State News - Saturday Dec. 30

LEWISBURGPa. (AP) - Next year should bring big changes to Union County's 9-1-1 system. Currently, if you pick up a cell phone and hit the numbers 9-1-1, your call will go through -- but the operator won't knowyour exact location. Trouble is, many folks find it hard to describe where they are, especially in an emergency. That's where wireless 9-1-1 comes in handy, according to Union County Director of Emergency Services Tom Hess. He says the improved technology will reduce response times. The Union County budget for 2007 provides a little more than 583-thousand dollars for 9-1-1 enhancements, there is also about a (m) million dollars in state and federal funding for the project. But the county plans to issue more than two and a-half (m)million dollars in bonds to pay for improvements that should make the local system top notch. Hess says the new wireless 9-1-1 equipment will replace a system that's obsolete already.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A group that has been trying to market the North Side as a family destination is now trying to figure out howa slots parlor will fit into their plans. The North Side includes the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, twosports stadiums, museums, the National Aviary and the Carnegie Science Center. It will also soon be home to the Majestic Star Casino. Last week, the state regulators awarded the slots license to adevelop group that plans to build the casino there. Mark Fatla is executive director of the North Side Leadership Conference. He says he doesn't believe the area will lose it's family appeal once the casino comes.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) - Fire officials in Allentown, Pennsylvania, say an extension cord overloaded with Christmas decorations mayhave sparked a deadly fire this morning. The blaze swept through four downtown row houses, killing fivepeople and injuring several others. The Lehigh County Coroner's Office identified the victims asBarbara Houx, 52; Casundra Miller 28; Shawn Sandt, 22; Randy Keding, 27; and Allen Lindenmuth, 48. Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim says Miller was pregnant, buthe declined to say how far along. Authorities have ruled the fire accidental, though investigatorsare still trying to determine if wiring failed, an ornament shortedout or something else was involved. The decorations had beenplugged into a power strip, which was plugged into the extensioncord. Firefighters managed to control the blaze in about half an hour, but five people in the three-story home died. It had no working smoke alarms. Firefighters were able to rescue two adults and six children from the house next door.

LEHIGHTON, Pa. (AP) - Opponents of the planned demolition of a century-old railroad building at the Packerton Yards in CarbonCounty say they will go to court next week to try to halt the project. The Save Packerton Yards group is also appealing a determinationby the state Historical Museum Commission that the building lacks historical integrity and can be torn down. The Carbon County commissioners want the building in Mahoning Township removed to prepare the 57-acre site for industrial development. The storehouse was built around 1899 as part of the Lehigh Valley Railroad yard operations. It was deemed eligible for the National Registry of Historic Places in the 1990s. An earlier bid for a temporary injunction failed after a county judge said the plaintiffs had no standing because they were not county residents.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Officials with the Humane Society of Harrisburg Area say they removed a total of 101 animals living in squalor from a home where a woman ran what was advertised as an animal rescue service. Society officer William Sandstrom says, "The amount of feces in some of the cages could be measured in feet, not inches." The name of the business - which has a kennel license - has not been released and no charges have been filed. Officials say the Humane Society will have the 65 cats, 35 dogs and one pigeon vaccinated and examined by veterinarians before putting them up for adoption. But they'll have to be adopted quickly. Sandstrom says the shelter in Swatara Township is already at its capacity of about 300
animals.