Lebowitz is a "lasting memorial" to one of the borough's "most influential" residents, he says.

Co-sponsors included state Reps. Bill Kortz of Dravosburg, David Levdansky of Elizabeth, Jim Casorio of Irwin and Paul Costa of Wilkins Township.

The bill passed the state House 195 to 0 and was referred to the state Senate.

No hearings have been scheduled on the legislation, however, as the General Assembly wrestles with the lack of a state budget. The state has been without a spending plan since the 2008-09 budget expired June 30.*

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Tuition Boost at PSU Campus: Students at Penn State's Greater Allegheny Campus in McKeesport are seeing about a four-percent increase in their tuition bills for the fall semester.

Invoices sent out last week include the tuition schedule recommended by Penn State administrators and approved July 17 by an executive committee of the board of trustees. The increase must be ratified by the full board in September, the university says.

It was necessary in part because Gov. Ed Rendell has recommended a $61 million cut in Penn State's funding, university officials say.

And they still don't know how bad the final cut in the university's funding will be because the state still hasn't approved a budget.

"We are making this leap of faith on behalf of our students and we hope that the proposed 18 percent cut from the state is off the table," Penn State President Graham Spanier said in a prepared statement.

Tuition for in-state students at the McKeesport campus will rise $217, or 3.9 percent, according to figures provided by the university.

About 800 students attend the campus near Renzie Park, which offers four-year degrees in business; communications; applied psychology; letters, arts and sciences; information sciences; and organizational leadership; two-year associate degrees in those and related fields; and the first two years of other Penn State degrees.

* --- UPDATE: This story was edited after publication. Citing a June 30 story in The Daily News, it originally stated that the current mayor of White Oak, Ina Jean Marton, objected to naming the bridge after Lebowitz. An Alert Reader forwarded a copy of a July 8 letter to the editor of The Daily News in which Marton apologized for any offense and retracted her comments. Our apologies to Mayor Marton and thank you to our anonymous correspondent. --- Editor