Today's News-Monday, July 9th

Governor Ed Rendell has ordered a range of state government services shut down and furloughed about a third of the state work force. A judge, however, has ordered that the state's five slots parlors remain open, at least until a hearing tomorrow. The action came after frantic last-minute negotiations failed to break a budget stalemate. The governor apologized to state employees. He says negotiations started too late and he thinks both sides are at fault for that.
Republican House Leader Sam Smith says that its hard to hammer out a deal when the circumstances change from minute to minute. More than 24-thousand state workers deemed non-essential to health and safety have been furloughed without pay. Pennsylvanians will be unable to take driver's license tests and state-run museums will be shuttered. Critical services -- such as health care for the poor, state police patrols and prisons -- will be maintained.

Police from several departments were able to settle a standoff with a New Philadelphia man peacefully Saturday night. New Philadelphia police were called to a home in the borough after 11pm, where a terminally-ill elderly man was barricaded in a second floor bedroom, threatening to harm himself. Officers called for backup from Port Carbon and Schuylkill Haven police departments. Sgt. Robert Phillips of the Schuylkill Haven Police department told WPPA/T102 News that the unidentified man had also pointed a gun at his daughter, threatening her life. There were several weapons in an open gun cabinet, and the man was holding a loaded shotgun. Police negotiated with the man for a time inside the home, and after a few tense moments, they were able to subdue him with a Taser gun, without incident or injury. The man was taken to Pottsville Hospital for evaluation. No charges will be filed in the late Saturday incident.

A man was hurt following a truck crash in the borough of Gordon yesterday afternoon. Butler Township police indicate that the driver, whose identity has yet to be released, was unable to negotiate a left-hand turn from Gordon Mountain Road on to Biddle Street. The rig flipped on its side and knocked off a utility pole. According to the Republican and Herald, the driver was taken to St. Catherine Medical Center for treatment of his injuries. Truck traffic from High Ridge Industrial Park and other companies have to negotiate the steep mountain road, and have a sharp turn to negotiate at the bottom of that hill.

A Schuylkill Haven man will be charged with assault following a Saturday night incident at a Wayne Township campground. 39-year-old Michael Hamm of Sch. Haven and 50-year-old Michael Shutter of Lebanon had words at the Blue Mountain Lakes campground around 10:30pm. Hamm punched Shutter in the eye, and suffered other facial injuries. Hamm will be charged in the office of District Justice James Ferrier, Orwigsburg.

Vandals damaged equipment at a Tamaqua baseball field over the weekend. Frackville state police say that between Saturday night and Sunday morning, a portable pitching mound, property of the Tamaqua Baseball Association, was damaged, as well as a pair of benches and a batting cage belonging to the Tamaqua School District. The fields behind the Tamaqua High School were the scene of the crime. The investigation continues.

An older couple, formerly of MaryD, died in a multiple vehicle crash near Horsham, Montgomery County, on Friday night. John and Mary Kupetz died from injuries in the crash around 7:15pm in Horsham Township. Two others in the second vehicle were hurt as well.
Details as to the fatal accident are still under investigation.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congressional Democrats are poised for battle with President Bush over his latest claim of executive privilege. The White House faces a deadline this morning to explain why it refuses to comply with a congressional subpoena related to firings of eight federal prosecutors last winter.

PENTAGON (AP) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates is staying home this week, rather than heading off on a tour of Latin America. Gates will attend meetings on Iraq, ahead of a progress report on the war that's due to Congress by next weekend.

UNDATED (AP) - Wildfires are blazing in at least ten western states this morning. One fire, in South Dakota's Black Hills, has destroyed 27 houses and killed a person trying to retrieve
belongings from a home. A fire in Utah is being called the largest in state history. It's blackened more than 440 square miles.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Baseball's All-Star break begins today. Barry Bonds won't be among the sluggers taking part in tonight's Home Run Derby in San Francisco. He enters the break stuck on 751 homers, four shy of Hank Aaron's career record. The American and National League stars square off tomorrow night.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvanians are unable to take driver's license tests or visit state-run museums because of a partial shutdown of state government. But critical services are being maintained -- such as health care for the poor, state police patrols and prisons. The shutdown came last night after frantic negotiations failed to break a budget stalemate. But Governor Ed Rendell says he is optimistic that he and legislators can come to an agreement within a day. Whether slot-machine parlors can keep running during the shutdown is disputed. A judge says the casinos will remain open, at least until a hearing tomorrow.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - State police and the York County district attorney's office are investigating the death of a suspect who was shot during a struggle with officers. It happened inside the Springettsbury Township police station. Authorities say 39-year-old Ronald Whitaker Junior, of Wrightsville, was pronounced dead at York Hospital after he was
shot in the chest just before midnight Saturday. Authorities said Whitaker tried to harm himself while inside the station and a struggle began when officers tried to intervene. A
statement by state police and the district attorney's office did not say how the suspect allegedly tried to harm himself. Whitaker had been arrested about one-half hour earlier in connection with an alleged attempted robbery and assault at the Giant Food Store in Springettsbury Township. An autopsy scheduled for today will determine the cause of death.

CONNEAUT LAKE, Pa. (AP) - A new board meets today on the fate of Conneaut Lake Park, which has not had enough cash to open for the season. The beleaguered park used seven thousand dollars of its meager funds last week to keep its liability insurance in effect until
today. Keeping the full insurance policy required a 28-thousand dollar payment by midnight, but general manager George Deshner says those funds were not available. The park's 15-member board of directors today considers a proposal set forth by two Conneaut Lake residents who headed a fundraiser that collected nearly 60-thousand dollars. Dick Williams and Greg Sutterlin say they will only release the money if it is used to open the park, cover the insurance, restore power to park areas and restock the Beach Club. They also insist that the park operate the Beach Club rather than lease it out. The new board of directors took control at the end of last month after a court-appointed overseer was allowed to resign.

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) - A Pennsylvania congressman has introduced a bill that would make baseball players under the age of 18 use wooden bats rather than aluminum ones.
Critics say aluminum bats are dangerous because balls can fly off of them at high speeds that can injure younger, less experienced fielders with little time to react. Congressman Mike Carroll's proposal comes after the New York City Council passed a metal bat ban in high school games. That measure has upset sporting goods companies and organizing bodies like U-S-A Baseball and Little League Baseball. They say there's no evidence proving that wooden bats are safer than aluminum or composite bats.

WASHINGTON, Pa. (AP) - A investor is betting that a decaying western Pennsylvania hotel that once hosted John-F-Kennedy and the Beatles can be restored to its former glory.
Kyrk Pyros, president of K-P Builders in Robinson, bought the 200-room George Washington Hotel in downtown Washington. At the time, the structure was a public housing project about to be condemned. Pyros has launched into an eight (m) dollar project to restore the building designed in the 1920s by renowned architect William Lee Stoddart. Four years into the project, Pyros has several restaurants and a banquet hall in the hotel up and running.