Today's News-Friday, July 18th

A propane leak was reported at a Wayne Township campground yesterday. Just before 3pm, a large gas tank attached to a camper at Blue Mountain Lakes began leaking. Firefighters immediately put water on the leaking tanks, and campers close to the scene were moved to another area of the campground. County EMA officials checked the air quality of the surrounding areas to make sure no one else was in danger. The cause of the leak is not known.

Two Auburn men were sent to the hospital following a fire in Summit Station Thursday morning. A car in the garage at Nuway Portable Toilets along Route 183 caught fire around 8am, and the building heavily damaged according to the Republican and Herald. 43-year-old Ronald Weiss and his 21-year-old son Tony Weiss were working on the vehicle in the garage. Both were flown to hospitals in the region for treatment. Firefighters had the blaze contained within 45 minutes.

The North Schuylkill school board has opened the door for students to voluntarily transfer from the Ringtown Elementary school. By a vote of 6 to 1, the board approved the program, where parents can send their kids to the North Schuylkill Elementary School. The deadline to do so is August 1st. If parents choose to transfer their children, they will have to remain there for the entire school year. The Republican and Herald reports that one parent asked if students could be transferred from the North Schuylkill Elementary to Ringtown. School officials said that matter was not discussed. The board voted earlier this year to close the Ringtown Elementary school, but that remains in limbo at this time.

A Northumberland County man will serve time in state prison for burglaries in Schuylkill County in 2007. 31-year-old Wayne Lewis of Coal Township was sentenced by Judge John Domalakes to serve 13 to 26 years for breaking into two homes in Norwegian Township. After trying to break into the first home on Maple Avenue, Lewis entered the home of Edward Hahner on Bulls Head Road. Lewis threatened Hahner with a hatchet at the home.
Lewis was found guilty in June of burglary, robbery, possessing an instrument of crime and other offenses.

It will cost more for college students to attend classes at Pennsylvania's 14 state-owned universities this fall. Tuition will increase 3.5 percent, as recommended by the State System of Higher Education. Under the new rate, full-time undergraduate students who are Pennsylvania residents would pay $5,358 for the year, an increase of $181. The state system schools are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester universities. Last week, Penn State University announced a 5 percent tuition increase for its students at commonwealth campuses and University Park. Penn State has a local campus in Schuylkill Haven.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Grab the iced tea and fan. Weather forecasters say temperatures in the Philadelphia area will be in the 90s this weekend. The National Weather Service has issued an
excessive heat warning and the Philadelphia school district has canceled all summer school classes and activities for today.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Duquesne University in Pittsburgh is saving energy by using ice produced at night to produce the cold air it needs to air condition its buildings during the day. The new system cost the school about $4 million. By making the ice at night, the university is saving money and energy because that is an off-peak time for electrical power.

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) - District Attorney Andy Jarbola says he has not determined whether to seek the death penalty against a 25-year-old man charged with shooting three northeastern
Pennsylvania residents. Randall Rushing was arrested at a Wilkes-Barre apartment after a daylong search. He was arraigned on homicide charges early today.

ERIE, Pa. (AP) - The attorney for a 28-year-old Erie woman who is on trial says her client didn't repeatedly rape an 11-year-old boy but is instead a victim of his obsession with her. But
prosecutors say Carrie Dana regularly had sex with the boy, a neighbor a friend of her children, and stopped only when she thought others were becoming suspicious.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania state police say rather than used small airplanes, think of them as pieces of law-enforcement history. The department is putting five Cessna 182 single-engine planes on sale. They range from a 1981 model offered for $86,000 to a 2000 model for $188,000. State Police will lease four newer planes.


WASHINGTON (AP) - A new poll sugguests those who back Barack Obama's run for the White House are a lot more excited about this November's election than those who prefer John McCain. In fact, half of McCain's supporters responding to the AP-Yahoo poll say the
race makes them frustrated.

BERLIN (AP) - A spokesman says German Chancellor Angela Merkel will welcome Barack Obama to her office in Berlin next Thursday. Obama's stop there is part of a tour of
the Middle East and Europe aimed at improving the Democratic candidate's foreign policy credentials.

MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) - John McCain is spending more time in Michigan today. McCain is getting ready for a town hall meeting in the city of Warren, a Detroit suburb that's also one of GM's main operating centers.

QUNU, South Africa (AP) - Nelson Mandela is using his 90th birthday to call on the wealthy to share with the poor. His birthday celebration was much more subdued than events held
elsewhere around the country, including the prisons he was held in for 27 years fighting apartheid.

HONOLULU (AP) - PETA is upset over the Army's plans to use live pigs in a drill today. The pigs will be shot so troops headed to Iraq can treat their gunshot wounds in a medical trauma exercise. The animal-rights group calls the training cruel and outdated.