Today's News-Saturday, July 19th

Fire damages Mr. D's Interiors

Fire heavily damages a Minersville business Friday night. Around 11:30pm, flames were shooting from the roof at Mr. D's Interiors, Route 901, challenging firefighters. Damage is reported very heavy. A cause is not yet known.

O'Hara plays at Sweet Arrow.

John O'Hara plays Sweet Arrow Lake County Park? Reporter Allie Raring has more....

RARING OHARA

A Schuylkill County man is charged with threatening and intimidating a witness. State police say 22-year old Kyle Bluge of Port Carbon threatened to kill Jennifer Swope of New Ringgold during a telephone conversation last Sunday night. Swope testified against Bluge at a preliminary hearing July 8th in a case where Bluge was charged with aggravated assault and related counts for seriously injuring his 6 week old son by shaking him. The charges were bound over for court. Bluge had been free after making bail on those charges. He is now in the Schuylkill County prison in lieu of $25,000 bail on the new charges of intimidating a witness and terroristic threats.

Commissioners Meeting - 7/16

STS received approval to advertise for lift equipment and fuel supplies. A company representative tells Schuylkill County Commissioners that current equipment is over 20-years-old. Two storm water management projects in Mahanoy and Cass Township will be put out for bids. Rest Haven personnel changes, including ten appointments, two terminations and one transfer were approved at Wednesday's meeting. Part time Chief Public Defender, Attorney Harry Rubright, will retire next month. His replacement is Assistant DA Michael Stine, and the position will become full time. Douglas Taglieri will take Stine's place, and three positions will be eliminated.

Local residents don't have to travel far to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, as Reporter Jay Levan reports from Schuylkill Haven:

HAVEN FARMERS MARKET

Pa. Hiring stagnant as just 800 jobs added in June

The number of jobs in Pennsylvania remained virtually the same from May to June, rising by a meager 800. That figure was reported Friday by the state Department of Labor and Industry, which also said that the unemployment rate of 5.2 percent remained the same from May. However, unemployment has risen in recent months after registering 4.3 percent a year ago. It was the third straight month that employers in Pennsylvania added jobs, although hiring has been virtually stagnant for more than a year. Nationally, the unemployment rate is higher at 5.5 percent, while the economy has shed nearly a half-million jobs this year.

ALLENTOWN - PPL Electric Utilities customers can now shop for energy-efficient, brand-name products online and receive a 20 percent discount. Customers can access a link to the "e" Store, an independent store operated by Energy Federation Incorporated, by clicking on the e-power symbol at pplelectric.com. According to the federal government, the typical family can save as much as 30 percent on energy bills by making energy-efficiency improvements. This includes using ENERGY STAR® qualified products that meet tough government standards for quality and efficiency. PPL Electric Utilities customers receive a 20 percent discount on all purchases. PPL Electric Utilities does not profit from the purchases.

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. (AP) - Federal prosecutors say they should not be forced to drop references to al-Qaida and jihad from the indictment of five men accused of plotting to attack soldiers on Fort Dix. Lawyers for the men last month asked a judge to delete such
language, saying it was "inflammatory" and was included in earlier court filings to incite prejudice against the defendants. In a response filed Friday, government lawyers said the terms in question are central to the case, arguing that jihadist principles caused the defendants to undertake the criminal conduct. The five men were charged in May 2007. An attack was never carried out. In other court papers filed Friday, the government said the
trial should not be moved from Camden. It's scheduled to start in October. The men, all foreign-born Muslims in their 20s, have spent much of their lives in the Philadelphia area. They are being held in the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia.

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) - Prosecutors say they have not decided whether to seek the death penalty against a 25-year-old man charged with killing three northeastern Pennsylvania residents. Police say the bodies were found in a south Scranton home by police responding to a 911 call just before 7 a.m. Thursday. The murder victims have been identified as 21-year-old Justin Berrios, 22-year-old Dustin Hintz; and 16-year-old Leslie Collier. Four other people, including a 4-year-old boy, were also in the house but were unharmed. Randall Rushing was arrested at a Wilkes-Barre apartment after a daylong search and arraigned on homicide charges. Rushing told reporters: "I had fun." Authorities allege he used a knife and hammer in the fatal attacks, but did not shoot them despite having a gun. According to court papers, a woman found tied up in an upstairs bedroom had recently ended a relationship with Rushing.

GENEVA (AP) - An Iranian official says his country won't freeze its uranium enrichment program, even in exchange for a pledge of no new U.N. Security Council sanctions. Those comments have cast doubt on the chance for progress at talks today between senior envoys
from Iran and six other countries.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Barack Obama is in Afghanistan this morning. He has stops in Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and England also on the schedule in the coming days. With Obama on the trip are two of his Senate colleagues, Nebraska Republican Chuck Hagel and Rhode Island Democrat Jack Reed.

HOUSTON (AP) - Investigators don't know what caused a giant crane to collapse at an oil refinery in Houston. The collapse of the 30-story structure killed four people and left four others hurt.

PARIS (AP) - Angelina Jolie and her newborn twins are out of a French hospital. The hospital says the Hollywood superstar left the clinic in the Riviera city of Nice with twins Knox Leon and
Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt before dawn.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - An American Airlines flight that took off from Boston yesterday made it to Los Angeles, but not before making an unscheduled stop. A man was subdued and taken into custody in Oklahoma City after stripping naked in the bathroom and then later trying to open an emergency door in mid-air. Members of the New England Revolution soccer team helped take him down.