Today's News-Tuesday, May 6th

POTTSVILLE - A Tower City man received his sentence for felony drug charges Monday in Schuylkill County Court. 33-year old James Malone Jr. was sentenced to five to 10 years in state prison, after pleading guilty late last year to charges of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance. The Republican Herald reports Malone was arrested in New Castle Township in 2006 with a salable amount of cocaine and methamphetamines on him after a traffic stop on Broad Street in Arnot's Addition. Charges of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia were dropped by prosecutors.

(UNDATED)-Two Bath and Body works stores were burglarized, and authorities suspect that the incidents are related. Times Shamrock newspapers report that overnight Sunday, thieves hit the retailers at Schuylkill Mall and the Viemont Mall in Scranton. State police at Schuylkill Haven are investigating the Frackville incident, but details are limited at this point. The theft at the Viewmont Mall store netted about $7-thousand-dollars, by prying open a side door at the mall and disabling the security system. Monies were taken from Bath and Body Works, the Express and Express for Men stores at the Lackawanna county location.

(TREMONT TOWNSHIP)-A man was injured last night when his ATV flipped over in Tremont Township. The unidentified man, in his 20's, was apparently riding near the Big Lots Distribution Center when it flipped over. Emergency personnel were called in, along with state police. The man was flown to Geisinger Medical Center for treatment.

(ASHLAND)- An Ashland woman is facing several charges after an incident late last month. Borough police now say that 49-year-old Coral Kaseman made threats against Jacqueline Kaseman, between April 25th and 27th in Ashland. Coral Kaseman allegedly pushed Jacqueline Kaseman against a wall and threatened her life. She was arraigned on charges of making terroristic threats.

(SHENANDOAH)-The search of a Shenandoah home uncovered drugs late last week. According to the Republican Herald, the search was conducted at the home of 45-year-old Lisa Ann Downing, West Penn Street. A confidential informant told police that Downing had heroin at the home. She was already wanted on charges of forgery, theft and receiving stolen property. 49-year-old Dina Quin was also charged in connection with the search. She was wanted by the Schuylkill County Drug Task Force. Drugs and paraphernalia were uncovered during the raid. Both women were charged with drug possession and related counts.

(ORWIGSBURG)-A county-based grocery chain is trying to help consumers make their economic stimulus checks go a bit farther. Boyer's Food Markets announced their own stimulus program, where customers can convert their stimulus checks to a Boyers Food Market gift card, and receive an additional 10 percent to be used for purchases at one of their 17 stores. Company officials recognize that consumers are being pinched by rising prices, and are offering the program as a way to help. In addition, they are minimizing price increases where they can. If a family receives a $12-hundred-dollar stimulus payment, and convert it to a gift card, they'll receive an additional $120 dollars in spending power. The program runs through July 31st.

Legal aid programs in Pennsylvania are getting squeezed from both sides by the foreclosure crisis - and that means less justice for low-income Pennsylvanians. Eric Mack explains...

MACK (click to listen)

Search for suspect in Philly officer's slaying leads to N.J.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Investigators trying to track down the fugitive wanted in the slaying of a Philadelphia police officer are reviewing video from a New Jersey Transit train platform. A passenger on a commuter train called 911 to report that another passenger matched the description of 33-year-old Eric
DeShann Floyd. Police searched the train and areas near the tracks in Elizabeth and Newark, N.J., but didn't find Floyd. Another suspect in the slaying of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski is in custody in Philadelphia; a third man was fatally shot by police.

Rendell, at memorial for slain officers, urges new gun laws

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Gov. Ed Rendell used the occasion of a memorial service for police officers who died in the line of duty to urge lawmakers to enact gun laws giving law enforcement greater protection. Rendell says the Legislature should "suck it in, do the right thing" and pass laws to curb gun violence. He was among those who addressed the 15th annual memorial
service of the Pennsylvania Fraternal Order of Police. The ceremony outside the state Capitol honored four officers, including three who died last year. Rendell and others noted that on Saturday, Philadelphia Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski, became the latest of about 700 officers to die in the line of duty in Pennsylvania when he was shot while responding to a bank robbery.

Stage set for Pa. Senate vote on gay marriage, civil unions

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Those promoting a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage acknowledge it's unlikely to pass the House of Representatives. The measure is supported mostly by Republicans and Democrats control the House. Proponents say it will protect marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and stop a judge from opening the door to civil unions between gays and lesbians. They also say it will not take away any rights, such as health-care benefits, that gays enjoy now. Opponents say it will enshrine discrimination in the state Constitution and relegate gays to second-class citizens while threatening some of the rights they have now, such as adopting children.

Pa.-based Herley Industries pleads guilty to obstruction

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A defense contractor has pleaded guilty to obstruction and will pay $9.5 million in fines for overcharging the federal government. Lancaster County-based Herley Industries admitted to two counts of obstructing audits of bids to supply components for Navy and Air Force radar systems. Officials say the company will pay a $3.5 million criminal fine and $6 million to resolve related civil claims. Herley designs and makes microwave equipment for defense, aerospace and medical use.

EEOC: Conectiv, others will pay $1.65M to settle racial suit

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says energy company Conectiv and its subcontractors will pay $1.65 million to settle a racial discrimination lawsuit filed by four black workers. The agency says the workers at a Bethlehem construction site were subjected to racial slurs, Ku Klux Klan graffiti and a noose that was hung in a work area. The settlement calls for Conectiv to revise its anti-discrimination policies, post a notice about the settlement and provide anti-discrimination training. The settlement doesn't constitute an admission of guilt by Conectiv. The company is a unit of Washington, D.C.-based Pepco Holdings Inc.

Dissident shareholders reject Charming Shoppes offer

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Women's apparel retailer Charming Shoppes says its settlement offer to a dissident shareholders group was rejected. That leaves the Bensalem-based company facing a proxy fight in three days at its annual shareholders meeting. The parent of Lane Bryant and other chains says it offered to appoint a representative of the shareholders group to its board of directors- along with two industry veterans of its own choosing. But the retailer says the May 1 offer was rebuffed over the weekend. The shareholders group has been unhappy about the retailer's slumping stock. It criticized the way executives have managed the company and took issue with CEO Dorrit Bern's compensation package.

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar is putting off a constitutional referendum in areas devastated by a cyclone that's believed to have killed more than 10,000 people. Government radio says Saturday's scheduled vote won't be held until May 24th in some areas.

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - The 187 Democratic delegates in Indiana and North Carolina are at stake in a pair of presidential primaries today. The two states are the biggest remaining prizes in the ongoing battle between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) - Republican John McCain is taking shots at Barack Obama for voting against John Roberts as Supreme Court Chief Justice. McCain says Obama "went right along with the partisan crowd" in opposing Roberts. Clinton also voted against Roberts, but McCain is focusing his criticism on Obama.

SEATTLE (AP) - A new study shows home values have dropped nearly eight percent in the first quarter from what they were a year ago. The Web site Zillow.com says more than half the homeowners who bought during the market's peak in 2006 owe more on their mortgages than the home is worth.

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - The divorce trial of New Jersey's former governor and his wife gets under way today. Dina Matos McGreevey claims Jim McGreevey duped her into marriage to advance his political career. The former governor, who declared in 2004 that he is gay, says he fulfilled the marriage contract.