Today's News-Tuesday, July 18th

One person was injured in a three vehicle crash in West Brunswick Township yesterday afternoon. State police at Schuylkill Haven say that 30-year-old Jill Stramara was driving west on Route 443, and attempted to turn left into a driveway. Dwayne Weist of New Ringgold was east bound and Marissa Kalyan of New Ringgold was west bound behind Stramara's car.
Weist's van was unable to stop, and it collided with Stramara’s car. Following impact, Stramara's Cadillac spun back across the road, struck a small bush along the road and struck Kalyan's car. Stramara had minor injuries. Weist, Kalyan and a 15-year-old passenger in her car were not hurt. The crash happened around 3:25pm.

A Pottsville woman is under arrest for selling prescription medicines at a city housing project.
City police drug agents, along with cooperation from the Pottsville Housing Authority, arrested Shirley Ann Lorah for selling prescription meds, including Fentanyl, at her Laurel Boulevard home. Officers say that Lorah sold Fentanyl patches on two separate occasions. Fentanyl is a potent pain medication, with effects similar to heroin when abused by addicts. Housing authority officials will begin eviction proceedings against Lorah immediately. Pottsville police welcome any information about illegal drug activity. Call their confidential tip-line at 570-622-1234, mailbox number 150.

A six month investigation in Coaldale led to the arrest of two people on drug charges Sunday.
Coaldale police say that 47-year-old Jeffrey Schaller and 31-year-old Stacey Conrad were charged with various drug offenses for selling crack, cocaine and other drugs. Officers raided their Ruddle Street home early Sunday. They uncovered drugs, cash and jewelry. Police had also conducted undercover drug buys over the past several months. Both were arraigned. Schaller is still in prison. Conrad posted bail. Another woman, 20-year-old Melissa Maguire, who was living at the home was also picked up for failing to appear in court on assault charges from last year. She posted bail and was released.

The Schuylkill County delegation in Harrisburg is urging everyone involved with the proposed ethanol plant in western Schuylkill County to work together so the project can proceed. Representatives Neal Goodman, Dave Argall and Tim Seip, and Senator Jim Rhoades say that the dispute over 1 1/2 acres of limited-use land is standing in the way of a $300 million dollar project and about 60 permanent jobs that would pay $45-to $60-thousand dollars per year. The collective group is asking all parties to work together for the future of our communities. The importance of getting the matter resolved is not just about jobs, but about an opportunity to provide more domestic energy for the United States. County officials have been considering whether to deem the tract of land "blighted". That would pave the way for condemnation of the land, and to turn it over to PennDOT for a road to access the ethanol plant. The plant is being developed by Green Energy LLC.

Schuylkill Haven state police are continuing their investigation into a burglary at a West Brunswick Township business. Troopers have just released information about the burglary at Stoudt's Ferry Preparation Company between July 2nd and 6th. Thieves entered through an unlocked door. Once inside, they took twin propane/oxygen tanks with a cutting torch, valued at $800 dollars. The investigation is ongoing.

State police are investigating a burglary at a home in Wayne Township yesterday. Between 8:30am and 3:30pm, someone forcibly entered the home of Erik and Jaqui Niel on Sweet Arrow Lake Road through a front door. Once inside, the thief made off with a JVC digital camcorder and a Gameboy system. No one was home at the time. The investigation continues.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Top intelligence officials will tell Americans what they can today about the "persistent and evolving" terrorist threat to the U-S. They'll use declassified parts of a new National Intelligence Estimate to say al-Qaida is still trying to get operatives into the country, but its ability to attack the homeland has been "constrained."

CAPITOL HILL (AP) - They'll be rolling out the cots on Capitol Hill. Democrats plan to keep the Senate in session all night, debating troop withdrawal plans for Iraq. It's their way of
pressuring Republican senators and the president to act sooner rather than later on the war.

METAIRIE, La. (AP) - Senator David Vitter will be back on Capitol Hill today, a day after emerging from seclusion over his admitted links to a Washington escort service. His wife says she forgave him years ago. Wendy Vitter says that's not always the easy choice, but it was the right one for her.

ATLANTA (AP) - The traveling man with the bad case of tuberculosis has a date with the surgeon today. Andrew Speaker tells C-N-N he'll go under the knife in Denver to lose the diseased portion of his right lung. His doctors now say the patient has a less serious form of T-B than federal health officials feared.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Why did humans evolve into such stand-up guys? Scientists say walking upright is easier and uses less energy. They established that by testing chimps on a treadmill, having them walk both upright and on their legs and knuckles.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A 27-point-two (B) billion dollar state budget has received final approval from the Legislature and is waiting for Governor Ed Rendell's signature today.
The budget goes to the governor's desk two weeks late after an unusually long and grueling session in the Capitol. The agreement passed late last night includes major new spending
on public schools and social services.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The House will take up a a massive transportation-funding bill today. It passed the Senate just before midnight last night. The bill is part of a larger budget agreement reached a week ago between Governor Ed Rendell and the Legislature. The Senate
approved it 30-to-19. The measure would raise an average of 946 (M) million dollars
per year over the next decade, about a 30 percent increase in state funding. That is intended to shore up the state's crumbling highways and bridges, and help mass transit agencies reverse
service cuts. The plan relies on borrowing by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, followed by steep toll increases beginning in 2009, and new tolls on Interstate 80. The I-80 tolls require federal government approval.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A bill that would have barred smokers from lighting up in Pennsylvania's restaurants, bars and casinos is stalled at least until fall after the state Senate overwhelmingly rejected a House version and then adjourned. The bill the House passed last night would grant fewer exceptions than one the Senate passed last month. Exceptions in the Senate bill included a quarter of casino gambling floors, and bars where food is one-fifth or less of gross sales. The Senate also granted exceptions for addiction treatment centers and nursing homes and other adult-care centers.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards is to visit Pittsburgh this evening to speak about poverty. Campaign finance reports show Edwards' 12 (m) million dollars
cash on hand is overshadowed by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The second-quarter reports show Obama and Clinton with more than 30 (m) million dollars each. Psychologist to testify in penalty phase of murder-for-hire trial

AKRON, Ohio (AP) - A forensic psychologist is to testify today about the mental state of the Hermitage (Pennsylvania) woman convicted in the murder-for-hire of her husband.
Jurors are to begin deliberations tomorrow in Akron, Ohio, on whether 48-year-old Donna Moonda deserves the death penalty. She has been convicted of hiring a lover to kill her husband, a wealthy doctor, along the Ohio Turnpike two years ago. Defense attorney David Grant says that Moonda shouldn't get the death penalty because the triggerman, Damian Bradford, got just 17 and one-half years in prison. Prosecutor Nancy Kelley told the jury Moonda encouraged her lover to kill her husband and offered to pay him to do so.

ERIE, Pa. (AP) - The lawyer for the woman charged in the Erie County collar-bomb death says he will enter a not-guilty plea on his client's behalf today. He says Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong won't be in court because of concerns about her mental condition. Defense lawyer Thomas Pattton says Diehl-Armstrong is manic and can't remain silent unless medicated. He says he fears she would talk too much during a nearly five-hour trip from the state prison
in Muncy to Erie. Federal prosecutors last week charged 58-year-old Diehl-Armstrong and 53-year-old Kenneth Barnes in connection with the August 2003 robbery. The robber, 46-year-old Brian Wells, told police he was forced at gunpoint to lock a bomb around his neck and rob the bank. The bomb exploded, killing Wells.