Today's News-Friday, September 7th

An Orwigsburg child was injured in a car-bicycle accident yesterday afternoon. Schuylkill Haven State Police report that the 12-year-old female was riding her bike on Grist Mill Road in West Brunswick Township. A minivan driven by Jessica Miranda of Pottsville was westbound on Pheasant Run Road. The child went through a stop sign and into the path of Miranda's vehicle. She was thrown onto the hood and into the windshield, then landed on the ground.
The girl was taken to Lehigh Valley Medical Center via LifeFlight. Miranda was not injured. Troopers say that the child was not wearing a helmet.

A Lancaster County man was arrested in connection with a string of robberies in our area.
Pottsville city and state police report that 30-year-old Eric Singley of Denver, PA, an inmate at the Lancaster County Prison, confessed to committing three crimes last month. The Republican and Herald reports that Ephrata police arrested Singley on Tuesday, when they found him driving a stolen vehicle. He will be charged in the robberies at Dairy Queen on Route 61, at Blockbuster Video in the Cressona Mall and at a stand at Renninger's Market. Singley was wanted for several robberies in Lancaster and Berks County, and during the investigation, they found that he had committed the robberies in our area. He is expected to be arraigned in Schuylkill County in the very near future. He is lodged in Lancaster County Prison on $600-thousand-dollars bail.

A Pine Grove man is facing theft and drug charges following an incident in Dauphin County earlier this week. Jonestown State Police report that 47-year-old Jeffrey Olt was driving a dump truck at a plant in Swatara Township when drove off with a load of asphalt without paying for it. When he was apprehended, they found a quantity of a controlled substance, packaged for delivery, and drug paraphernalia inside the truck. He faces charges of receiving stolen property, operating a commercial vehicle without a license, and various drug possession charges.

The damage total is rising for a fire on a car carrier in Mahanoy City Wednesday night. The trailer, carrying 5 Audi sports cars was parked in the borough, and fire was reported about 6pm. Ronald Lindenmuth was the driver. The cars were headed for delivery in Ohio. Two cars and the carrier were heavily damaged by the fire, whose origin is unknown. Estimates of damage are nearly $150-thousand-dollars.

Two people escaped injury in a multi-vehicle crash on Thursday morning in Barry Township.
Michele Snyder of Pitman was traveling west on the Taylorsville Road and attempted to make a U-turn when her car was struck by a Ford Ranger driven by Troy Knerr of Pitman. The impact forced Snyder's car to spin counter-clockwise, and ended up down the road about 30 feet. Both vehicles incurred damage, and were towed from the scene. The crash happened after 6am.

Senior citizens and persons with disabilities will be better able to get around with a state investment of $2-point-1 million dollars for new wheelchair-accessible vehicles, including an organization in our area. Governor Ed Rendell announced the awards yesterday. The federally-funded grants are awarded by PennDOT to cover up to 80 percent of the cost of new transit vehicles to 26 private, non-profit organizations and one public group. Six of the providers are first time recipients. In Schuylkill County, Avenues of Pennsylvania will receive over $44-thousand-dollars to help purchase vehicles to aid their clients.

Bids for a stream-bank stabilization project in Pine Grove Township and for used county-owned vehicles were opened during Wednesday's County Commissioners workshop meeting. Of the five bids received for the stabilization project, the lowest was submitted by Arthur Aungst Inc. of Pine Grove at $112,584.00. The Commissioners are expected to award a contract for the project at next week’s meeting. Successful bidders for the used vehicles will be also be announced next week. In other business, the Commissioners were asked to approve a land swap at the county owned Sweet Arrow Lake Park. The County would trade point-83 acres of park property for point-81 acres of property owned by Harry & Anna Peiffer. The Peiffer property is located along the park trail which required crossing a portion of their property to continue along the trail.

The Schuylkill County Commissioners awarded contracts of just over $1.1-million dollars for the Rest Haven Sprinkler renovation project during their workshop meeting Wednesday. The general construction contract was awarded to JEM Contracting, Inc., Schuylkill Haven for $268,388. Spotts Brothers Inc., Schuylkill Haven received the HVAC contract on a low bid of $82,800. Spotts Brothers also received the electrical contract for $133,200. The plumbing/ Sprinkler contract was awarded to Silvertip, Inc of Lewisburg for $670,000. In other business, the Commissioners approved an extension on the tentative demolition bid award date to the September 16th board meeting. The reason for the delay was due to the county not receiving responses from some of the participating municipalities regarding their 25% participation. 19 structures in eight municipalities are slated for demolition.

VIANA DO CASTELO, Portugal (AP) - A twist today in the case of missing British four-year-old, Madeleine McCann. A family spokesman says the child's mother, Kate McCann, will be named a formal suspect in the May disappearance. Police in Portugal interviewed the woman for 11 hours yesterday.

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Nuclear experts from the U.S., China and Russia will travel to North Korea next week. A U.S diplomat says they will be surveying nuclear facilities that the North is
pledging to disable.

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - The Department of Homeland Security says it has no credible information of an imminent terrorist threat in the U.S. It's commenting after al-Qaida's media wing announced a new video of Osama bin Laden is on the way. The video's release is expected before the sixth anniversary of the September 11th attacks.

BAGHDAD (AP) - Seven American troops were killed in Iraq yesterday. The military says four Marines were killed in combat in Anbar province and three soldiers died when a bomb exploded near their vehicle in northern Ninevah province.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The NFL season has kicked off, with the Super Bowl champs picking up right where they left off in February. Peyton Manning tossed three touchdown passes as the Indianapolis Colts routed the New Orleans Saints 41-10.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Delinquency rates on residential mortgages rose in Pennsylvania in the second quarter. The Mortgage Bankers Association says it's propelled by a sharp increase in late payments by homeowners with spotty credit histories. The trade group says the state's residential delinquency rate rose to more than 5 and a half percent. The national rate was just over 5.1 percent.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Harrisburg Mayor Stephen Reed has cooled to the idea of developing wind turbines on city-owned land on Peters Mountain. Reed says a yearlong feasibility study indicated that a municipally owned wind farm on the mountain does not make economic sense. But he does say it might make sense for a private developer to do so because of federal tax incentives.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Consol Energy plans to shut down one of its coal mines in southwestern Pennsylvania and could lay off as many as 111 miners later this year. The Pittsburgh-based company says Mine 84 near Washington is falling short of revenue goals and is expected to be idled indefinitely in the second quarter of 2008. Up to 111 of the 482 workers at the mine may be laid off in November.

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) - State and local authorities have posted warning signs following the discovery of a rabid raccoon in the playground area of a Lycoming County park. Doctor Amy Nestlerodt, a veterinarian for the state's Department of Agriculture, says the infected animal was spotted close to a pavilion at James E. Short Park in Loyalsock Township.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The Republican Party of Pennsylvania will hold its 2007 Fall Dinner tonight in Harrisburg. It will feature a keynote address from U.S. Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina. Senator Arlen Specter and state Attorney General Tom Corbett will also attend.