Today's News-Wednesday, November 14th

A Pottsville serviceman has died in Afghanistan. Thirty-year-old Captain David Boris, a 1995 graduate of Pottsville High, was six months into his 15-month deployment, and was serving as a troop commander in the 91st Cavalry Regiment. WNEP-TV reports that Boris may have died over the weekend. The circumstances of his death are not yet fully known. Boris was a graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point in 1999. He is survived by his wife, Jamie, and family.

An Auburn man will stand trial on charges from a fatal car crash in which a Hazleton woman died. At a preliminary hearing yesterday at the office of District Judge James Ferrier, 60-year-old William Moyer was charged with vehicular homicide, involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and other offenses in the death of Angela Francisi. Those charges will be bound over to court. The Republican and Herald reports that testimony offered by witnesses indicated that Moyer tailgated Francisi's car after she pulled in front of him on Route 61 in West Brunswick Township. Accounts indicate that Moyer swerved his car twice during the encounter, and forced Francisi's car into a vehicle driven by Lisabeth Gimbel of Nesquehoning.
While awaiting trial, Moyer is free on $20-thousand-dollars, percentage bail.

The owner of several pit bull dogs, which attacked a woman in Shenandoah earlier this week, will be cited by police. Cindy Davidson was attacked by the dogs Sunday while she was removing items from her car. The injuries she suffered required treatment at Geisinger Medical Center. The four dogs owned by Leo James reportedly got out of the fenced-in yard.
The citations form Shenandoah police include not being licensed, not having rabies shots and being allowed to run free.

A weekend theft of scrap metal and parts from a Blythe Township business is being investigated by Frackville State Police. An unknown thief came to K & K Coal Company over this past weekend and removed about $13-thousand-dollars in scrap metal and vehicle parts. Anyone with information should call state police at 874-5300.

State police are investigating a break-in and theft at a business in Blythe Township Sunday.
Troopers are now reporting that someone broke into All Indoor Auto Parts on Route 209 by prying a door open. Power tools were stolen. Frackville state police are continuing to investigate.

A new multi-purpose building, combining a health and wellness suite, a student lounge and other amenities is in the works at PSU Schuylkill. Ground was broken for the $2-million-dollar facility yesterday. The building will house campus Student Affairs, a nurses office and suite, a counseling office, fitness center and student lounge, and cover almost 5-thousand-square feet.
The campus already has a multipurpose building, including an exercise facility. That will be converted into a conference center. The new building is expected to open for the fall term in 2008 at Penn State Schuylkill.

A hearing on regulating day care centers in private homes will take place in our area tomorrow.
The House Labor Relations Committee, chaired by Representative Bob Belfanti of Northumberland County, will meet at the Tower City Borough Hall at 2pm. Representative Tim Seip is hosting the hearing. The focus of the gathering will be House Bill 1474, co-sponsored by Seip and introduced by Representative Todd Eachus, which is aimed at ensuring that regulation of registered family child day care and certified group child day care in private residential homes is appropriate and consistent with providing an atmosphere that will allow children to thrive developmentally. The public is invited to attend.

With gas and oil prices rising everyday, Pennsylvania's Governor is imploring the legislature to get on board with his energy independence strategy. At a meeting yesterday in Harrisburg, Governor Ed Rendell was joined by representatives from more than 40 businesses, all involved in alternative and renewable energy programs, to call attention to the need to reduce dependence on foreign energy. The Governor said that both the legislature and federal government must support those entrepreneurs who are working to stem the tide of foreign oil into our country:

RENDELL

Among the attendees were Keith Masser of Sterman Masser potato processor from Sacramento, and Bob Hoppe from WMPI, Gilberton. Both companies are leaders in alternative energy projects in the county. Rendell stated that the increase in energy costs have led to jumps in the cost of food and other consumer products and services. The Governor also expressed concern at the level of national debt incurred by the United States to finance its oil consumption. America borrows an estimated additional $1 billion every day to purchase oil.
Energy independence has been a key part of Rendell's second administration.

READING, Pa. (AP) - Schools and some municipalities in Berks County say they could face a combined $2 million in added fuel costs this school year because of a contract dispute. The Berks County Joint Purchasing Board's contract with Willow Creek Fuels, of Ruscombmanor Township, calls for 24 hour delivery for a consortium of 18 school districts and 25 municipalities. But some members say delayed deliveries have forced them to fill in with fuel from other sources - at market prices. An order for 5,000 gallons or more of diesel fuel commands a market price of $2.86, a dollar more per gallon than the contract price with Willow Creek. A Willow Creek spokesman, Evan Pappas, denies delivery problems or delays, except to some coalition members he says are behind on their bills.

DANVILLE, Pa. (AP) - Geisinger Medical Center has given employees nearly a full year's notice and now the Danville facility is ready to ban smoking outdoors as well as indoors starting Thursday. Geisinger is one of five central Pennsylvania facilities cracking down on the outside-the-door smoking crowds. No smoking, even in cars on hospital property, will also be the rule at Berwick Hospital Center, Evangelical Community Hospital in Lewisburg, and at Shamokin and Sunbury hospitals. Geisinger wellness coordinator Diane Harlow says hospitals exist to promote good health and want their employees healthy. Harlow says having a gaggle of smokers outside every door is just "not as good a picture as we would like to be portraying."

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Philadelphia-based Comcast Corporation says it will offer new business services today. The company says it will offer corporate e-mail and document sharing services to small and medium-sized business customers that buy its high-speed Internet service. Comcast will use Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. That will enable users to also jointly access calendars and track tasks in the office or on the road. Comcast says it will handle round-the-clock tech support. Comcast is going after business customers that traditionally buy Internet and phone services from phone companies.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Seven senior staff members of the state House Democrats are now out of work. A House Democratic official says the seven include Mike Manzo, the chief of staff to House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese. The official spoke to The Associated Press on conditition of anonymity because the matter involved personnel issues. The official wouldn't say why the seven were no longer employed by the caucus and wouldn't say whether they were fired or resigned. The shake-up comes in the wake of a a grand jury that has been convened by state Attorney General Tom Corbett. It's investigating millions of dollars in bonuses awarded to state legislative staffers. Some of the largest windfalls went to top aides who were the most politically active and took leaves of absence to campaign.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania is stopping dairies from stamping milk containers with hormone-free labels. The precedent-setting decision is being closely watched by the industry. Synthetic hormones have been used to improve milk production in cows for more than a decade. The chemical hasn't been detected in milk, so there's no way to test for its use. But a growing number of retailers have been selling and promoting hormone-free products in response to consumer demand. Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff says advertising one brand of milk as free from artificial hormones implies that competitors' milk isn't safe. Wolff says milk labeled that way often comes with what he calls an unjustified higher price.

CAPITOL HILL (AP) - The House and the Senate plan to vote on a 50 billion dollar spending bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this week. It would require the White House to start
bringing troops home. Democrats say if the president vetoes the bill, then he won't get his money for the wars.

CHICAGO (AP) - A new Pentagon study finds that mental health problems among troops returning from Iraq have grown in the months since they've been home. The study says 17 percent of troops were found to need mental health treatment when they first returned, but
that number rose to 42 percent six months later.

WHITE HOUSE (AP) - The new attorney general takes his ceremonial oath of office today. Michael Mukasey has actually been on the job since a private swearing-in last week. But today
he'll take the oath from Chief Justice John Roberts, with President Bush looking on.

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel is to announce a freeze in settlement construction in the West Bank, ahead of a U.S.-sponsored peace meeting with Palestinians later this month. A newspaper reports the Israeli prime minister sent top officials to Washington yesterday to work out the details of the freeze.

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Washington judge who lost his pants to a dry cleaner and then lost a 54 million dollar lawsuit against the dry cleaner has now lost his job. City officials in D.C. voted
unanimously not to reappoint Roy Pearson to his post as an administrative law judge. He had served for two years.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The investigative arm of Congress says about 5
percent of the nation's Medicaid providers may be tax deadbeats
owing more than a billion dollars from last year.
A report by the Government Accountability Office says it found
examples of Medicaid providers living in million dollar homes,
high-rolling at casinos and cruising in luxury yachts while still
behind in their taxes.
The GAO looked at doctors, hospitals and other Medicaid
providers in seven states, California, Colorado, Florida, Maryland,
New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. It found about 30,000 providers
delinquent.
The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will take up
the findings at a hearing today.
The report noted that federal law does not prevent health care
providers who owe back taxes from enrolling in Medicaid.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - An aide to Pennsylvania House Democratic
Leader Bill DeWeese says he was asked to resign yesterday to help
distance the caucus from an investigation into how staff bonuses
were handed out.
Mike Manzo is one of seven House Democratic employees who ended
up out of their jobs yesterday as part of a major shake-up.
Manzo says he spent a few hours with DeWeese yesterday, and at
the end of it he wrote down his resignation. He says he doesn't
think he did anything wrong.
The shake-up comes in the wake of a a grand jury that has been
convened by state Attorney General Tom Corbett.
Some of the largest bonuses went to top aides who were the most
politically active and took leaves of absence to campaign.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Sixteen people have been indicted on charges
that they stole more than 3 million dollars worth of prescription
drugs from pharmacies in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
Federal prosecutors say the drugs were then traded for guns.
Investigators were tipped off to the alleged guns-for-drugs ring
in September 2005. That was when four Philadelphia men were
arrested and charged with stealing 188 guns from a dealer in Tioga
County.
Authorities followed up on that case and uncovered information
to charge the suspects Wednesday in 34 burglaries and 13 attempted
burglaries. The pharmacies are in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and
Delaware, and most are in the Philadelphia region.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Police say a 16-year-old boy has been
charged in the shooting of two undercover narcotics officers in
Northeast Philadelphia.
Police say the plainclothes officers were wearing badges when
they were wounded about 6:30 last evening while trying to serve an
arrest warrant in the city's Frankford section.
It was the city's fourth and fifth police shootings in less than
three months.
Police say they have charged the 16-year-old with attempted
murder, possession with intent to deliver drugs and aggravated
assault.
One officer was shot in the leg, the other was hit in the hip.
Both were treated and released from hospitals.
The shootings happened less than two weeks after 54-year-old
Officer Chuck Cassidy was fatally shot as he walked in on a robbery
at a doughnut shop.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Wal-Mart has been ordered to pay 36.4
million dollars in fees and expenses to attorneys representing
thousands of current and former employees in Pennsylvania.
They had earlier won a class-action suit awarding them pay and
damages for working off the clock. The total award for the
plaintiffs now totals 187.6 million dollars.
Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Mark Bernstein issued the
opinion today.
The lawsuit involved 187,000 current and former employees who
worked at Wal-Mart and Sam's Clubs from March 1998 through May
2006.
A Philadelphia jury last year rejected Wal-Mart's claim that
some people chose to work through breaks or that a few minutes of
extra work here and there was insignificant.
Similar lawsuits charging that Wal-Mart violated state wage laws
are in play across the country.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - The Pittsburgh Planning Commission is delaying
for two weeks its vote on the city's planned slot machine casino.
The hearing was supposed to happen November 27th, but will now
take place December 11th.
The hearing was delayed to give casino developer Don Barden time
to incorporate design changes that were negotiated with the city
and county.
Local officials had expressed concerns about the appearance of a
large parking garage and with Barden's refusal to ban smoking from
parts of the casino floor.
Barden has since agreed to put a decorative facade on the
parking garage and pledged at least 25 percent of the casino will
be nonsmoking.
It remains unclear what, if any, part of the casino floor will
be nonsmoking.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The public will get a look at the latest
grand vision for the Delaware waterfront in Philadelphia when plans
are unveiled at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
The proposal to be presented this evening is sure to ignite a
battle between private developers and those who want the riverfront
left open for the public.
The Delaware River master plan will suggest taking waterfront
land that is now home to nightclubs and big box stores like
Wal-Mart and using it for parks and new neighborhoods.
Harris Steinberg is director of the group that authored the
plan, Penn Praxis. He says for too long, commercial developers have
ruled the waterfront. Steinberg says the new plan seeks a balance
in which the public has access and a view of the river.

SWIFTWATER, Pa. (AP) - One of the world's largest flu vaccine
manufacturers will soon start work on a West Nile Virus vaccine.
Officials at Sanofi-Pasteur in Swiftwater confirm that the
Monroe County company will work with Acambis, a British based
bio-tech company, to develop the first West Nile vaccine.
At present, there is no shot to prevent West Nile Virus, and no
one specific treatment is available for the potentially deadly
disease.
The latest statistics show more than 3,000 confirmed cases of
West Nile-related illnesses in the United States, and 92 of those
have been fatal.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 87
million people are at risk of contracting the mosquito-borne virus
which can lead to encephalitis.

DANVILLE, Pa. (AP) - Geisinger Medical Center has given
employees nearly a full year's notice and now the Danville facility
is ready to ban smoking outdoors as well as indoors starting
tomorrow.
Geisinger is one of five central Pennsylvania facilities
cracking down on the outside-the-door smoking crowds.
No smoking, even in cars on hospital property, will also be the
rule at Berwick Hospital Center, Evangelical Community Hospital in
Lewisburg, and at Shamokin and Sunbury hospitals.
Geisinger wellness coordinator Diane Harlow says hospitals exist
to promote good health and want their employees healthy. Harlow
says having a gaggle of smokers outside every door is just "not as
good a picture as we would like to be portraying."

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Philadelphia-based Comcast Corporation says
it will offer new business services starting today.
The company says it will offer corporate e-mail and document
sharing services to small and medium-sized business customers that
buy its high-speed Internet service.
Comcast will use Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, Microsoft
Exchange Server 2007 and Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.
That will enable users to also jointly access calendars and track
tasks in the office or on the road. Comcast says it will handle
round-the-clock tech support.
Comcast is going after business customers that traditionally buy
Internet and phone services from phone companies.

NEW YORK (AP) - A colorful Andy Warhol portrait of Elizabeth
Taylor has sold for 23.7 million dollars at Christie's auction
house in New York.
An anonymous bidder bought the "Liz (Colored Liz)" portrait
from a private collector last night.
The 40-by-40-inch portrait is part of a series the Pittsburgh
native created in the 1960s of his muses including Taylor, Marilyn
Monroe and Jackie Kennedy.
Warhol completed "Liz (Colored Liz)" in 1963 about the same
time Taylor suffered from a life-threatening illness. The painting
is one of a series of a dozen and features a turquoise background
and colorful eye shadow, violet eyes and red lipstick.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - The Pittsburgh-based Eat 'n Park restaurant
chain says a New York company is violating the restaurant's
trademark for its Smiley sugar cookies.
The restaurant chain says smiley-faced cookies made and sold by
The Clever Cookie of Plainview, New York, are "confusingly
similar" to the Smiley cookies Eat 'n Park has sold since 1985.
Eat 'n Park uses the Smiley-faced cookie prominently in its
marketing materials.
The Clever Cookie's Web site shows the company sells tins and
buckets full of specialty cookies, including those with smiling
faces. They are similar to the Eat n' Park cookies, but do not
feature a dot of icing for a nose.
A man who answered the phone at the cookie company says he's not
aware of the suit and declined to comment.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The company organizing a Police concert tour
says the show in Philadelphia will be postponed because frontman
Sting has the flu.
Live Nation says tickets for tonight's show will be honored at a
future Police concert in Philadelphia.
It isn't clear whether tomorrow's performance in Charlotte,
North Carolina, will go on as scheduled.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - An interactive theater performance in
Philadelphia is presenting young people with constitutional issues
they hear or see every day in the media.
Immigration, search and seizure, privacy, civil liberties and
more. All are examined in a 20-minute interactive theater
performance called Living News.
It's geared toward student groups in grades seven through 12.
Eighth grader Hannah Brown of the Longfellow school in Mount
Vernon, New York, says the performance made her think about issues
"like, flag burning and the right to own a gun."
Hannah says she wants more information before she makes up her
mind. She says she will try to do research on the computer.
Living News, presented by Education and Exhibits, is at the
National Constitution Center through December 14th.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Saying he listened to "the legitimate
concerns of the public," New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has
abandoned a plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.
The governor had introduced the plan with the goal of increased
security, safer roads and an opportunity to bring immigrants "out
of the shadows."
Opponents charged Spitzer would make it easier for would-be
terrorists to get identification, and make the country less safe --
and many New Yorkers agreed with them.
Last month, Spitzer sought to salvage the license effort by
striking a deal with the Department of Homeland Security to create
three distinct types of state driver's licenses.
Spitzer now says that the state of New York "cannot
successfully address this problem on its own."
The issue has spilled into Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign.
During a recent debate, she came under fire for refusing to take a
firm position on the plan.

NEW YORK (AP) - Stock prices are narrowly mixed at midday.
Investors on guard because of the credit crisis got some news
that many felt could have been worse. Bear Stearns says its
leveraged finance business is improving. The investment bank
expects to take a 1.2 billion-dollar writedown during the fourth
quarter, which eased worries of even higher losses.
The Labor Department reported wholesale prices registered a
slight gain in October, held down by a drop in energy costs. The
moderation in inflation could be temporary, however, with oil
prices surging to fresh records in recent days.
Crude has rebounded today, up $1.85 to $93.02 a barrel in New
York.

DETROIT (AP) - United Auto Workers members have overwhelmingly
ratified a contract with Ford.
The deal sets lower pay for some newly hired workers and puts
the company's huge retiree health care debt into a union-run trust.
The UAW, which represents about 54,000 workers at Ford, says 79
percent of those voting favored the pact.
Workers at General Motors and Chrysler have already ratified
similar deals, but there was no strike at Ford.
The landmark deals have been praised by the companies and union
for protecting jobs while at the same time cutting labor costs to
make the struggling automakers more competitive with their Japanese
rivals.
The UAW president says the contract with Ford protects wages,
benefits and seniority rights and provides income and secure health
care for retirees.

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) - A major earthquake has struck northern
Chile.
The U.S. Geological Survey says it registered with a 7.7
magnitude. So far there are no reports of major damage or injuries.
The head of the government's Emergency Bureau says the quake was
felt across nearly 1,300 miles, from Chile's northern border with
Peru to the capital, Santiago.
A hotel spokeswoman about 60 miles away from the quake's center
says the quake was "horribly strong." She says the shaking was
"very long" and there was a lot of underground noise. The woman
says the quake knocked out power to the hotel but caused no damage.

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf
(pur-VEHZ' moo-SHAH'-ruhv) says he expects to step down as army
chief by the end of the month and begin a new presidential term as
a civilian.
He tells The Associated Press that if he gives in to opposition
demands to resign as president, it will, as he puts it, "lead the
country to chaos."
Musharraf blames former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto
(BEN'-uh-zeer BOO'-toh) for fueling political turmoil. The
opposition leader is currently under house arrest.
He is rejecting Western pressure to quickly lift emergency rule.
And he indicates that it is likely to continue through the January
elections.
Meanwhile, a senior official says Bhutto will remain under house
arrest for at least another day.
The official tells The Associated Press that the government will
eventually "review what to do with her."

LAS VEGAS (AP) - O.J. Simpson is back in a Las Vegas courtroom,
for what's expected to be the last day of a hearing to determine
whether he and two other men will go to trial on 12 charges,
including kidnapping and armed robbery.
Simpson arrived shortly before the start of today's session.
The first witness on the stand was one of the memorabilia
dealers who was allegedly held up by Simpson and some armed men.
They'd been trying to sell items that Simpson says belonged to him.
The witness began by describing his background in the
memorabilia business, and his knowledge of others in the case.
A conviction on a kidnapping count could mean a sentence of life
in prison with the possibility of parole. An armed robbery
conviction could mean mandatory prison time.

NEW YORK (AP) - An Illinois police officer who is suspected in
the disappearance of his fourth wife says his wife ran off -- and
that she is "where she wants to be."
Drew Peterson tells NBC's "Today" show that he has no plans to
look for his wife Stacy because he believes she left him for
another man.
Stacy Peterson hasn't been seen since October 28th.
The interview aired a day after the body of Peterson's third
wife, Kathleen Savio, was exhumed in Illinois.
Investigators now say there is evidence that suggests that
someone killed Savio and tried to make it look like an accident.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush is welcoming new Attorney
General Michael Mukasey (myoo-KAY'-zee) back into government,
saying the retired federal judge has his "complete trust and
confidence."
Speaking at Mukasey's ceremonial oath-taking, Bush said Mukasey
"will bring clear purpose and resolve" to the Justice Department.
Bush promised to announce nominees tomorrow to fill some of the
dozen vacant senior leadership jobs in the department. It has been
in a state of upheaval since a series of controversies led to the
resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
The ceremony took place at the Justice Department's Great Hall.
Agency employees filled the hall and lined the balcony to watch
their new boss take the ceremonial oath from Supreme Court Chief
Justice John Roberts.

BALTIMORE (AP) - U.S. bishops say Catholic voters must heed
church teaching and make abortion a priority issue in next year's
elections.
At their fall meeting in Baltimore, the Roman Catholic leaders
say the church is aware of the importance of issues like war,
immigration and poverty. But they stress that abortion "is not
just one issue among many."
The bishops have overwhelmingly approved a document that does
not recommend specific laws or candidates for 2008. But it does
emphasize that moral issues are not "optional concerns," adding
that Catholics are not allowed "to dismiss or ignore church
teaching" when they cast their votes.

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Two families whose homes were destroyed by last
month's Southern California wildfires are suing a utility for
failing to clear vegetation around its power lines.
The plaintiffs are accusing San Diego Gas & Electric of
negligence. The lawsuits filed in a San Diego court seek
class-action status on behalf of any residents who were killed,
injured or had their property damaged or destroyed in two county
blazes.
The utility says it followed state and federal regulations
governing power-line maintenance, adding no system can be totally
protected from such severe weather conditions.
Fire officials say one fire that destroyed more than 200 homes
and burned nearly 10,000 acres was caused by a downed power line.
They also believe another fire that destroyed more than 1,100 homes
and torched close to 200,000 acres was sparked by power lines.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - A man who held police at bay from a
shuttle bus outside an Atlantic City casino for nearly six hours
apparently blamed one of the casinos for his brother's suicide.
A person with knowledge of the standoff says the man told
authorities he was armed, and that he blamed the Showboat
Casino-Hotel for the suicide of his brother, who he said had a bad
gambling problem.
No gun was immediately found.
Police say the suspect, who had what police believed was an
explosive device strapped to his body, had planted a
suspicious-looking device in a men's room inside the casino. But it
was later determined to be a hoax device.
The casino, which was closed down during the standoff, was
allowed to reopen shortly after 5 a.m.