7:58 A.M. — Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett’s office said this morning he will hold a 2 p.m. news conference to announce criminal charges as part of an ongoing grand jury probe into bonuses paid to employees of the Legislature and using state resources to work on political campaigns.

You’ll find background here, here, here and here.

The local connection: While Corbett has not yet named those charged, it is worth pointing out that former Lancaster County Democratic Committee Chairman Scott V. Brubaker was one of seven top aides ousted last fall when House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese said the “Bonusgate” probe made their “continued employment untenable.” Brubaker, who no longer lives in Lancaster County, had been the House Democratic personnel director.

Capitolwire.com columnist Pete DeCoursey wrote in January: “Brubaker and other House aides and others are awaiting the outcome of Attorney General Tom Corbett’s Bonusgate investigation into nearly $4 million in legislative caucus staff bonuses in 2005 and 2006. $1.9 million of that amount was paid just to House Democratic staffers in 2006, as and after they won back control of the House. State investigators found Brubaker wrote e-mails, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported, in 2004 which appeared to discuss rewarding other staffers with taxpayer-funded bonuses for campaign work. That is illegal under state law.”

Corbett’s office said it could not release any details until 2 p.m. because the case is sealed.