Today's News-Monday, January 7th

A year has passed since he allegedly beat his wife to death in their Mount Carmel home. Now, Steven Wolfgang has been officially charged in her death. The 47-year-old was brought from the State Correctional Institution at Graterford , where he's serving a one- to two-year prison sentence for arson, back to Mount Carmel Saturday for his arraignment on charges he beat Sherry Wolfgang to death on Jan. 5th, 2007 and threw her remains into Mahanoy Creek. On January 8 last year, Wolfgang was found near his wife's burning SUV in a wooded area off Route 4022 in Eldred Township. At that time he allegedly confessed to state police that he killed his wife in the kitchen of their home during an argument and then dumper her body in the Mahanoy Creek. Sherry Wolfgang's skeletal remains were not found until June of last year, leaving authorities unable to prove a crime had even occurred. The arraignment took place across the street from the Wolfgang family home at 207 S. Main St., where state police at Stonington allege the slaying took place. Steven Wolfgang's preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday. Sherry Wolfgang's funeral is scheduled for tomorrow in Coal Township.

A Shenandoah high school graduate died in a two-vehicle accident on Interstate-80 in Clearfield County Friday night. 19-year-old Carissa Waiksnoris was driving when her vehicle swerved
across two lanes of traffic before hitting an embankment. Waiksnoris, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from the vehicle and then hit by a mini-van. She was a 2006 graduate of Shenandoah Valley High School. Neither her passenger nor the driver of the van suffered major physical injuries.

The former Cass Township police chief will have charges reinstated against him, according to Pennsylvania State Police. The ruling was handed down from the Pennsylvania Superior Court, stating that 67-year-old John Harley, who was originally charged in 2005 with assault and other offenses after he allegedly hit two teens on a dirt bike with the township police car. A Schuylkill County Court judge dismissed the charges in August, 2006. The charges of simple assault, reckless endangerment, intimidation of witnesses or victims and other counts will be brought by state police in county court. A charge of aggravated assault was not reinstated.

An Auburn woman escaped injury in a crash Saturday night in Wayne Township. Theresa Schoener was traveling north on Route 183 and lost control of the vehicle on a patch of ice. The car struck an embankment and spun clockwise, then struck a storm drain, damaging the left rear of the car. Her car had to be towed from the scene.

The Pine Grove Township Board of Supervisors is expected to decide tonight if a plant that manufactures solar energy products will proceed. Solar Innovations of Myerstown purchased the property in the Pine Grove Business Park in October from SEDCO for $270-thousand-dollars, intending to build a manufacturing plant for its line of commercial and residential architectural solar energy projects. That could bring 35 new jobs - as well as 68 existing jobs - to the area. The Republican amd Herald reports, the Pine Grove Township Planning Commission approved the plan Wednesday, but it must still be OK'd by the township's board of supervisors. The meeting to either approve or disapprove the plant will be held tonight at seven.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Michael Nutter is set to become Philadelphia's 98th mayor when he takes the oath of office today at the Academy of Music. Then, Nutter will finally getting the chance to his plan to clean up the city - both literally and figuratively - into action.
Expectations are high for Nutter. Nutter issued a call to public service a day after defeating
Republican challenger Al Taubenberger by a 4-to-1 margin. His transition team was deluged with thousands of resumes after asking for the best and brightest to join his administration.
Nutter says there is an opportunity to make the city the greatest turnaround story of any city in the last 50 years. He also says his administration will clean up the government.

READING, Pa. (AP) - The state has scrapped plans to sell the State Correctional Institution at Graterford and build three new prisons nearby. State prison officials say their new plan calls for building four new prisons and expanding four others. Berks County officials had said in February that a state prison would bring jobs and could relieve overcrowding in the county
prison. But a Department of Corrections spokeswoman says nearby Montgomery County residents did not want the land used for houses and shopping malls. A Department of General Services spokesman says developers interested in buying the site did not provide enough
details or agree to a price. County Commissioner Mark Scott says he is not sorry that the
plan was scrapped. He says he doesn't want Berks County "to be famous for prisons and landfills."

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Facing pressure from regulators, the cable TV industry is moving to standardize its technology and allow services like video-on-demand without cable boxes.
An industry initiative is expected to allow electronics manufacturers to make TVs and other gear that will work regardless of cable provider. The standard also could encourage the
development of new services and features that rely on two-way communication over the cable network. Comcast chief executive Brian Roberts says the nation's largest cable provider will roll out the platform in all its markets by the end of this year. And company executives say Time Warner Cable is even closer to completion. Roberts spoke to The Associated Press ahead of a speech Tuesday at the International Consumer Electronics Show.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Philadelphia International Airport is getting a $1 million boost from the state for a runway project. Luke Webber is a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of
Transportation. He told KYW-AM that the money will go toward extending an existing runway about 1,000 feet. He says that will allow different types of aircraft to land there and decrease delays around the airport. Webber says the money comes from the state capital budget and
was authorized by the state legislature and approved by Governor Ed Rendell. So far, $2.8 million of state money has been contributed to the runway project. The work is expected to be completed in early 2009.

READING, Pa. (AP) - The murder rate in Reading is down again. Six murders were committed in Reading during 2007. That is the lowest in the city for nearly two decades and one-fourth the number of homicides just two years earlier. Police Chief William Heim says the last time there were fewer homicides in the city was 1998. It marked the second straight year that homicides have declined in Reading. The city had nine murders in 2006 and 24 in 2005. Arrests were made in two of the six homicides of 2007. One of the others was ruled a murder-suicide.
Reading typically has more murders than all other Berks County municipalities combined, but not last year. There were nine murders in the rest of the county, not including Reading, during 2007. Heim says the 2007 statistics reflect a significant drop in gun violence.

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) - A house fire in Scranton killed two residents and also claimed the life of a veteran firefighter. Officials say Captain James Robeson was killed and two other
firefighters injured after electricity from nearby power lines struck the bucket lift of a ladder truck. Killed by the 7:10 a.m. fire yesterday were 82-year-old Richard Fenstermacher and 87-year-old Maria Fenstermacher. Mayor Chris Doherty called the deaths of the three a
"tremendous loss to our community." Robeson and firefighter Jennifer Hawker had ascended in the bucket lift when electricity from the lines jumped to the truck, electrocuting Robeson and shocking Hawker and two other firefighters near the truck. Robeson had been a firefighter for 24 years. State trooper Bill Satkowski says the cause of the fire has not been determined.

YORK, Pa. (AP) - A house exploded in York County minutes after a car crashed into it and ruptured a gas line. A firefighter fleeing the blast early Saturday fell and broke a knee cap. No one else was seriously injured. Firefighters, police, the homeowners and the car's occupants
were backing away from the house after Fire Chief David Bardo heard a loud hissing sound. The blast happened eight minutes after police received a call about the crash around 2 a.m. Saturday. The firefighter who broke his knee cap underwent surgery and was recovering at York Hospital. The homeowners, Fred and Sue Stauffer, could not be reached for comment. Their home was leveled.

HATBORO, Pa. (AP) - Hatboro police are trying to solve a rash of thefts of metals from construction sites. In December, about $15,000 worth of copper wire and scrap metal
was taken. Sgt. James Petrik attributes the thefts to the rise in scrap metal prices, especially those for copper wire. Authorities say copper and scrap metal thefts have become
commonplace in Bucks and Montgomery counties in recent years. Not only materials are being stolen. Tools worth about $2,500 were stolen from two construction trailers around Christmas.
Petrik says two Philadelphia men were arrested in Hatboro on Dec. 1 after an officer spotted them driving away from a closed store with scrap metal in a U-Haul truck.

UNIONTOWN, Pa. (AP) - Three western Pennsylvania high school cheerleaders and a custodian have been injured in a bleacher collapse. Uniontown Area School District superintendent Charles Machesky says cheerleaders were trying to push the bleachers back to have more practice room Saturday morning. He says they didn't realize they first needed to release a locking mechanism. Two braces that were holding part of the bleachers in place snapped, and upper levels collapsed on top of them. Machesky says one girl broke her leg and nose, a second injured her leg and the third girl had minor injuries. The custodian cut
his head helping free one of the girls. All were taken to a hospital. Names weren't available.

CORAOPOLIS, Pa. (AP) - A western Pennsylvania gym teacher is accused of sending nude pictures of herself to a 14-year-old student's cell phone. Twenty-six-year-old Beth Chester, of Scott, is charged with sexual abuse of children and related charges. Police began investigating after Moon Area School District officials reported that Chester may have had sexual contact with a student. Chester was arrested Friday. Police say the boy's parents discovered suggestive text messages, then met with Chester on Dec. 26. She resigned the next day. Police say the boy denied physical contact with Chester, but Moon Township Chief Leo McCarthy says there probably was contact and she'll be charged with sexual assault. Chester is being held in the Allegheny County jail.

CANONSBURG, Pa. (AP) - A western Pennsylvania high school principal will receive $130,000 over six years as part of a settlement with the district. Peters Township School District principal Thomas Hajzus had sued the district claiming he was discriminated against because he
suffered from depression and anxiety. He claimed he was removed as high school principal in 2002 and given a newly created post with the same annual pay, $92,000, and benefits. That happened after he took a three-month leave for anxiety and depression. He was reinstated by Commonwealth Court and returned to work in November 2006. U.S. District Judge Terrence F. McVerry approved final paperwork Friday.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - In a Legislature whose first year was most memorable for the number of stalemates it spawned on major issues, at least 18 representatives and senators are not seeking re-election this year. That is far fewer than the 31 lawmakers who vacated their seats in 2006. That was the first election year after the government pay-raise scandal that rocked the state's political establishment. At that time, voters also ousted 24 incumbents running for additional terms. This year's number of expected open seats is closer to the norm,
as are the reasons the departing legislators give for their decisions to step down. A desire to move on, to do something else, is the most common explanation. But frustration and fatigue are cited too.

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - Barack Obama's campaign appears to be surging in the final hours ahead of tomorrow's New Hampshire primary. Fire officials had to cut off overflow crowds flocking to five Obama rallies yesterday. A new poll shows him opening up a wide lead over fellow Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. John McCain has a slim lead over Mitt Romney on the Republican side.

MEXICAN HAT, Utah (AP) - Seven people are reported dead in the crash of a charter bus in southeastern Utah. About 20 people were hurt in last night's wreck in the Four Corners region where Utah meets Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. Rescue crews from all four states rushed to the scene.

ATLANTA (AP) - Investigators in Georgia say "there are some similarities" between the disappearance of a 24-year-old woman and the presumed killing of an elderly North Carolina couple last October. Gary Hilton is charged with kidnapping Meredith Emerson while she was hiking on New Year's Day. Investigators tell the Atlanta Journal-Constitution the North Carolina case may be connected to Emerson's.

FERNLEY, Nev. (AP) - The search resumes this morning for six missing snowmobilers who disappeared in a storm in the mountains of southern Colorado. Two couples and their two teenage children haven't been seen since Friday. The area was hit with three to four
feet of snow from a winter storm affecting several Western states.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Top-ranked Ohio State is set to battle number-two LSU in college football's Bowl Championship Series title game tonight in New Orleans. The Buckeyes are looking for vindication following last year's embarrassing loss to Florida in the championship game. The winner will also become the first school to win two BCS title games.