Today's News-Monday, August 6th

A man suspected in several bank and other robberies in Schuylkill, Berks and Lebanon counties was apprehended Sunday. In a release issued by Troop L Information Officer Edward Maloney, 26-year-old Jeremy Montgomery was spotted driving a silver Pontiac Grand Am at the Route 22 exit off of Interstate 78 around 4pm yesterday, and state police gave chase.
Troopers from Jonestown, Hamburg and Schuylkill Haven joined the pursuit through Lebanon and into Berks County. Four state police cruisers were damaged during the chase, and one trooper had minor injuries. Montgomery was finally stopped when police were able to put stop sticks on the road, flattening one of the tires. He tried to flee on foot, and attempted to commandeer another vehicle on Old Route 22. A motorist grabbed Montgomery's arm and held him until state police arrived. Montgomery is wanted for escaping from a work release program in Blair County, and is suspected in bank robberies in Lebanon and Berks County, as well as being a possible suspect in the holdup of the Hess Express in Orwigsburg and the Comfort Inn/Midway in Bethel Township. He was arraigned Sunday night and is being held in Lehigh County until the investigation is complete and the charges are filed in the robberies, according to state police.

A Tower City man was involved in a chase with state police in Dauphin County Saturday afternoon. Pennsylvania State Police at Lykens report that 19-year-old John Nalls of Tower City was riding a dirt bike on the highway in Williams Township. State police spotted the man and gave chase as Nalls tried to get away. He was stopped at Armory Drive and State Route 209. Nalls will be charged with fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, careless and reckless driving and other offenses. Those charges will be filed in District Court.

The 2007 edition of the Schuylkill County Fair wrapped up Saturday night in Summit Station.
Oldies Day put the cap on the annual summer festival and salute to agriculture in the county, with an apparent higher attendance than last year, according to fair organizers. Rain on Sunday and Monday nights was the only precipitation seen, but warmer weather, with temps in the 90's and higher humidity, crept in towards week's end. Chuck Negron, formerly of Three Dog Night, and his band, brought back the hits that made the group one of the most popular acts in the 60’s and 70’s. Lehigh County's oldies variety band, Shake, Rattle and Soul opened the evening, and the Schuylkill County Idol winner, Tom Guastavino of Pottsville, performed three numbers for the large crowd at the M&T Bank stage. After a brief break, fair organizers will be back at work, planning the 2008 Schuylkill County Fair.

A young black bear paid a visit to a residential section of Pottsville yesterday afternoon. The bruin was spotted in a tree at the Schuylkill County Arts and Ethnic Center at 1440 Mahantongo Street. Residents and people passing by stopped to look at the treed-animal, but it didn’t seem to phase the bear. The Republican and Herald reports that after an hour or so, the young black bear came down from the tree and went back into the woods on Sharp Mountain.
Bear sightings are becoming more and more commonplace, as they forage for food and are forced from their normal habitat due to housing sprawl.

Two Pine Grove area women were hurt in a Friday afternoon crash in Washington Township.
Schuylkill Haven state police report that 19-year-old Scarlett Hester was traveling south on Hetzel’s Church Road and came to a stop at the intersection of Route 895, then attempted to turn right. 41-year-old Stacy Negle was traveling west on Route 895 and tried to avoid Hester's car, but struck the left front corner bumper. Negle's car continued on for about 90 feet, then rolled over on its side and struck a telephone pole. Hester went to Pottsville Hospital on her own for treatment. Negel was taken to Pottsville Hospital for treatment. Two passengers in her car, ages 8 and 3, were not hurt. The crash happened around 4pm Friday.

A two vehicle crash took place Friday night in Ryan Township, and state police are looking for one of the drivers. A car driven by Anne Marie Keck of Barnesville was traveling west on State Route 54 on the Vulcan Hill, when a car, owned by Porfirio Baez of Tamaqua, veered into her path. After the crash, Baez fled on foot. Keck complained of neck pain after the crash. State police would like to talk to Baez. If you know his whereabouts, contact Frackville State Police at 874-5300.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Minneapolis will try to have a normal day today but commuting is likely to again be a challenge, because of the fallen I-35W bridge. Traffic's been re-routed and the city is adding buses and urging carpooling to ease congestion. It's a fifth day of searching for 8 people missing in the bridge collapse.

BAGHDAD (AP) - The mayor of Tal Afar in northern Iraq says most of those killed by a suicide bomber today were women and children. About 30 died and 40 were hurt in a Shiite neighborhood when the bomber blew up explosives hidden under a layer of gravel in a dump
truck.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Gunfire along the tense Korean border. South Korea's military says its troops returned fire after North Korean soldiers fired shots toward the Demilitarized Zone today. No South Korean soldiers were hurt. It's unclear if anyone was hurt on the northern side.

WEYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) - A 20 year-old man accused of abducting and killing a 7 year-old girl in Massachusetts will be arraigned this morning. Police say her body was discovered in the man's car yesterday morning. They say she may be related to the suspect, Ryan Bois.

CHICAGO (AP) - Last night's baseball milestone belonged to a pitcher, not a slugger. Tom Glavine of the New York Mets won his 300th game, beating the Chicago Cubs. Tonight, Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants will try to become the all-time home run king, after tying Hank Aaron on Saturday.

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. (AP) - Peace activists are to gather today in suburban Philadelphia to mark the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. They're to appear in front of the Lockheed Martin complex in King of Prussia. The company is a major defense contractor. The same group plans to gather Thursday in downtown Philadelphia to mark the anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki. The atomic bombings at the end of World War II were designed to
hasten Japan's surrender.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Police in the Virgin Islands have arrested a suspect in the murder of a Bucks County native. Twenty-one-year-old James Cockayne was stabbed to death outside
a bar in the Virgin Islands in June. Virgin Islands police say Kamal Thomas has been charged with murder. He is being held without bail and will appear in court today. Cockayne's parents, who live in New Hope, Pennsylvania, had recently appealed to the public to help solve the case.
Cockayne had moved to the island of Saint John to work at a yacht club. Hours before his death, an eyewitness reportedly saw Cockayne arguing in a bar with another man.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Police will barricade streets around the Philadelphia Museum of Art this evening to conduct an emergency preparedness drill. During the drill, the Fire Department will work with ambulance companies to save hundreds of people pretending to be victims of a
simulated disaster on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Big events are regularly held on the parkway. One of the largest was the Live 8 concert in July 2005, which drew close to one
million people. Authorities say roads will be closed for the drill between 6:45 p.m. and 9:45 p.m.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A Family Court judge has begun removing troubled Philadelphia children from a controversial treatment center in Tennessee, where a local teen died after a confrontation with staff. The children were sent to the Chad Youth Enhancement Center by
the city's Department of Human Services. Investigators say in June, 17-year-old Omega Leach of Philadelphia died after Chad staff physically restrained him, pushing him face-down to the floor and apparently cutting off his air. The city has sent scores of emotionally troubled youngsters to the center since 2001, saying it has been forced to do so because no Pennsylvania facility would take them. It has paid Chad 6 million dollars in the last three years.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - An attorney says the manuscript for Pearl S. Buck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "The Good Earth" would have a good home in Hillsboro, West Virginia. What's more, he says, he's got the papers to prove it. Attorney Steve Hunter says a 1973 bill of sale and affidavit conveys all of Buck's manuscripts to the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace museum, including 400-page manuscript that had she reported stolen from her suburban Philadelphia farm in 1966. The museum is inside the home where Buck was born. The papers were originally filed at West Virginia's Pocahontas County Courthouse in 1973, 15 days after the Nobel Prize-winning author died. A suburban Philadelphia woman found the manuscript among her deceased parents' belongings. The woman's mother was Buck's longtime secretary.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Philadelphia officials say that a year after the first city-owned police surveillance cameras came online at 12 crime hot spots, the results are inconclusive but still
encouraging. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that initial statistics compiled by the city suggest the cameras are reducing crime at key intersections while generating arrests for crimes that previously went undetected. An additional 500 cameras are slated to be installed over the
next two years. Critics, however, warn that criminals could simply be moving elsewhere, with overall crime rates staying the same.

WASHINGTON, Pa. (AP) - The state's Public Utility Commission has scheduled 12 hearings to allow residents of Greene and Washington counties to air their thoughts on a proposal to build a
high-voltage power line through their territory. The public hearings are to be held later this month and next month. The state is considering a plan to build a 37-mile, 500-kilovolt
power line through the two counties. Hundreds of local residents and government officials have
opposed the plan due to health and safety concerns. They also fear the power line will diminish property values.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The Philadelphia Museum of Art is gearing up for the opening next month of its new building with 173,000 square feet of gallery, study and restoration space.
The debut of the Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building is the first step in a decade-long plan to renovate existing facilities and create vast new display spaces. It also aims to free up cramped collections, pieces of which now are relegated to storage because there's no more room on the walls. The museum's first expansion since it opened nearly 80 years ago opens to the public on September 15th.

ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) - A Scranton railroad museum has run out of funding, forcing it to suspend a 10-year restoration of a steam locomotive. The Railroaders Memorial Museum has put the many parts in storage and is asking an Altoona facility to complete the project. Ten years after beginning the restoration of the historic K-Four steam locomotive, a project that was to take three years, the museum has run out of funding, grants and workers. Museum chief Scott Cessna says the state told officials in the spring that a 1.6 million dollar grant will not arrive until the restoration is complete. Engineering problems have also arisen.

BROWNSVILLE, Pa. (AP) - More than 18 months after a Fayette County hospital closed its doors for business, a new nonprofit board is on its way to reopening the facility. The cash-strapped Tara Hospital, formerly the Brownsville General Hospital, closed in January 2006, catching the Brownsville community and the facility's 260 employees by surprise. But the efforts of a nonprofit board of directors has the medical facility on its way to reopening under the new name of Brownsville Tri-County Hospital. Frank Ricco, chairman of a new hospital board, says the facility has a line of credit and has applied for state funding. The hospital will initially offer emergency room and medical-surgical services with a staff of about 50 people.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Allegheny County police have logged onto a new, highly touted computerized criminal complaint system that allows them to file their information ASAP.
The system, now in use in most of the county's 119 police departments, is known as ASAP -- or the Allegheny Standard Arrest Program. The computer network is meant to eliminate time-consuming written reports. It was installed in Pittsburgh police cruisers last week. The high-tech system lessens the time it takes to arraign suspects and gets police back out on the streets more quickly.