Today's News- Thursday, April 24th

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton won 60 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties in a comfortable primary victory Tuesday, including Schuylkill County. The New York senator had a nearly 10-thousand vote margin of victory in the county. Only a 130-thousand-vote margin for Barack Obama in Philadelphia kept the state race from turning into a rout. Unofficial results showed the New York senator ended the night with a 55-45 margin, but in the state outside of Philadelphia, Obama ran nearly 19 percentage points behind. Obama won in two suburban Philadelphia counties - Chester and Delaware. In central Pennsylvania, he won Dauphin County, which includes Harrisburg; and Lancaster County, in the heart of Amish country. The Illinois senator took Centre County, with Penn State University; and tiny Union County, home to Bucknell University, where just 4,400 Democratic votes were cast.

A section of Pottsville was without power last night. PPL Electric Utilities reported that about 19-hundred customers lost power around 8:30pm due to some downed lines in the 18th Street area. The cause of the outage is not yet known. Power was disrupted at the Pottsville High and Middle Schools, in addition to residential customers. Crews were immediately dispatched to restore service.

A Pottsville man is charged with various counts following an incident in North Manheim Township yesterday. Kenneth Killian and Michael Scholek were involved in verbal argument at 155 Seven Stars Road just before 6pm Wednesday. Killian reportedly pointed a gun at Scholek. State police at Schuylkill Haven took him into custody and charged him with assault and reckless endangerment.

A crash in McAdoo borough last night injures one. 52-year-old Joseph Phillips Jr. of Kelayres was traveling west on Blaine Street when 19-year-old Cassandra Gomez of McAdoo pulled out in front of Phillips' pickup truck. Gomez's car spun out upon impact and came to rest facing east on Blaine Street. Gomez had minor injuries. Three juveniles in her Ford Explorer were seatbelted and not hurt. Phillips was okay after the crash. The fender bender happened just before 6pm Wednesday.

A Tower City man escaped injury in a crash in Porter Township Tuesday afternoon. State police at Schuylkill Haven indicate that 18-year-old Thomas Savage was driving south on Route 209 behind a car operated by an elderly female. The woman's car was headed onto Porter Road, then swerved back onto Route 209. Savage lost control of his vehicle and hit a utility pole, shearing it off. His Chevy Suburban then spun across the road, 30 feet from the pole. Savage, and his passenger, Devon Doyle, also of Tower City, were not hurt. State police are looking for the woman who was driving the Hyundai sedan.

Three people escaped injury in an early morning crash Wednesday in Norwegian Township. 21-year-old Nicholas Smith of Tremont was stopped at the intersection of Routes 209 and 901 before 7am. 74-year-old Muriel Bettinger was stopped in front of Smith's Nissan Sentra. Bettinger drifted forward, but Smith was unable to stop and rear-ended Bettinger's car. Both vehicles had minor damage. The drivers, and a passenger in Bettinger's car all walked away without injury.

State lawmakers take aim at employers who claim their workers are independent contractors, just so they can skip on workers comp and unemployment taxes. Lauren Rooney has more from Harrisburg:

ROONEY (click to listen)

Retired Pa. trooper charged with assaulting estranged wife

NEWPORT, Pa. (AP) - A retired Pennsylvania State Police trooper has been charged with assaulting his estranged wife outside their Perry County home last year. State police say 39-year-old Steven Seaforth pulled his 33-year-old wife out of her car, slammed her on the ground, and tried to choke her during a confrontation in May. Police say Desiree Seaforth was locked out of the couple's Oliver Township house overnight after going out with a friend and was waiting in her car for her husband to leave for work when the attack occurred. State police spokesman Jack Lewis says the agency's internal-affairs division learned of the alleged assault in October. Steven Seaforth joined the state police in 1991 and retired in February. Seaforth has been released on an unsecured bond.

Clinton wins most delegates in Pennsylvania primary

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won the most delegates in Pennsylvania's Democratic primary. She gets at least 80 of the 158 delegates up for grabs in Tuesday's contest, according to an analysis of election returns by The Associated Press. Sen. Barack Obama won at least 66, with 12 still to be awarded. The final delegate count is delayed because many of Pennsylvania's counties are split into multiple congressional districts. Pennsylvania awards delegates according to the statewide vote as well as the vote in individual congressional districts. In the overall race for the nomination, Obama leads with 1,714.5 delegates, including so-called superdelegates. Clinton has 1,589.5 delegates, according to the AP tally. It will take 2,025 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination.

Democratic turnout in Pennsylvania primary to top record

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Unofficial returns show the percentage of Democrats who voted in Tuesday's primary in Pennsylvania will at least narrowly break the modern record set 18 years ago. Ballots were cast by about 55 percent of the state's 4.2 million registered Democrats, a fraction above the previous mark. A small number of the state's precincts and untold numbers of provisional ballots have yet to be tallied. The old record of just under 55 percent was set in 1980, when 1.6 million of more than 2.9 million Democrats voted. That's when Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy narrowly defeated then-President Carter in Pennsylvania - a victory that came too late to help him overcome Carter's advantage in delegates. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton beat Sen. Barack Obama in Tuesday's election.

Stakes were high for Rendell, Casey, in presidential primary

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The presidential primary had Ed Rendell and Bob Casey on opposite sides of a statewide campaign for the first time since 2002. That was when both men were seeking the Democratic Party's nomination for governor of Pennsylvania. rendell was on the winning side both times. This year, Rendell was backing his old friend, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. Casey was supporting his Senate colleague, Barack Obama of Illinois. Rendell seemed omnipresent in Clinton's campaign, serving as strategist, organizer and master of ceremonies at her rallies around the state. Casey's role was more subordinate, but he was highly visible through the final weeks.

Pa. likely to have competitive races across state

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Pennsylvania proved to be the most fruitful state for Democrats in 2006 when the party gained control of the U.S. House. But Republicans are now putting forth a slate of daunting candidates in the state as they try to retake the chamber. The GOP candidates were finalized in Tuesday's primaries. They include a small-town mayor who garnered national headlines for fighting illegal immigration, a father who lost his son in the Iraq war, a business owner that survived a tough primary and a former congresswoman trying to win back her seat. The party expresses confidence that it has found the right candidates. Ken Spain, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, says, "Pennsylvania has been a keystone for Republican recruitment."

Constable, apartment manager shot near Philadelphia

YEADON, Pa. (AP) - A constable and an apartment manager are recovering after being shot while trying to evict a tenant. Police in the Philadelphia suburb of Yeadon say Parkview Court manager Ted Hicks and the constable were trying to evict 21-year-old tenant Tamarr Minor. A heated argument ensued and the two were shot. The gunman fled in a car. Minor was arrested a few hours later in Philadephia. Police say the Parkview Court apartments have several evictions weekly at the 960-unit community. Police say none had ever resulted in gunfire before.

Suburban Philadelphia bank sues robbery suspect

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A bank is suing the Bucks County man charged in a Dec. 26 robbery in which he is accused of stealing $38,000. Huntingdon Valley Bank is seeking the stolen money plus nearly $1,100 for lost employee wages, management hours and other costs incurred. The lawyer for 48-year-old Richard Boyle of Plumstead says he can't understand why his client is being sued, since records show his client has no assets. Defense lawyer Craig Penglase says he would expect that his client would be ordered to pay restitution when he is sentenced. Margot Mohsberg of the American Bankers Association says she has never seen a similar suit.

CHICAGO (AP) - Authorities on Chicago's South Side have discovered the bodies of five young people who appear to have been shot. Police don't have anyone in custody, but they say they don't believe a killer is on the loose. They're not saying, though, whether it was a murder-suicide.

CAPITOL HILL (AP) - Extended unemployment benefits and new education funding for vets are two provisions House Democrats want added to President Bush's war spending bill. Democrats are backing off plans to tack on funding for infrastructure improvements and other domestic programs amid a White House veto threat.

WHITE HOUSE (AP) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to ask President Bush to put more pressure on the Israelis to stop settlement expansion in the West Bank during a White House meeting today. Abbas says the settlements are the biggest obstacle to a U.S.-backed peace deal with Israel.

CAPITOL HILL - Congress will take a closer look at the proposed merger deal between Delta and Northwest Airlines today. Some lawmakers have concerns over job cuts and fare hikes that could come if the deal goes through.

SINGAPORE (AP) - Oil prices are falling so far today, as the U.S. dollar gets stronger. The drop in oil prices also comes after a U.S. government report showing a buildup in crude supplies.