Today's News-Tuesday, July 10th

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A deal between Democratic Governor Ed Rendell and top Republican lawmakers has ended the budget impasse. That allows state workers to return to the job today,
one day after nearly 24-thousand were told to stay home without pay. Scores of state parks, state-run museums and driver-license offices around the state were shuttered on Rendell's orders after the partisan deadlock held up the budget nine days into the new fiscal year.
With last night's deal Rendell says all sides can say they achieved some of their goals -- and he declares himself "very satisfied" with the outcome. The deal will address some of Rendell's health care and energy initiatives. But it will not impose a surcharge on electricity usage that the governor had sought to fund a new program for alternative energy and conservation programs.

(WILLIAMSTOWN)-The renter of a home in Williamstown made a startling discovery last night. Michael Rivera is renting the home at 439 Julian Street, and called state police after he found a box of explosives in the basement, including blasting caps and dynamite. Lykens State Police say that Rivera took the box of explosives outside of the house. A one block area surrounding the home was cordoned off while the bomb disposal unit came to the scene. The dynamite and caps were taken to a secure area by authorities and disposed of. The incident happened around 7pm last night.

(CRESSONA)-Another truck got stuck under the Cressona overpass yesterday, according to State Police at Schuylkill Haven. David Bradbury was driving the box truck owned by the Greater Berks Food Bank to the Wal-Mart Distribution Center at Highridge when he hit the 11 foot, 8 inch underpass on Sillyman Street. According to reports, Bradbury saw the clearance signs in advance of the overpass and thought he had enough room to pass thorough, but hit the bridge anyway. Route 183 was closed down for over an hour until the truck was removed. Bradbury will be charged in the incident in Cressona.

(POTTSVILLE)-Ronald Champney continued his effort for a new trial in Schuylkill County Court yesterday. Champney is on death row for committing the murder-for-hire of Roy Bensinger of North Manheim Township in 1992. He is seeking a new trial, and contends that his initial defense was ineffective, and that he did not kill Bensinger. Bensinger's wife, Beth Shirey, paid to have her husband killed. The Pottsville Republican and Herald reports that testimony was offered by Glenn Widel of Orwigsburg, who said that Champney's brother, Cliff Helterbran, told him that he killed Bensinger. Champney is being represented by the Defender Association of Pennsylvania in seeking the new trial. Former Schuylkill County DA Cal Shields also testified yesterday, saying that he didn't oppose parole for David Blickley, a known felon who testified against Champney in the original trial. Blickley walked away from a federal prison work camp and has been missing since. Champney has been on Pennsylvania's death row since his conviction in 1999. Shirey, Bensinger's wife, is serving a life sentence for paying for her husband's murder.

(POTTSVILLE)-Pottsville police will charge a city woman for providing alcohol to minors Sunday night. Officers were called to a home on West Norwegian Street, where four juveniles, two males and two females, were drinking alcohol at the home of 33 year old Tammy Lynn Hein. The teens were between 14 and 17 years old. Hein will be charged with four counts of furnishing alcohol to minors, and corruption of minors. The four teenagers will also be cited for underage drinking. The citations will be filed in the office of District Judge James Reiley.

(POTTSVILLE)-Pottsville EMS and the city police department team up in a first aid initiative. With all police trained in first aid, they have been supplied with kits for each car by the city EMS. Both groups were recognized for their efforts at the Pottsville City Council meeting. In another cooperative effort, the city presented a 15-hundred-dollar check to the Pottsville Housing Authority, which was then donated to the Adopt A Hydrant drive. This brings the drive total to 9-thousand-4-hundred dollars. The Fourth of July fireworks went off without a hitch and without any cost to taxpayers. With the aid of many donations, the event included music, skydivers and fireworks was paid for without dipping into city funds. Mayor John DW Reiley was recognized for being named president of the League of Cities and Municipalities at a recent meeting of the group that operates for the joint benefit of the cities involved.

WASHINGTON (AP) - For weeks, officials have been talking up the importance of a September report on President Bush's troop buildup in Iraq. But one official says an interim report due out this week will conclude that very little progress is being made.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistani officials say at least 50 militants have been killed in a day of fighting at an Islamabad mosque. Pakistani troops stormed the mosque to end a week-long standoff after surrender talks broke down. Eight soldiers are dead as well.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A suicide bomber has attacked a crowded marketplace in southern Afghanistan. A NATO patrol was the apparent target. Officials say 17 civilians were killed and at
least 30 people were hurt. Seven NATO troops are among the wounded.

BEIJING (AP) - China has executed the former head of its Food and Drug Administration. He had been convicted of taking bribes to approve unsafe drugs, including an antibiotic that killed ten people. It's the latest development in China's product safety crisis.

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) - A Wisconsin motorist accused of hitting a man and driving home with him wedged in his windshield is due in court today. Green Bay police say the driver called about six hours after the accident to say he thought he might have run over someone. A woman who also was struck was found injured in the road.

YORK, Pa. (AP) - An attempt to stop a Wrightsville man from hanging himself in a police station's holding cell ended up with an officer shooting him twice in the chest. That's the conclusion of the York County coroner about the death of 39-year-old Ronald Taylor Whitaker Junior. Coroner Barry Bloss says Whitaker struggled with the Springettsbury Township officer who found him hanging and tried to take the officer's gun. Bloss says the officer was unable to subdue the robbery suspect with a Taser and ended up shooting him. The coroner's office ruled the death a homicide because Whitaker's life was taken by another person. Bloss says the
District Attorney's Office will determine whether the shooting was justified.

READING, Pa. (AP) - The mayor of Reading says more police walking beats and a focus on trouble spots helped cut down on major crimes in the first half of the year. Mayor Tom McMahon says additional efforts including the installation of security cameras are expected to continue the progress. McMahon says the city has recently hired a dozen new police
officers. He says the city plans to send requests for proposals to security camera vendors next week and expects to begin installing cameras by September. He says major crimes droped more than 26 percent in the first half of this year compared to the first half of last year. Major
crimes are defined as murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, theft, auto theft and arson.

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) - A western Maryland coal operator has been cited by federal mining industry regulators in the collapse of a surface mine wall that killed two workers in April.
The Mine Safety and Health Administration says Tri-Star Mining of Barton failed to establish a ground-control plan in the area. They say the area had been weakened by previous underground mining. The agency also says the company's examinations of the area were
inadequate and that miners weren't made aware of the hazards. Miners Dale Jones and Michael Wilt were killed April 17th when 93-thousand tons of rock and dirt filled the open pit in which they were working. Tri-Star Mining President George Beener declined comment when
reached at his home in Rockwood, Pennsylvania.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) - A Canadian citizen has filed a federal lawsuit accusing a state trooper of demanding money from him during a traffic stop and then beating him when he said he didn't have the cash. Nana Kyeame, a native of Ghana, says he spent three days in jail
after the traffic stop on July second of last year in State College. Then, the lawsuit says, charges of speeding and resisting arrest were dropped. The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania says Kyeame's suit in federal district court in Harrisburg names Trooper Nicholas
Buchheit and seeks unspecified damages. A state police spokeswoman says attorneys have yet to see the lawsuit, and state police usually do not comment on pending litigation.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A flurry of gunfire on an Allentown street has killed one man and wounded two. Assistant Police Chief Ronald Manescu said early today that the shooting apparently occurred on the street. He says the two wounded men were taken to Lehigh Valley
Hospital-Cedar Crest. Manescu says two people working in the deli are uninjured and
are cooperating with police. He says police have not identified the victims or found a motive
for the shooting.

SOMERSET, Pa. (AP) - A teenager accused of killing a passenger when he tried to jump his vehicle over a small but steep hill has pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide. Nineteen-year-old Jason Reese of Fairhope is scheduled to be sentenced on September 12th. Reese was driving 80 to 90 miles-an-hour on a rural road in Berlin on July 24th when his vehicle went off the road and hit a mailbox and utility pole before flipping upside down. He and four passengers were thrown from the vehicle. Seventeen-year-old Michael Coddington of Berlin was killed.

GREENVILLE, Pa. (AP) - A Grove City College student from Nigeria has drowned in a Mercer County lake. Authorities say 21-year-old Samuel Durodola was swimming with friends in the Duck Lake area of Shenango River Lake in Pymatuning Township. Durodola had finished his sophomore year at Grove City College, where he studied electrical engineering. The school plans to hold a memorial service on campus in September. Authorities say Durodola took a boat out on the lake with two friends, dropped anchor and went swimming Sunday afternoon. He
disappeared under water. Divers recovered his body Sunday evening. Authorities don't know what caused the drowning, but say Durodola did know how to swim.