Today's News-Monday, September 10th

A Hispanic man is in prison following an incident in Ryan Township last night. Juan Ayala, address unknown, and his girlfriend, Amber York, of Barnesville, got into an argument around 8pm last night that got physical. Ayala hit York several times in the face, then threatened to kill her because she called police. He was taken into custody and charged with disorderly conduct, terroristic threats and simple assault. Ayala was arraigned and taken to Schuylkill County Prison.

A huge crowd showed their spirit yesterday in Minersville. WPPA/T102 News stopped by the 12th Annual Spirit Day yesterday, sponsored by the Minersville Business Association. Food, games, rides and entertainment greeted the visitors under a partly cloudy day, just perfect to celebrate Grandparents Day. At mid-afternoon, the state champion Minersville High School baseball team were honored for their accomplishments. Ed Butler was honored as its Spirit Day Citizen of the Year.

The Schuylkill United Way kicked off its 2008 Campaign at Penn State Schuylkill Campus Friday. A crowd of more than 150 people were in attendance to rollout this year’s effort "We Are Community Strong" with a campaign goal of $1-million-dollars. Dr. R. Keith Hillkirk, Chancellor at Penn State Schuylkill, is this year's General Campaign chairman. He explains why he got involved:
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The Tamaqua campaign chair is businessman Todd Miller of M&S Hardware.
Hillkirk was pleased to announce that the 2008 campaign is off to a quick start:
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For more information about giving to the Schuylkill United Way, call 570-622-6421. All monies raised during the campaign stays right here in Schuylkill County, benefiting the 16 member agencies. Each year, the celebration has grown, as the borough shuts down North Street for the event.

A Pennsylvania Congressman is voicing his opposition to the idea of allowing Mexican trucks to operate in the United States... Pete Primak reports:
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A Pine Grove man was not hurt in a DUI related crash late Friday night in Washington Township. State police at Schuylkill Haven report that 54-year-old Harry Umbenhauer was attempting to turn from Camp Road onto Covered Bridge Road, when his car left the road and struck a boulder. The car ended up on top of the rock. Umbenhauer showed signs of being under the influence of alcohol and was arrested for DUI. He was taken to Pottsville Hospital, where he refused to provide a blood sample for BAC testing. Charges against Umbenhauer will be filed in District Court.

Two Hegins men escaped injury in a crash on Saturday morning. The vehicles driven by Adam Rhody and Rex Sanders were driving east on State Route 25 in Hegins Township. Sanders' vehicle slowed as a tree branch fell off of a utility truck in the westbound lane. Rhody, who was traveling behind Sanders, rear ended the car. Rhody's Jeep had moderate damage, while Sanders Chevy Silverado had minor damage. The crash happened after 8am Saturday.

With hunting seasons fast approaching, Pennsylvania Game Commission officials have issued a reminder to hunters and landowners about feeding wildlife. The Commission says that all food plots in place must be cleaned up at least 30 days before the hunting season to avoid violating the state’s baiting law. Richard Palmer, Game Commission Wildlife Protection Director, notes that if you intend to hunt a property, simply remove all artificially placed food sources 30 days prior to the season and don't put food out until after the last season you intend to hunt, or, even better, don't put out artificial food and, instead, invest in habitat improvement projects on your property, such as planting a food plot of clover or other plants that animals, such as deer, need to survive.

BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraq's prime minister tells his country's lawmakers their forces are not ready to take over security from American troops stationed across Iraq. Nouri al-Maliki says "more efforts and time" are needed before Iraqi troops can assume control in all provinces.

CAPITOL HILL (AP) - America's top general and top diplomat in Iraq go to Capitol Hill today for a progress report on the war. General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker are likely to say there's been enough military progress to maintain a troop buildup, but will acknowledge political progress has been lacking.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - A short stay back in Pakistan for the country's former prime minister. Nawaz Sharif was deported to Saudi Arabia just hours after flying into Islamabad following years of exile. He's hoping to lead an effort to topple the president who sent him packing in a coup eight years ago.

NAGS HEAD, N.C. (AP) - Gabrielle is no longer a tropical storm. The system that brought wind and a bit of flooding but no real damage to North Carolina's coast yesterday has weakened to a
tropical depression over the cooler waters of the Atlantic.

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) - Doctors tell the Buffalo Bills it's too early to tell how severe the injury to reserve tight end Kevin Everett is. But there are concerns about whether he'll be able to walk again after a helmet-to-helmet hit in yesterday's opening game loss to Denver. Everett underwent surgery for a spinal injury.

WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania state police say the son of former Congressman Curt Weldon has been arrested on charges of drug possession. Twenty-six-year-old Wayne Curtis Weldon Junior, of Glen Mills, was arrested about 1 p.m. Sunday at his parent's home in Thornbury Township. According to a police report, the younger Weldon was in possession of a small amount of marijuana, prescription drugs not prescribed to him and other drug paraphernalia. Curt Weldon was a 10-term Republican who was defeated for re-election by Democrat Joe Sestak in November. Weldon has taken a job as chief strategic officer for
Exton-based Defense Solutions, which specializes in military services and sales.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania has died from meningitis and the school has issued a public health notice. The university says 19-year-old Anne Ryan died early Sunday from meningococcal meningitis at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She was hospitalized Saturday in critical condition. Meningococcal meningitis affects children and young adults, and meningococcal bacteria are spread only through close, prolonged contact with an infected person or a person who is a carrier. Dr. Evelyn Wiener is the director of Student Health Services at Penn. She says it is important for people to know that this is not easy to get. Ryan lived in off-campus housing. The school says those who had
close contact have been contacted by Student Health Services and have received preventative treatment.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A Pennsylvania man is being held on a parole violation while police in Peru investigate the death of his Internet bride. Officials say the woman's body was found in a suitcase fished out of the ocean. Peruvian police consider William Trickett Smith Junior a suspect in the death and are seeking to bring him to Peru. That's according to a detective with Peru's national police. The 26-year-old Harrisburg man met 21-year-old Jana Gomez
Menendez de Smith over the Internet last year and married her in March. That's what the woman's family told The Patriot-News of Harrisburg. Smith, who has served time on drug and escape charges, was arrested last month for taking trips to Peru without informing his parole officer. He is being held in the Dauphin County Prison. His attorney did not return telephone messages from The Associated Press.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - In the next few years, Pennsylvania high school students will confront two different tracks of state testing on the road to graduation. The State Board of Education -- which is responsible for setting the state's academic expectations for students -- is starting to craft a battery of exams in English, math, science and social studies. Its work is aimed at following through on recommendations made earlier this year by a panel studying ways to improve high school students' preparedness for college and the work force. The panel recommended that students take subject-specific "graduation competency exams." That's in addition to the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests that the state already mandates in reading, writing, math and science. Students would have to pass one set of state tests to graduate.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Six years after the September Eleventh terrorist attacks, Pittsburgh emergency workers are beginning to study and devise a plan for the evacuation of the city.
City rescue workers have spent the years since September Eleventh revamping other emergency services discovered to be lacking on the day of the terrorist attacks, including
consolidating city and county 911 operations. A one-year study of Pittsburgh's evacuation plans is set to begin shortly. Two or three years after that a detailed evacuation plan will be ready.
Pittsburgh Fire Chief Michael Huss says emergency workers currently have crude assumptions about what should be done in the case that the city has to be evacuated.

SOMERSET, Pa. (AP) - A traveling exhibit of September Eleventh memorabilia is being displayed in Somerset County, where Flight 93 crashed. It's the sixth anniversary of the terrorist attacks, and the exhibit features more than 200 artifacts and mementoes, from
smashed door knobs to a cell phone to pieces of the hijacked planes. They will be displayed through the anniversary tomorrow at a Quality Inn just a few miles from the site of the Flight 93 crash, which killed 39 passengers and crew aboard. The exhibit has traveled more than 100,000 miles, to people in 27 states and Washington, D.C.

ERIE, Pa. (AP) - An Erie cancer researcher has found a way to burn salt water. The novel invention is being touted by one chemist as the most remarkable water science discovery in a century. John Kanzius happened upon the discovery accidentally when he tried to desalinate seawater with a radio-frequency generator he developed to treat cancer. He discovered that so long as the salt water was exposed to the radio frequencies it would burn. The discovery has scientists excited by the prospect of using salt water, the most abundant resource on earth, as a fuel. Penn State researchers will meet with U.S. government officials in the coming week to try to obtain funding to research whether the energy created by burning the sea water would be enough to power a car or other heavy machinery.