Today's News-Wednesday, April 2nd

A fire that destroyed a home in Quakake Monday morning has been ruled accidental. That determination was made by State Police Fire Marshal Michael Kowalick after completing his investigation into the blaze at 152 East Main Street, owned and occupied by David Pupko. A possible electrical malfunction of an exhaust fan in a first floor bathroom was the cause. Damages to the property and contents are estimated to be $150-thousand-dollars.

Two local real estate firms are combining. The announcement came yesterday, as Prudential Pinebrook-Higgins Realty in Schuylkill County will join Prudential Commonwealth Real Estate in Berks County under the Prudential Landis Homesale Services name. Landis also has offices in Schuylkill County.
The parent organization, Homesale Realty Services is changing its affiliation from Coldwell Banker to Prudential. The company will have nearly 1-thousand-agents. Diana Gabardi, Operations Manager of Prudential Homesale Services Schuylkill Haven office, said it’s a win-win for the real estate buying and selling public:

GABARDI (click here to listen)

Gabardi will continue to manage the Schuylkill Haven office, and Tara Furer-Romig will manage the Orwigsburg and Pottsville offices. Prudential Real Estate has over 68-thousand-agents throughout the United States. Homesale has 23 offices in southcentral and southeastern Pennsylvania.

A preliminary hearing for a Pottsville man who is accused of killing two teenagers last month has been set. The proceedings against 53-year-old Norman Nickle will be conducted by District Judge James Reiley at the county courthouse April 11th at 1pm. Nickle is accused of shooting 19-year-old Joshua Yevak of Pottsville and 17-year-old Cayla Turner of Port Carbon. The pair went missing in early March. Their bodies were found in the basement of Nickle's home on 13th Street, Pottsville, on March 20th. Nickle is currently in custody at the Schuylkill County Prison.

The school districts that make up Schuylkill Intermediate Unit 29 have some tough decisions to make regarding the future of their facilities. At the IU convention last night, school representatives heard a presentation from architects Crabtree, Rohrbaugh and Associates about the aging buildings in MarLin and Frackville. The facilities need to be upgraded to meet the needs of students. A proposal to make multi-million dollar improvements to the buildings was turned down by a number of the schools last year. Those districts asked the IU to study the problem further before they would be considered. The 12 districts that make up the IU own the facilities equally. The Republican and Herald reports that one of the options presented would close the North Campus, and additions and improvements be made to the MarLin campus. The estimated cost would be more than $23-million-dollars. Another possibility would be to renovate both buildings, similar to what was proposed last year. That would cost about $27-million-dollars. The other two proposals would be variations of the single and two-building plans. School administrators are expected to discuss the options later this month.

Two vehicles were involved in a crash in East Norwegian Township Tuesday morning. David Legutko of Port Carbon was waiting to make a left turn onto Mill Creek Avenue from the Port Carbon/St. Clair highway. David Jenkins of St. Clair saw Legutko waiting to turn and attempted to slow down, but skidded on the wet roadway and rear-ended Legutko's Jeep. No one was injured. Jenkins' vehicle had to be towed from the scene.

State police are investigating a break-in of a vehicle at Blue Mountain High School Monday. Sometime between 7 and 10:30pm, an unknown thief broke into John Needs' car, which was parked in the school lot. An XM satellite radio was taken, valued at $200. Troopers from the Schuylkill Haven barracks are continuing the investigation.

A Nuremburg man will spend time in state prison for sex related crimes. 50-year-old Johnathon Tufts was sentenced yesterday by President Judge William Baldwin to 13 to 26 years on 16 counts. He was convicted in December, 2007. Tufts committed sexual acts against a girl from 1991 to 1996. The girl was 11 years old when the incidents began. According to the Republican and Herald, Tufts will face Megan's Law sanctions for life once he leaves prison. He was not determined to be a sexually violent predator, according to the state Sexual Offenders Assessment Board. Tufts claimed that he didn't commit the crimes. No word if an appeal is planned.

A Sunbury man is dead after an industrial accident in Coal Township, Northumberland County Tuesday. Emergency crews were dispatched to the Reinhart FoodService around two am yesterday. Company spokeswoman Molly Reilly said that 67-year old Robert Kratzer Junior of Sunbury worked for Reinhart contractor John A. Lahr Trucking of Sunbury and he was accidentally caught between a tandem-trailer unit. Northumberland County Coroner Jim Kelley pronounced Kratzer dead at the scene. Reilly says the company is deeply saddened by the death of Krazter.

Prosecutor: Woman shot fellow Pa. church member out of jealousy

COOPERSBURG, Pa. (AP) - Authorities have charged a fellow church member in the death of a woman found shot in a Bucks County church in January. Prosecutors allege that 65-year-old Mary Jane Fonder, of Kintnersville, shot 42-year-old Rhonda Smith, of Hellertown, out of jealousy. Smith was found shot January 23rd in Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in rural Springfield Township. Fonder is a longtime church member. Bucks County District Attorney Michelle Henry says Fonder had "very strong feelings" for the church pastor and was jealous of the attention the victim was getting. The break in the case came Saturday, when a man and his son found a .38 caliber handgun on the shore of Lake Nockamixon in East Rockhill Township. Henry says the gun was registered to Fonder and forensic analysis indicates that it was the weapon used to kill Smith. Fonder was charged yesterday with first-degree murder and possessing instruments of a crime. Defense attorney Michael Applebaum says his client maintains her innocence and he believes she will be exonerated.

Long deliberations in coroner case part of a jury-friendly trend

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Jurors have been debating the fate of celebrity pathologist Cyril Wecht for seven days. But they haven't been locked in a room and threatened with long hours of deliberations. In fact, the trial judge let the jurors set their own schedule -- 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., including lunch, Monday through Thursday. And conflicts have so far kept them from deliberating for two Mondays in a row. Analysts say the short days and short weeks represent part of a trend that recognizes the valuable public service juries perform. Some even say it results in fairer verdicts. Wecht's jury must decide whether the 77-year-old doctor used his former Allegheny County Coroner's staff to benefit himself and his lucrative private practice. They're weighing 41 counts of fraud and theft. The panel began deliberating March 18.

Pa. to let gas drilling to resume in state forests

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Despite opposition from environmentalists, the Rendell administration is allowing exploration companies to drill in new areas of Pennsylvania's state forests. The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources says it is ending a five-year-old moratorium on new shallow wells. It will auction the rights to drill on an additional 75,000 acres of state forest land for the first time since 2002. Much of the land to be leased is in north-central Pennsylvania. Officials say new shallow wells may only be drilled if gas is found during the development of deeper gas fields. A representative of the Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Association says members are excited about the opportunity. But a Sierra Club leader accuses the department of giving in to pressure from the oil and gas industry. The department imposed a moratorium on shallow drilling in 2003 in response to concerns that roads, well pads and pipelines were destroying wildlife habitat.

House votes against requiring lost, stolen handgun reporting

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - State House members have rejected a proposal to require handgun owners to report lost or stolen weapons to police. The measure was defeated 75-128 in the chamber. Gun control advocates had argued that the bill would prevent criminals from using straw buyers to circumvent Pennsylvania's gun sales regulations. It would have required owners to report within 72 hours after they learn a weapon is missing. A spokesman for the National Rifle Association says the measure could have unfairly exposed law-abiding gun owners to criminal penalties. He says existing laws are adequate but need to be enforced more aggressively.

Cleric's wife sentenced to 1 year in theft from college

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The wife of a prominent Muslim cleric is heading back to prison. U.S. District Judge John P. Fullam resentenced 59-year-old Faridah Ali to a year in the theft of $270,000 from Philadelphia Community College. He also ordered her to pay $120,000 restitution. Ali's 31-year-old daughter, Lakiha Spicer, was sentenced to six months in prison. Fullam originally sentenced Ali to house arrest and probation in 2005, but a federal appeals court rejected that. Ali and Spicer were convicted of fraud in 2004. Prosecutors say they charged the college for adult education classes at a West Philadelphia school that were never taught. The case was related to a separate racketeering case against Shamsud-din Ali and Faridah Ali. He is serving a seven-year term in that case. Faridah Ali was released from a prison halfway house in February after serving most of a two-year term. She apologized to the community yesterday.

2 shoppers save drug store manager from assailant with box-cutter

FOLSOM, Pa. (AP) - A county councilman and another man who stopped by a drugstore over the weekend ended up wrestling with a man who had allegedly attacked the store manager with a box cutter. Delaware County Council Vice Chairman Jack Whelan was in the Ridley Township CVS on Sunday to pick up a few things for his wife. Gene Whelan, who is not related to Jack, was shopping for candy with his wife and daughter. The two waded in after the manager tried to stop a suspected shoplifter who threatened him with a box cutter. They wrestled with the assailant on the floor and disarmed him. Detective Sgt. Scott Willoughby says the manager was treated at Crozer-Chester Medical Center for stab wounds to the arm, abdomen and neck. He says there is "no doubt" that the Whelans saved his life. Forty-nine-year-old Cebrian Spence was charged with criminal attempted homicide and aggravated assault. He was sent to the county prison in lieu of $500,000 bail.

Lehigh students apologize for St. Patrick's Day cartoon

BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) - The student newspaper at Lehigh University has apologized for a cartoon about St. Patrick's Day that included what it called inappropriate stereotypes of Irish and Jewish people. The cartoon, titled "Map for a Successful St. Patrick's Day," included references to drunkenness, brawling and a "French fry famine." It ended with the phrase, "Wake up Jewish and protect your pot of gold." The cartoon was published March 18 in The Brown and White and drew numerous online protests. The paper's editorial board printed an apology on March 21. In a letter dated Sunday, Lehigh president Alice Gast called the cartoon "offensive and disappointing to me." But she praised the quick response to the outcry from the paper and the cartoonist, whose separate apology was published Friday.

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Asian stocks are finishing much higher, after yesterday's rally on Wall Street. Tokyo's Nikkei index is up more than four percent, while Hong Kong's benchmark index rose more than three percent. The Dow gained nearly 400 points in yesterday's trading.

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - President Bush is calling on NATO to send more troops to Afghanistan. As he prepares for a NATO summit in Romania, he's reminding members about Osama bin Laden's latest threats to attack Europe. Bush says innocent civilians in Europe and North America could be put at risk if the alliance doesn't step up efforts against terrorism.

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - President Bush says Ukraine and Georgia should be allowed to start the admissions process into NATO. Russia objects to the idea, but Bush says the alliance should be open to all European democracies.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Barack Obama is getting an endorsement from the top Democrat on the September 11th commission. The backing of former Indiana Congressman Lee Hamilton could boost Obama's national security standing.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - A man arrested yesterday at Orlando International Airport is to appear in federal court today in Florida. Police say Kevin Brown was taken into custody after a search of his luggage turned up materials that could be used to make an explosive device.