Today's News-Tuesday, October 23rd

Three people had minor injuries in a Hubley Township crash on Sunday evening. Bernadette Buffington and two passengers, Nicholas and Rebecca Buffington, were traveling west on State Route 25 when the driver fell asleep. The car traveled across the eastbound lane, then struck a utility pole, snapping it off. All three were taken to Good Samaritan Hospital for treatment.
Power was disrupted to homes near the accident scene.

A Pottsville establishment was left without power Friday night following a crash. Details were released by city police yesterday. Based on witness accounts, a blue Dodge Durango driven by Jeremy Lutz of Minersville was traveling at a high rate of speed on Nichols Street. After losing control, the SUV struck the electrical panel alongside Maroons Sports Bar and Grill, causing power to be lost. Lutz fled the scene before police arrived, but turned himself in on Saturday.
Pottsville police are continuing their investigation.

More than 30 years ago, an abandoned mine in Pennsylvania's hard-coal country was turned into a repository for toxic waste. When government officials finally shut down the site in 1979,
they found nearly 7,000 storage drums, and dead birds and animals. Years later, after a cleanup, officials say the site does not pose a health hazard. But residents who live nearby are skeptical: They say they seem to be getting cancer and other serious diseases in startling numbers. By one unofficial estimate, 70 of 100 homes within a half-mile of the site have been touched. Tomorrow night, a meeting will be held in Hazleton to learn the findings of a government report on a possible cluster of a rare blood disorder that has sickened dozens of people in Schuylkill, Carbon and Luzerne counties.

A spree of vandalism in Port Carbon has car owners up in arms. Sometime Sunday night, an estimated nine vehicles were vandalized along Route 209, also known as Coal Street. The vandals carved racial slurs and obscenities. into the side of the vehicles. According to the Republican and Herald, this is the second instance of vehicle vandalism this month.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Judicial candidates in Pennsylvania may now find it easier to decide whether to speak out on controversial issues. A federal judge in Philadelphia has issued a ruling that says aspiring judges are free to discuss the issues of the day on the campaign trail, so long as they do not promise to rule in a particular way once they're on the bench. The ruling by Senior Judge Marvin Katz stemmed from a lawsuit filed in the spring by a conservative group that sent questionnaires to more than 100 candidates for state and county judgeships. The group was soliciting their views on such hot-button issues as abortion and school prayer.
Only 19 candidates responded. The plaintiffs said the state's rules violate judicial candidates' freedom of speech.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The state House of Representatives has dealt a blow to its reform commission. The House voted yesterday against a proposal to select four of the eight Ethics
Committee members at random. The final vote came about an hour after the chamber had voted in favor of the same proposal by a single vote. The sudden reversal came after opponents of the random selection argued it made more sense to continue the current system, under
which each party leader picks four members. The Speaker's Commission on Legislative Reform had recommended a partially random selection process. The House passed a separate recommendation to require members to undergo two hours of ethics education each two-year session.

MOUNT POCONO, Pa. (AP) - A news conference with the owner of Pennsylvania's first freestanding slot-machine casino ended abruptly. Mount Airy Casino Resort owner Louis DeNaples walked off when a reporter asked him if he has ties to organized crime. DeNaples remains a focus of a grand jury investigation. His slots parlor in the Poconos opened to the public yesterday, with gamblers surging in around noon. The casino was built on the site of the Poconos' most storied resort, the Mount Airy Lodge. The resort had its heyday in the
1960s and '70s but fell on hard times in later years.

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A Montgomery County judge has released the oldest son of Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid from jail. Garrett Reid is now on house arrest until his sentencing a week from Thursday. The 24-year-old man has acknowledged he had used heroin when he ran a red light and hit another car in January. A prosecutor says under the terms of house arrest set yesterday, Reid is allowed to leave his house only for treatment and to go to his brother's high school football games with his parents. Reid was jailed last week for failing to show up for show up for a scheduled drug test. Reid testified yesterday that he failed to show or call his probation officer because of a miscommunication.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush publicly honored a fallen Navy SEAL by presenting his grieving parents with the Medal of Honor. He was Lieutenant Michael Murphy, a Penn State graduate who is the first to earn the medal for combat in Afghanistan. Murphy gave his
life to make a radio call for help for his team. Murphy and three other SEALs were searching for a terrorist in the Afghan mountains on June 28th, 2005. Their mission was compromised after they were spotted by locals, who presumably alerted the Taliban to their presence. An intense gun battle erupted. Although wounded, Murphy is credited with risking his life by
moving into the open for a better position to transmit a call for help. He was killed.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania's top elected government watchdog says a bill intended to end state employee bonuses could allow the state's student-loan agency to continue awarding them. Auditor General Jack Wagner says lawmakers should eliminate an exception from the bill that would allow annual "incentive payments" for employees who meet specific performance goals written into employment contracts or labor agreements. The bill was passed by the Senate on Wednesday and awaits a vote in the House State Government Committee.
Wagner's office is conducting an ongoing performance audit of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency -- including its spending on bonuses. A spokesman for Senate Republican Leader Dominic Pileggi defends the exception and says public employees should be rewarded for good job performance.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Closing arguments are expected today in the trial of a Pittsburgh man accused of killing a state trooper. Prosecutors say 32-year-old Leslie Mollett shot Corporal Joseph Pokorny in December 2005 after Mollett crashed his car while the trooper was pursuing him for speeding just outside the city. Mollett could face the death penalty if he's convicted.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The Philadelphia Stock Exchange is up for sale and plans to accept bids from prospective buyers today. Founded in 1790, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange is the nation's oldest stock market. It holds about 15 percent of the options market.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - The Allegheny County Council is expected to consider a proposal today to to restrict the county's real estate assessment Web site. County Executive Dan Onorato wants to make it so people cannot search by owner name. Onorato says people have used the site to search for law enforcement officials, teachers, judges and crime victims. He wants to limit searches by parcel number and street address. In 2005, the county removed the names of about 100 judges from the site. Officials acted after the husband and mother of a federal
judge were killed in Chicago and a county judge was killed in an Atlanta courthouse.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Philadelphia is getting 250 new security cameras. Deputy Police Commissioner Jack Gaittens says the first of the new cameras will go up in the area of 52nd and Market streets in West Philadelphia. That neighborhood has been plagued by violence for years. Gaittens says the camera equipment will be able to receive signals from a two-mile radius, so police won't be looking only at one intersection. The first of the cameras should be in operation within about two weeks, as a result of a deal between the city and Unisys worth
nearly nine million dollars. Authorities hope to expand beyond the 250 cameras in the future.

WORTON, Md. (AP) - Maryland Natural Resources Police have concluded their investigation into the discovery of the body of a Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) man this summer in Worton Creek in Worton, Maryland. The body of 54-year-old Francis Bevenour was found near the
shoreline on June 30th. His death has been ruled an accidental drowning. Police say abuse of prescription drugs was a contributing factor in his death. Bevenour was last seen near Green Point Marina, where his boat was docked. His wife reported him missing June 28th.

SAN DIEGO (AP) - President Bush had declared a state of emergency in California, where over a dozen wildfires have scorched more than 240,000 acres and destroyed hundreds of homes. Bush's declaration is aimed at speeding up federal disaster relief to the area.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - More rain is forecast in New Orleans, after more than eight inches fell yesterday, flooding some areas. Officials closed a gate on a canal in suburban New Orleans, where waters threatened to top the walls. Authorities are asking residents to help clean out catch basins so standing water can drain from the streets.

WHITE HOUSE (AP) - President Bush talks missile defense and terrorist surveillance during a speech in Washington today. Bush will discuss his defense strategy, a day after asking Congress for more money for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - An intelligence official in Pakistan says two suicide bombers were behind the deadly attack on the homecoming procession of former premier Benazir Bhutto last week. The government says it's confident it will catch those responsible for the attack and it doesn't need outside investigators.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER (AP) - NASA is pumping fuel into space shuttle Discovery but the weather may prevent blastoff this morning. Forecasters say low rain clouds could delay the launch of the shuttle on a space station construction mission.