Today's News-Thursday, July 12th

The Schuylkill County Commissioners Wednesday voted 2-1 to hire a firm to assess the county’s correctional operations. During their board meeting held in the Sweet Arrow Lake Clubhouse, Commissioners Frank Staudenmeier and Robert Carl voted to award a contract to Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates to conduct the assessment on a low bid of $35-thousand-dollars. Commissioner Mantura Gallagher, who voted against the hiring, said a previous study was a through examination of overcrowding issues at the prison, and a new one is a waste of taxpayer’s money. Commissioner Robert Carl said a new study is warranted and said spending $35-thousand-dollars now could save millions in the future:

A day after a Deer Lake family was taken to task for the condition of their home, they have announced that they are moving. The Mitchell family’s dwelling on Maple Boulevard was the subject of discussion at the Deer Lake borough council meeting. Neighbors complained about the condition of the property and alleged that as many as ten people are living in the home.
Robin Mitchell, who owns the home with her mother, tells the Republican and Herald that she and her family have had enough and are moving out. Neighbors in the southern Schuylkill County borough raised their concerns to see if something could be done about the property. Mitchell says that the whole problem arose out of a dispute with a neighbor. Mitchell acknowledged that the house was not in perfect condition, but was such because of unfinished renovations begun by her husband, Steven, who is in prison. The Maple Boulevard residence was Mitchell’s family homestead. She said that her family is selling the home and moving to Tennessee with other family.

The call was put out for blood donations, and Schuylkill County responded. The Northeast Pennsylvania News Alliance, in conjunction with the American Red Cross, held their annual regional blood drive at the Roller Roost in Pottsville, along with sites in Luzerne and Lackawanna countinues. Margie McQuillin, account manager for the Red Cross of Schuylkill and East Northumberland, said that county residents have always stepped to the plate when it comes to donating blood. The American Red Cross has been experiencing periods of significant blood shortage this year. But, McQuillin says that things are OK right now, but summertime is a tough time for gathering blood donors. The goal for the Pottsville site was 125. Officials say that 118 pints were given. Overall, the multi-site drive gained 590 pints of new blood.

New construction of a manufacturing facility is nearing completion in Auburn. According to Mark Hoover, project engineer for Miller Brothers Construction Company, six buildings encompassing over 57-thousand-square feet is underway at the Auburn Business Park for West Side Wood Products. Hoover said that the project is moving quickly. The design phase began in December, 2006, and the company broke ground in April. West Side expects to move in sometime in September. West Side Wood Products manufactures wood pallets, skids, custom shipping boxes and crates. The firm is moving its operation to Schuylkill County from Hamburg in Berks County.

Several cases involving Schuylkill County men were upheld by Superior Court this week. Among the cases heard was an appeal by convicted murderer Paul Stoppie, who asked the court to overturn his life sentence which was handed down by county court in 1983. Stoppie murdered Frank Rose of Minersville in 1977. Stoppie petitioned the court to have the sentence overturned. The court said that too much time had passed since the original conviction in order to consider reversing the sentence. According to the Republican and Herald, Marques Reaves of Pottsville is not entitled to a new sentence on his drug conviction handed down in county court. Reaves was convicted in 2006 of possessing cocaine and a gun. He was given 5 to 10 years in prison. The court said that the original sentence imposed by County Judge Cyrus Palmer Dolbin was appropriate for the crimes. The rulings were filed Wednesday.

CAPITOL HILL (AP) - Debate begins in the Senate this hour on a new course in Iraq. With a progress report showing little headway on reforms, senators are taking up Democratic legislation that would order troops to begin withdrawing in 120 days. President Bush
has threatened a veto.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - A Pakistani mosque has been cleared of all militants after a violent eight-day siege. Officials say the compound in Islamabad is now being searched for mines, booby traps and other weapons. More than 80 people died, including a pro-Taliban cleric.

UNDATED (AP) - Strong wind and lightning are no friend to firefighters battling a number of wildfires in the West. Crews made no progress yesterday in California's Inyo National Forest because of thunderstorms, although containment lines held. In central Utah, the biggest wildfire in state history has now increased to 514 square miles.

CAPITOL HILL (AP) - President Bush's former political director hopes members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will respect her position. Sara Taylor says she won't answer questions today about her role in the firing of federal prosecutors. She says in a statement, "thank you for your understanding."

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER (AP) - NASA continues to prepare for the August seventh launch of space shuttle Endeavour. The shuttle was moved to the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center overnight. Endeavour hasn't flown since 2002, so NASA gave it a major tune-up.

SWIFTWATER, Pa. (AP) - One suspect in the shooting of two New York City police officers is in custody in the Poconos. A second suspect is the subject of an intense manhunt this morning.
Dexter Bostic and Robert J. Ellis, both 34, were spotted together yesterday walking along a rural section of Interstate 80. Bostic was captured but Ellis managed to run away.
Bostic said nothing early this morning as he was led out of a state police barracks in Swiftwater.
As result of Monday's shooting in Brooklyn, 23-year-old Officer Russel Timoshenko is paralyzed, has brain swelling and cannot breathe on his own. The other wounded officer, Herman Yan, saved by his bullet-resistant vest, was released from the hospital Tuesday.

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto has offered to buy Canadian aluminum company Alcan for 38-point-one (b) billion dollars. The friendly takeover bid announced today is 10 (b) billion dollars above a hostile bid by Pittsburgh-based Alcoa. Alcan's
board had rejected that bid, calling it inadequate. Under the friendly takeover deal, a new company named Rio Tinto Alcan would be based in Montreal, Canada.

ERIE, Pa. (AP) - One of the suspects in the collar-bomb killing near Erie is to have his first court appearance in that case today. He is 53-year-old Kenneth Barnes, who's already jailed on an
unrelated drug charge. The other defendant, 58-year-old Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, is
already in state prison for killing her boyfriend. She's to have her first court appearance in the collar-bomb case tomorrow. Prosecutors say the pizza deliveryman who was blown up by a bomb around his neck after robbing a bank had been in on the plot. But his brother isn't buying it. A prosecutor says Brian Wells had actually helped to plan the robbery, but got caught up in something "much more sinister." But John Wells wants to see more proof that his brother was a participant, instead of a victim.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A corrections officer accused of assaulting Dauphin County Prison inmates faces criminal assault charges. Officer Daniel Hosler is being suspended without pay
pending the outcome of the case. Court papers say a video camera at the prison showed the
32-year-old guard from Beaver Springs, Snyder County, banging the head of inmate Lisa Adams into a metal door frame. Investigators say Hosler assaulted and injured another inmate,
Ayodi Harper, while his hands were handcuffed behind his back. Investigators also say Hosler used racial slurs in talking to Harper, who is black. A prosecutor says Hosler is charged with simple assault and official oppression in both cases and with ethnic intimidation in
Harper's case. Hosler declined to comment until he could meet with a lawyer.

ERIE, Pa. (AP) - An Erie County judge has denied a request to move the trial of a woman charged with using her baby as a weapon in an attack on her boyfriend out of the county.
Authorities say 27-year-old Chytoria Graham swung her four-week-old son like a baseball bat to hit her boyfriend during a fight last October. The baby has since recovered from a fractured
skull. An attorney for Graham told a judge yesterday (Wednesday) that media coverage has made it impossible for her to get a fair trial in the county. Graham is charged with aggravated assault, child endangerment, simple assault and reckless endangerment.

BEAVER, Pa. (AP) - A former Ambridge Area High School social studies teacher has pleaded no contest to having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student. Twenty-eight-year-old David Costanza of Baden has been sentenced to six months to two years in jail after entering his plea to statutory sexual assault. As part of a deal, prosecutors dropped charges of aggravated
sexual assault, indecent assault and corruption of minors. Prosecutors say that between March 21st and April Fourth, Costanza sent graphic text messages to the student and had her
spend the night in his apartment. Costanza apologized to the girl and her family.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A federal judge has ruled that a Mercer County school district violated a student's First Amendment free-speech rights when it punished him for parodying his principal on an Internet site outside of school. U-S District Judge Terrence McVerry says Hermitage School District failed to show then-senior Justin Layshock's parody profile of then-Hickory High School Principal Eric Trosch on MySpace substantially disrupted school operations. McVerry says while public schools are vital institutions, their reach is not unlimited. Layshock used his grandmother's computer in December 2005 to create an unflattering profile that said Trosch smoked marijuana and kept a keg of beer behind his desk. Layshock sued the school district after he was suspended in January 2006 for ten days and sent to an alternative program.