National and State News-Monday, March 5th

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The first major blast in Baghdad in several days has killed at least 26 people and injured more than 50. A suicide car bomber struck a busy central commercial district near a well-known book market in the capital.

WASHINGTON (AP) - A pair of House committee hearings are on tap today as lawmakers vow quick action to examine the situation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and poor conditions for soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. One hearing is at the hospital and the facility's previous commander is scheduled to testify.

TOKYO (AP) - Investors worried about a possible global slowdown continue to dump stocks, bringing markets in Asia and Europe down again today. The slide is now in its second week and an increase in the value of the Japanese yen against the U-S dollar is adding to jitters.

CHICAGO (AP) - A landmark survey shows many teenagers are working at risky jobs or too late on school nights. The first national study to interview teenagers about on-the-job dangers also finds many violations of federal laws. Many teens said they operated hazardous equipment and received no safety training.

PEORIA, Ariz. (AP) - Among the hopefuls trying to win a spot in the San Diego Padres baseball organization, one man stands out. Cooper Brannan is a Marine infantry squad leader home from a second tour of duty in Iraq because he lost a finger to a grenade. He's trying to win a minor league pitching spot.

GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) - At first, it looked like suicide in the suburbs, with a twist: The 14-year-old boy found dead in the woods behind his home one morning last July had been killed with a state senator's pistol. But investigators have been unable to rule out an accident -- or foul play. Now, the case has turned into a battle of father versus father, neighbor versus neighbor -- with Douglas Farrell looking for meaning in the death of his son Louis, and Senator Robert Regola the third trying to protect his son Bobby. Both fathers testified at the two-day inquest last month, their words only widening the divide between the two families.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Two epidemiologists and a contaminant specialist say there should be an investigation into whether there is a cancer cluster surrounding a former industrial site near Susquehanna University. The Patriot-News of Harrisburg said yesterday that it conducted an eight-month investigation into the history of the area around Weiser Run, a small stream in Selinsgrove that cuts between an old mill building and off-campus apartments. In 2002, four Susquehanna University alumni died of aggressive cancers. None was older than 28, and two had lived in the same room.

GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP) - The discovery of a tooth from a Confederate soldier killed at Gettysburg will lead to a proper memorial service for the soldier 144 years after he fell on the field of battle. The tooth belonged to William L. Daniel, born January 30th, 1833, in the Edgefield district of South Carolina. Daniel enlisted in 1861 as an infantry officer with Company I of the South Carolina Volunteer Infantry and died in Gettysburg two years later. His body was likely lying in a temporary shallow grave when the tooth was taken from his skull. In July, the tooth will go to South Carolina, where it will be buried in a box of wood taken from the part of the battlefield where Daniel died. A preacher will give an invocation and the Sons of Confederate Veterans will perform a funeral drill.

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A judge says she will likely decide next month on animal cruelty charges against officials of one of Pennsylvania's largest egg production operations. Esbenshade Farms owner and chief executive H. Glenn Esbenshade and farm manager Jay Musser each face 35 counts of animal cruelty for conditions at the Mount Joy farm. Each violation carries a potential fine of 50 to 750 dollars and as many as 90 days in prison. Authorities allege that birds were housed in cruel conditions, with a video showing dead birds left in cages with live hens so long the carcasses had disintegrated, and others impaled on or trapped by cage wires that kept them out of reach of food and water.

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Nearly three years after suitcases full of body parts washed up along Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, a New Jersey nurse is to go on trial today on charges that she killed and dismembered her husband. Melanie McGuire is charged with first-degree murder in the April 2004 killing of her husband, 39-year-old state computer analyst William T. McGuire. She pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors contend McGuire killed her husband in part so she could continue an affair with her boss at a Morristown fertility clinic. The state will try to prove that McGuire drugged her husband with a sedative, shot him in the head and chest and dismembered his body in the bathroom of the Woodbridge apartment they shared with their two preschool sons.

FRANKLIN, Pa. (AP) - A medical equipment company and other defendants have agreed to pay 5-point-3 million dollars to the family of a baby who suffered severe head injuries when a vehicle slammed into an ambulance carrying the child in 2003. International Biomedical will pay more than 4-point-6 million dollars to settle the family's allegations that a faulty aluminum restraint bar made by the company led to injuries that left Joanne Knabb, now four years old, deaf and unable to walk or speak. The family alleged that the bar, which held the baby's incubator in place, snapped and hurled the baby onto the ambulance floor. The other defendants were Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Guardian Angel Ambulance Services of Allegheny County and the estate of John E. Bridge, who was driving the vehicle that collided with the ambulance on Route 8 in Venango County.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) - Faculty members at Wilkes University will vote next month on the idea of setting up the region's first law school. Scott Byers, university vice president for finance and support, says the faculty will vote on the proposal April First. He says the university's board of trustees will take up the issue April 13th. Byers spoke about the issue at the Downtown Wilkes-Barre Business Association meeting on Friday. He says the school would have a three-year program, likely starting with 75 students and having 225 by the third year.

SPRINGFIELD, Pa. (AP) - Federal marshals and detectives in Montgomery County have arrested a man wanted for attempted murder in Virginia and now the suspect is fighting extradition. Authorities say 29-year-old Kevin Parker was working at a car wash on Bethlehem Pike in Springfield Township when he was picked up by police last week. Prosecutor Risa Ferman says Parker is wanted in Richmond, Virginia, in connection with an incident last November. Ferman says Parker is alleged to have broken into a home, used a knife and sexually assaulted a woman. It is unclear how long Parker has been in the Philadelphia-area.
Parker is jailed in Montgomery County and plans on fighting his return to Virginia. Another hearing is scheduled for later this month.