Today's News-Tuesday, December 4th

One of Pottsville's eight fire companies has been suspended for the second time in as many years. Pottsville Fire Chief Todd March indicates that he had no choice but to suspend the Greenwood Hill Fire Company from active service indefinitely. He did so because the company did not respond to a sufficient number of calls with trained firefighters. Guidelines in place by the department says that the company must respond to at least 20 percent of the calls they were dispatched for, with at least four trained firefighters in tow. March tells the Republican and Herald that the company did not meet the guidelines. The company has been undergoing some internal problems, and several of their trained firefighters have resigned from the company. Greenwood Hill officials say that they did respond to a sufficient number of calls, and have the logs to back it up. The indefinite suspension by March leaves 7 fire companies to cover the city. Greenwood Hill Fire Company had been suspended for 6 months the last time, when it was determined that the company did not have enough trained volunteer firefighters to respond.

Come January, Norwegian Township will rely on Pennsylvania State Police troopers for law enforcement. In a packed house at Norwegian Township's Supervisors meeting last night, the board decided to disband the one-officer department as of January 1st. Sgt. John Zuratt has been with the department for more than 20 years. According to the Republican and Herald, the township board's decision was not driven by monetary concerns. Reports say that it costs about $60 thousand dollars a year in salary and benefits for police coverage. The supervisors stated that the move will provide more police coverage by moving it under the state police jurisdiction.
Township residents vehemently oppose the move, citing safety concerns for Norwegian Township.

New Ringgold's fire chief was involved in a crash yesterday while responding to an accident call.
50-year-old Craig Haas was en route to the scene of a crash on Route 895 when he observed two vehicles in front of him on Route 443. He moved his vehicle to the center of the road to see if any traffic was approaching from the opposite direction. His truck slid off the road, struck a tree and rolled over. Haas suffered minor abrasions in the crash.

DELTA, Pa. (AP) - A former plant operator suggests 12-hour shifts made guards inattentive at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station. Robert Hall told a public meeting yesterday the body is not designed to work 12 hours a day. Hall calls the schedule "brutal." But Peach Bottom spokeswoman Bernadette Lauer says plant security officers overwhelmingly elected to work the 12-hour shifts. The meeting was to discuss U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
follow-up inspections on security officer attentiveness. A Wackenhut security officer videotaped colleagues napping in the plant's ready room earlier this year. The power station has since terminated its contract with Wackenhut.

READING, Pa. (AP) - Officials promise that weeks without a math teacher are ending for a Reading High School geometry class. After six weeks of substitutes, Superintendent Thomas Chapman says a certified math instructor will be provided immediately. Chapman told a school board meeting he didn't find out about the situation until Monday. Substitutes have taught the class since the unexpected resignation of the former teacher, who went on medical
leave. The days of crossword puzzles, movies and busywork have students like 17-year-old Lekeya Copeland worried. She says they need to pass Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests in February to graduate, and six weeks of substitutes have left them unprepared.

EBENSBURG, Pa. (AP) - A Cambria County woman and her boyfriend have been arrested on charges of child endangerment. The woman's 15-month-old baby fell down a flight of stairs while the boyfriend allegedly was using crack cocaine. Police say 20-year-old Heather Lynn Kohler of Brownstown was out looking for more of the drug and had left the baby in the care of
19-year-old Alexander Robert Zack when the infant fell and sustained a life-threatening head injury. The baby was treated at Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown before being transferred to Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh. Johnstown is about 60 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. The two were taken to county jail. Zack was released on $150,000 bond a day later.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - State regulators say a power company and a water authority are responsible for a 2005 coal ash slide in Allegheny County that damaged roads and polluted streams. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection ordered West Penn Power and the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County to remove any remaining ash from the area in Forward Township. An embankment of fly ash dumped in area decades ago collapsed in January 2005. It temporarily dammed a stream, which carried the material through a valley and onto a road. The agency says a two-year investigation showed the company disposed of the ash from a nearby power station. It also found a leaky water line along the top of the area that contributed to the slide.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Governor Ed Rendell is scheduled to meet with the governors of Virginia and Maryland on Thursday, as well as the mayor of Washington, D.C. They'll be discussing the health of the Chesapeake Bay. An environmental group says it's getting worse.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation gave the bay a failing grade for one of its most persistent pollutants, nitrogen, along with Fs for water clarity and dissolved oxygen. The report concludes that the bay's health is "dangerously out of balance." The overall score was 28, down from last year's score of 29. The only A score came for rockfish, or striped bass, which are near historic high levels, a rebound long considered the greatest success of Chesapeake restoration efforts.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Democratic leaders of the state House of Representatives say their best hope of getting an open records bill signed into law is the version that passed the Senate last week. Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee voted out the Senate bill despite nearly unanimous Republican opposition. Democratic Leader Bill DeWeese says he expects the bill to be amended on the House floor Wednesday, with a final vote next week. That may leave enough time for the two chambers to reconcile any differences before they leave for an extended winter break.

WASHINGTON (AP) - A survey in a Philadelphia-based medical journal renews longstanding questions about the medical profession's ability to regulate itself. For example, more than 90 percent of doctors surveyed says physicians should always tell proper authorities about impaired or incompetent colleagues, or when they see a significant mistake. But 45 percent say they hadn't always done so. Also, a third of surveyed doctors said they would order an
unnecessary and expensive MRI scan just to get rid of a complaining patient. And 11 percent reported breaching patient confidentiality. The study from Massachusetts General Hospital appears in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) - Construction work on the Lancaster Convention Center is making progress, though workers say weather delays could slow it down. But the work is above ground now, which workers say makes a big difference in the winter. A large portion of the silver-covered roof above the main exhibition space has been installed. Workers poured a concrete slab for the convention center's kitchen on Monday. The convention center is part of a plan to revitalize downtown Lancaster.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Both planned casinos in Philadelphia appear to be a big step closer to reality - one by a court ruling and one by an agreement with city officials. The state Supreme Court has sided with SugarHouse Casino in its dispute with the Philadelphia City Council. In a 6-1 decision, the justices say City Council members can't use the zoning process to override the Gaming Board's decision about where to locate casinos. Also, Foxwoods Casino Philadelphia says it has agreed to terms with the city to get prompt review of the permits it needs. Among
other things, Foxwoods has agreed to pay for improvements to the storm drains in the South Philadelphia neighborhood to alleviate flooding problems. Also, Foxwoods must provide public access to the waterfront.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Philadelphia's Boy Scout chapter is a step closer to being evicted from the city-owned building that it's been renting for $1 a year. A lawyer for the city says it's illegal for the city to rent for a nominal sum to a group that discriminates against gays. The city maintains that the Cradle of Liberty Council must either move out or start paying fair market rent. The city says that would be $200,000 a year for the downtown building. It asked
the Cradle of Liberty Council to announce by yesterday what it would do. A spokesman for the local group says it didn't feel obligated to respond by yesterday and may end up going to court. He says the local group can't go against the national group's policy and can't afford $200,000 in rent.

NEW YORK (Dow Jones/AP) - Moody's Investors Service has downgraded Hershey Company's senior unsecured long-term rating to A2 from A1. It has assigned a negative outlook for further rating changes, citing soft performance at the company's U.S. chocolate business. Moody's also noted Hershey's ongoing turmoil in its boardroom and executive suites. Moody's had warned in October that it might cut its long-term credit rating for Hershey amid further declines in "core operating performance." The negative outlook assigned today means that Moody's will cut
Hershey's rating further if the company's results continue to sag. That would also happen if it tries another major restructuring or moves to a more aggressive financial strategy.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania House Speaker Dennis O'Brien says murder defendants shouldn't be allowed to argue they are retarded, and therefore exempt from the death penalty, until after they're convicted. O'Brien appeared at a Capitol news conference with district attorneys and victim advocates. He says he also supports having juries, rather than judges, determine if defendants are retarded. The U.S. Supreme Court banned execution of mentally retarded defendants five years ago. The justices left it to states to determine court procedures in such cases. A bill passed the state Senate in October allowing defendants to
have a judge determine if they're retarded prior to trial.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - The attorney for a 14-year-old Allegheny County girl charged in the shotgun killing of her allegedly abusive father is asking people to send her holiday cards.
Patrick Nightingale the outpouring of support shown so far has helped her through a difficult time, but he says she still has a long road. He contends she shot Matthew Booth Senior in the face in July to end years of physical and sexual abuse. The Associated Press doesn't identify possible victims of sexual abuse. She'd been living in a home authorities called uninhabitable
because of filth. It's been torn down. She's now staying in a residential treatment center and faces a February delinquency hearing, which is the juvenile court equivalent of a criminal trial.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) - Two days after naming its mascot "PorkChop," the Philadelphia Phillies' new Triple-A affiliate abruptly dropped the moniker. The Lehigh Valley IronPigs say they got complaints from Hispanics that the mascot's name was offensive. The Lehigh Valley IronPigs, whose mascot is a large, furry pig, had selected PorkChop from fan submissions. The team, which begins play in 2008, announced yesterday that the mascot will be named
"Ferrous" instead. General Manager Kurt Landes says he heard from several Hispanics
who said PorkChop was derogatory. He says team officials weren't aware of negative connotations. Guillermo Lopez is the vice president of the Latino Leadership Alliance. He says he was harassed with the slur decades ago, but it isn't widely used today.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The figures of Santa Claus and Rudolph that were animated for TV's "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" are now owned by a Pittsburgh man. Collectables dealer Kevin Kriess is displaying them at the Brookfield Zoo near Chicago this weekend. The puppets were at a comic book show in Columbus, Ohio, over Thanksgiving weekend. Eighteen-year-old Dwight Penney of Richwood in central Ohio says they brought back old memories of watching the show with his family. CBS plans to air the special again tonight.

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - A section of the main route between Seattle and Portland remains closed due to flooding from a fierce storm pounding the Northwest. Rescuers using boats and helicopters have carried dozens of stranded people to safety. At least two people are dead in the storm and thousands have lost power.

WASHINGTON (AP) - A former member of President Bush's National Security Council says a new intelligence report should derail any appetite for war with Iran. The report concludes Iran's nuclear weapons development was halted some four years ago, even though U.S spy agencies drew different conclusions in 2005.

CAPITOL HILL (AP) - A Senate committee today takes a look at the credit card industry. Lawmakers are exploring how card companies raise consumers' interest rates when their credit scores dip, even if they make their payments on time. Critics call it an abusive practice that's driving people deeper into debt.

LONDON (AP) - Gillian Gibbons says she wanted an adventure in Sudan but got more than she bargained for. The British teacher is back home, after spending more than a week in jail for letting her students name a teddy bear Muhammad. Some offended Sudanese had demanded the woman be executed but the country's president pardoned her.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Charities around the country are finding it's tougher to play Santa this year. Several high-profile toy recalls are causing groups like Goodwill, the Marines and the
Salvation Army to either refuse toy donations or spend more time inspecting the toys before they're handed out.