Today's News-Friday, May 16th

The Schuylkill County Commissioners Wednesday approved a contract with the Pottsville Hospital and Warne Clinic to provide autopsy service to the county. The service will be performed by Dr. Richard Bindie at a cost of $1,060.00 per-autopsy plus fees. The action returns autopsy service to the county from the Lehigh Valley. In other business, the Commissioners approved a proposal for professional services for the survey and subdivision of property expected to be conveyed to the county from the State Department of corrections for construction of a proposed Prison Pre-Release facility. The work will be done by WJP Engineers in consultation with Y. Kim Architects at a cost of $23-Thousand Dollars. The Commissioners conducted their board meeting in the Tamaqua Area High School Auditorium to honor this years Scholar Athlete award winner Travers Schmidt.

She survived a car bombing in Baghdad. Now, CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier has written a book about her experiences. Dozier spoke exclusively with WPPA and T102 News yesterday about that horrific day in May, 2006, when Dozier, her crew and two others were attacked:

DOZIER

Dozier was the only one to survive the blast. She underwent an arduous, year-long recovery from her physical and emotional wounds, and wrote a book "Breathing the Fire, Fighting to Survive and Report the War In Iraq." Dozier explains that she wrote the book as therapy from the traumatic events, and for another reason:

DOZIER

She is currently working in Washington for CBS News, but fully intends to return to her duties in the Middle East, where she was based since 2003. The full interview is available at wpparadio-dot-com.

A new recycled materials business held its ribbon cutting yesterday near Orwigsburg. LCL Industries Incorporated will be housed at the Deer Lake Industrial Park. Bob Bylone, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Recycling Markets Center explains what the company does:

BYLONE

The company will use this cutting edge technology to recycle up to 30-thousand-tons of glass for commercial uses using the Krysteline Technology, the only company to do so in this country. They expect to employ 25 people. A state grant of $500-thousand-dollars helped the project to get started. Deputy Secretary of Pennsylvania DEP Tom Fidler said that in Schuylkill County alone, 430 tons of glass is collected each year. He said that there has always been a problem finding ways to recycle glass.

The Blue Mountain school board approved the first reading of their revised dress and grooming policy last night. The district announced that new standards for student dress and grooming would be put into place last week. After some suggestions and modifications, the first reading of the policy was presented and approved. A second reading of the policy will be made next week, before it can be adopted. The revised policy will be posted today for public review on the district's website: http://www.bmsd.org/.

A Tremont man was sentenced yesterday for his involvement in the death of a Pine Grove girl in 2006. 24-year-old Neil Hatfield was sentenced to serve 3 ½ to 7 ½ years in state prison, after he was found guilty for driving drunk on August 19, 2006. His passenger, Shannon Sullivan, was killed in the crash. The Republican and Herald indicates that Hatfield was convicted of homicide by vehicle while DUI and other offenses by a jury in March. He was found to be nearly two times over the legal drunk driving limit when the crash happened in Hegins Township.

Municipal workers in Schuylkill County are removing 20 years' worth of garbage from an elderly woman's home and yard. Neighbors have complained for years about the junk at 70-year-old Marie Mumaw's house in East Union Township. Using a backhoe and dump truck, work crews removed a dozen loads of garbage on Wednesday. They expect to take four or five days just to remove the trash from the backyard. Township Supervisor Dennis Antonelli says he has no idea how long it will take to clear out the home itself. Mumaw has lived there for 35 years and contends it is safe. She says township officials acted unfairly when they condemned the house and evicted her.

UNDATED (AP) - A new study is giving a some hope to breast cancer patients in very advanced stages of the disease. The study suggests a combination of two new-generation cancer drugs modestly delayed the time it took for the disease to worsen in 300 women who had stopped responding to other treatments.The study was sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline.

ERIE, Pa. (AP) - An Erie city employee has been acquitted of threatening his boss by referring to the Virginia Tech shootings and will now try to get his job back. A jury on Thursday found 56-year-old Herman Lee Bowman not guilty of terroristic threats stemming from a conversation he had with Erie personnel director Connie Cook on April 18, 2007.

NATRONA HEIGHTS, Pa. (AP) - Pittsburgh's Roman Catholic bishop says a pastor who resigned from two parishes broke church laws, but not man's laws, in mishandling church funds. Bishop David Zubik says there are unresolved questions about how The Rev. Richard Tusky handled funds at St. Joseph in Natrona and Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Natrona Heights. Tusky resigned Feb. 26.

READING, Pa. (AP) - A Reading police officer was injured when a motorist he was questioning suddenly drove off with the officer clinging to the side of the car. Police and witnesses say Officer Steve Balatgek was dragged about three blocks Thursday evening before falling to the street. He was treated and released from Reading Hospital.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - With fuel prices increasing, Philadelphia tourism officials are launching a $2 million campaign on June 1 to promote the city as an affordable place to visit. Officials with the Greater Philadelphia Tourism and Marketing Corporation say tourism in Philadelphia is generating more than $28 million a day and more than $10 billion a year, despite fluctuations in the
economy.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - The White House says Saudi Arabia's leaders are sticking to their reluctance to boost oil production. Despite oil prices topping $127 a barrel, National Security adviser Stephen Hadley reports that Saudi Arabia says it doesn't have customers "making requests for oil that they are not able to satisfy." Bush has spent the day meeting with Saudi Arabia's King
Abdullah.

WASHINGTON (AP) - There is some good news for the housing market. The Commerce Department reports that construction of new homes posted the biggest increase in more than two years in April. However, building of single-family homes continues to weaken.

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - State media in Myanmar are reporting that the cyclone's official death toll has nearly doubled to almost 78,000. Meanwhile, the U.N. health agency says it is concerned about diarrhea, malaria and dengue fever spreading among the cyclone victims.

YEICHUAN, China (AP) - Some earthquake-ravaged areas of central China are again cut off because of a strong aftershock that's sparked landslides. The first international rescue crews are in the country now that China has dropped its reluctance to accept foreign personnel.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - General Electric says it plans to sell or spin off its iconic appliance business. The 101-year-old appliance business has been hurt by the housing slump and economic slowdown in the U.S.