Today's News-Tuesday, March 4th

Are we really headed towards spring? Just a few days ago, we saw snow showers that whitened the ground and made travel tricky. Now, we are expecting some heavy rain and milder temperatures. The mercury peaked in the high 50's Monday afternoon, and remnants of that weekend snow melted away. Forecasters are looking at a system that might bring an inch or more of rain throughout this evening into Wednesday. Some minor localized flooding may result. A Flood Watch is in effect from the National Weather Service until Wednesday afternoon. Colder temperatures are expected for the weekend, so don't pack the heavy coats away just yet.

Here are several traffic notes for motorists this morning. Schuylkill Products are moving beams from their facility in Cressona at 9am and 11am this morning, as well as Wednesday. The northbound ramp from Route 61 to the Schuylkill Mall will be closed today. Drivers will need to use Altamont Boulevard to enter the mall.

They come from all walks of life, and they all want a better one for their families by going back to the classroom and on the road. With the help of a $185-thousand-dollar federal grant presented yesterday to the Schuylkill Technology Center CDL program, 37 unemployed and underemployed people who want to learn a new trade as a professional driver. 32-year-old Thomas Lewart of Cressona is benefitting from the 10 week-training program. He’s in his 8th week:
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Four-hundred hours are logged in the program by students, 160 hours in the classroom, and 240 hours in hand-on instruction at the Airport campus of the Technology Center outside Minersville. The CDL program has already trained more than 1-thousand-adults. Lewart describes the training he has received, and the new career he is looking forward to:
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The CDL program began in a renovated trailer at the Schuylkill County Airport in 1993.

Members of the Pottsville High School band are on their way to the Sunshine State. During the wee hours of the morning today, the more than 200 strong marchers left for Disney World for the week. They will perform at the Magic Kingdom during their stay, as well as do some sightseeing. They are expected to return at week's end. We wish them safe travels.

Two Alabama residents received minor injuries in a crash on Interstate 81 Monday morning. 27-year-old Renee Affinati of Daphne, Alabama was driving a pickup truck north on I 81 in Mahanoy Township when she fell asleep at the wheel. The vehicle hit the guiderails and rolled over, coming to rest upright. Affinati and a passenger, Robin Affinati had minor injuries. Both were wearing their seatbelts. The crash happened at 8:30am yesterday.

A missing Montgomery county man was found dead in Lehigh County yesterday. We first reported yesterday that the elderly man's car was found parked atop the Blue Mountain off of Route 309 Sunday. A search ensued, and was resumed yesterday in search of 82-year-old David Swartley. He reportedly suffered from dementia, and had been missing since last Tuesday. The Republican and Herald reports that he was found in the woods in Lehigh County around noon. The cause of death is not yet known.

No one was injured in a multi vehicle crash in Union Township Sunday morning. According to Frackville State Police, Joseph Yotko of Ringtown was traveling east on State Route 4036, Little Mountain Road when he lost control of his SUV on a left curve. The vehicle traveled across the oncoming lane of travel and ran into a parked car. The impact forced the second vehicle into a third parked truck. Yotko will be cited in the early Sunday morning crash.

TURNPIKE PRIVATIZATION
House Democratic study criticizes turnpike lease

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A Pennsylvania House Democratic study says leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike poses major risks and is likely to result in considerably higher tolls. The study says the billions in upfront payments could be too tempting for the General Assembly. It predicts lawmakers may one day want to spend some of the cash on projects other than just roads, bridges and mass transit. It says "aggressive toll increases" are likely to result from a turnpike lease and recommends that instead the state continue to pursue the plan to add tolls to Interstate 80. The I-80 tolls still require approval from federal regulators. The tolls are generating bitter opposition from people who live along the east-west highway.

LOVE TRIANGLE SLAYING
Retrial begins for doctor accused in friend's 1976 slaying

MONTROSE, Pa. (AP) - Opening statements are expected Tuesday morning in Susquehanna County Court for the retrial of Dr. Stephen Scher. The 67-year-old doctor is accused of killing his best friend in 1976. Martin Dillon died from a shotgun blast to the chest while the two men were skeet shooting more than three decades ago. Scher claimed that Dillon inadvertently shot himself while chasing a porcupine. Police ruled the shooting an accident, but many residents suspected foul play. Suspicions grew when Scher divorced his wife and married Dillon's widow two years later. They moved to North Carolina. This is the second go-round for Scher. He was convicted in 1997 of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. An appeals court ordered a new trial in 2004.

STATE BUDGET-EDUCATION
Education secretary defends proposed Pa. school funding boost

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania's top education official has gotten some tough questions from House Republicans. Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak was quizzed about Governor Ed Rendell's proposal to increase state aid to needy school districts. Republican members of the House Appropriations Committee say some of the state's 501 school districts would be shortchanged under the proposal. Rendell has called for shifting more state aid to districts whose spending levels fall below what a state study says is ideal for them to adequately educate students. Representative Fred McIlhattan of Clarion County says the school districts he represents would get the minimum increases of 1.5 percent and lose out under the formula. But Zahorchak says revising the formula is vital to the administration's ongoing efforts to boost education spending and distribute the money more equitably among school districts.

CHILD DEATH
Pa. appeals court upholds child's video testimony in abuse case

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A state appeals court has upheld a 2005 law that allows children to testify by videotape in some circumstances. The law permits the use of video if testfying in open court would cause further harm to child witnesses or hinder their ability to speak truthfully. The state Superior Court, in keeping with the U.S. Supreme Court, said the state's interest in a child's welfare trumps a defendant's right to confront witnesses face-to-face. The case involves four young sisters who were regularly brutalized by their aunt and her boyfriend, a mentally ill drug addict. The youngest child, 3-year-old Porchia Bennett, died in 2003 after she was beaten and thrown against a wall, trapped between a bed and radiator.

NAZI GUARD
Ex-Nazi guard argues ambiguity in deportation rules

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A federal appeals court in Philadelphia is considering whether a former Nazi concentration camp guard should be deported. He is 83-year-old Anton Geiser, a retired steelworker from Sharon. The State Department gave him a visa in 1956. Geiser didn't cite his Nazi ties on his visa application, but neither is he accused of lying about the matter. Geiser's lawyer says whether the decision to grant the visa was right or wrong, he should be allowed to stay in the United States. A government lawyer argued that the approval of Geiser's visa was "a mistake" that should be corrected, however belatedly. It's unclear when the three-judge panel will rule on the matter.

ADELPHIA FRAUD
Supreme Court rejects appeal of Adelphia founder, son

WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from Adelphia Communications founder John Rigas and his son, Timothy, of their fraud convictions. The justices' decision, announced without comment, brings to an end the Rigas' legal efforts to overturn convictions for their role in the collapse of Adelphia. The company was based in Coudersport, Pa., when it was the nation's fifth-largest cable television operator. The elder Rigas, who's 83, is serving a 15-year prison term. His son, the former chief financial officer, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

SEXUAL ASSAULT-JUMP
Arrest made in assault of woman who jumped from Philly apartment

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Police say a 34-year-old Queens, N.Y., man wanted for rape in Philadelphia is in custody should be in Philadelphia on Tuesday. David Rosario surrended to police Monday in New York. He is suspected in a Feb. 24 attack that led to the woman jumping from a third-story window to escape. Police say Rosario was among a group of people attending a party at the victim's apartment. A witness told investigators that an attacker entered the woman's bedroom and assaulted her at knifepoint. The 30-year-old victim then jumped from her apartment window. She remains in critical condition at a Philadelphia hospital. Rosario is also charged with attempted rape in an alleged assault on the woman's 23-year-old roommate.

Kutztown U. faculty postpones no-confidence vote on president

KUTZTOWN, Pa. (AP) - The Kutztown University faculty says it is delaying a planned no-confidence vote on university President Javier Cevallos. Faculty union President Michael Gambone says in a campus blog the delay will either give Cevallos time to deal with faculty concerns, or expose problems with his leadership. The vote was planned for Monday through Wednesday of this week. Faculty members cite quality of education problems from crowded classrooms to cramped faculty office space. Cevellos says many of the problems ironically are a result of success. The university is dealing with an enrollment growth of 2,000 students in four years - reaching 10,500 this year. The KU trustees and the State System of Higher Education's board have voted in support of Cevallos.

Study estimates $20 million startup for Pa. homeland security hub

WILLOW GROVE, Pa. (AP) - A new study estimates a $20 million startup cost for Gov. Ed Rendell's plan for a homeland security hub at the soon-to-be-vacated Willow Grove Naval Air Station. The governor envisions hosting offices of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and other agencies on the 1,100-acres. The Navy is leaving the site in Horsham Township, Montgomery County, in a Base Realignment and Closure move. A Chamber of Commerce luncheon is planned March 18 in Horsham to discuss the future of the base. Some have questions about the state-commissioned study, including Michael McGee, Horsham township manager and executive director of the Horsham Land Reuse Authority. McGee questions whether the site would attract as many agency offices as the plan calls for.

Pa. gets average grade in report on state governments

WASHINGTON (AP) - Pennsylvania received an average grade on a scorecard released by The Pew Center on the States that looked at the effectiveness of state governments. Utah, Virginia and Washington scored the highest, with an A-minus, while Pennsylvania rated a B-minus. Pennsylvania was praised for coming up with a plan to respond to its alarming backlog of bridges in need of repairs. Also, it was praised for furnishing meaningful information about programs financed with state money. But the report also noted that budget debates in Harrisburg are lengthy and heated. Also, Pennsylvania is spending less per-employee on training than it did three years ago, despite two recent mass retirements by state employees.

UNDATED (AP) - How much longer will the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination go on? The picture could be clearer after the voting in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont today. Hillary Rodham Clinton is trying to stop a string of losses to Barack Obama.

UNDATED (AP) - John McCain could win enough delegates in today's round of primaries to officially clinch the Republican presidential nomination. Mike Huckabee says he won't quit until someone has 1,191 confirmed delegates.

WHITE HOUSE (AP) - Jordan's King Abdullah huddles with President Bush at the White House today, trying to prop up Mideast peace efforts amid the bloodshed in Gaza. Secretary of State Rice is in the region, telling reporters Hamas is attempting to wreck chances for peace.

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - OPEC is all but ruling out pumping more oil to tamp down record-high prices. The price held steady in Asian trading overnight, falling back a bit after hitting almost $104 a barrel yesterday.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - A fire department spokeswoman says all six people found dead in a Memphis home last night, including two children, were shot. Three other children were found clinging to life. No word yet on a suspect. A neighbor says there was a disturbance at the home over the weekend.