SENECA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) — Voters in the upstate New York birthplace of the women's rights movement have approved a proposal to dissolve their village government.

Tuesday's ballot proposal to dissolve the village of Seneca Falls into the surrounding town of the same name passed by a vote of 1,142-1,037, with 125 absentee ballots still to be counted.

If the vote stands, the nearly 180-year-old Finger Lakes village will dissolve Dec. 31 2011.

Supporters say dissolution will do away with costly duplication of governmental services and slash village property taxes.

The village was the site of the first known women's rights convention in 1848. It also claims to be the model for Bedford Falls, the mythical upstate community depicted in Frank Capra's 1946 Christmas movie classic "It's a Wonderful Life."

DUBLIN (AP) — Much of the world is turning green Wednesday for St. Patrick's Day, the annual celebration of all hues of Irishness.

Half a million people were forecast to line the 3-kilometer (2-mile) route of the flagship Dublin parade, which is exploring the theme "The Extraordinary World." It is a nod to Ireland's increasing multiculturalism — as well as the past two centuries' global spread of the Irish.

This year Ireland also is pushing itself especially hard as a tourist destination as the country faces its worst recession since the Great Depression, with double-digit unemployment and net emigration for the first time in 15 years.

St. Patrick's Day is Ireland's first major tourist event of the year, packing hotels and pubs with visitors seeking an all-night party. Ireland's weeklong festival gets bigger each year, with more than 100 parades Wednesday in cities, towns and villages across the island of 6 million.

The Tourism Ireland agency wangled a deal for major world landmarks — including the Sydney Opera House, London Eye, Toronto's CN Tower and New York's Empire State Building — to be bathed in green floodlights as part of a marketing push on four continents.

New York's St. Patrick's Day Parade was stepping off on Fifth Avenue with New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly as the grand marshal. The parade also features New York's famous "Fighting 69th," whose history stretches to the U.S. Civil War. It was part of the Union Army's so-called "Irish Brigade," made up largely of Irish immigrants from New York City.

Gov. David Paterson and Mayor Michael Bloomberg were attending a Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral before the midday parade Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer declined to say Wednesday if Democrats have enough votes to pass historic health care legislation, but hinted that they're poised to use an arcane parliamentary process to get it done.

Hoyer's Republican counterpart, Rep. Eric Cantor, acknowledged that such a process is permissible under House rules. Under the procedure, a Senate-passed health bill would be "deemed" to have passed if House members voted in favor of a rule governing a separate bill with amendments to it.

Cantor, R-Va., said he couldn't understand why Democrats would use such a parliamentary detour with a bill of this magnitude and reach.

Asked on ABC's "Good Morning America" to say if he had the 216 votes necessary to pass the legislation in the House, Hoyer, D-Md., replied, "I don't have a precise number. Having said that, we think we'll get the votes. ... We think we will have the votes when the roll is called."

Appearing on the same show, Cantor asserted: "They don't have the votes yet ... The problem is, there's still a lot of uncertainty surrounding this bill. The American people think there's a better way."

The partisan parrying has increased in intensity in the past few days as President Barack Obama and House and Senate Democratic leaders have increased pressure to at last resolve the health care issue, which has been before the Congress for over a year. Obama is due to leave Sunday on a trip to Asia, and he has said he wanted it finished by then.

In the interview Wednesday, Hoyer, D-Md., maintained that support for the 10-year, $1 trillion health care remake has gone up in recent weeks.

"We're going to have a clean up or down vote on the Senate vote," he said. "That will be on the rule. ... This is not an unusual procedure."

Cantor retorted that "this is a process that you can avoid a direct up or down vote on a bill."

TURIN — Village residents on Tuesday re-elected a trustee to a new, four-year term.

Trustee William Paczkowski defeated former Mayor William Kapfer by a 31-22 margin to retain his seat.

Current Mayor Douglas Hunt, running unopposed, also earned a new, four-year term by garnering 45 votes.

The St. Lawrence University men's hockey team can close out its ECAC Hockey quarterfinal series tonight with a win against Colgate. The Saints took the first game in the best-of-three series Friday at Starr Rink, 2-1.

Goalie Kain Tisi stopped 31 shots and Mike McKenzie, who ended Clarkson's season last weekend with a late goal, scored his third-game winner of the postseason on St. Lawrence's sixth power play of the night.

Tonight's game starts at 7 p.m.

Times sportswriter Daniel J. Cassavaugh, who is at Starr Rink, will provide live updates and video on his blog, "Casstle of the Saints" throughout the game.