Today's News-Monday, August 4th, 2008

Alcohol may have played role in East Norwegian Twp. crash

Alcohol may have played a role in a pickup truck crash in East Norwegian Township early Sunday. Schuylkill Haven state police report that 31-year-old Melissa Bell of Pottsville was northbound on the Port Carbon/St. Clair highway around 2:30am when she crashed her truck into a mailbox, then hit three parked cars at Don's Auto Sales. The vehicle ended up in a small creek. Troopers say Bell showed signs of driving under the influence. She was taken to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center for treatment of hip and wrist injuries. Charges are pending the result of blood alcohol tests.

More stuff stolen from Reading Anthracite

Reading Anthracite Coal Company was vicitmized by thieves again recently to the tune of $12-thousand-dollars. Someone stole 80 transformer insulators from the St. Nicholas Breaker. Frackville state police are investigating.

Motorcycle flips in crash in West Brunswick

A Pottstown man suffers major injuries in a motorcycle crash Saturday morning. 60-year-old Edward Feeser was traveling north on Route 61 when he failed to negotiate a right hand turn, struck a metal traffic sign with the sidecar and flipped the bike, throwing him onto the macadam. Feeser was treated at the scene, then flown to Lehigh Valley Hospital for treatment. Schuylkill Haven state police report that Feeser was wearing a helmet.

Water main break in Pottsville

A cleanup project at one of Pottsville's parking garages was interrupted by a water main break Sunday. Crews from the Humane Fire Company were washing down the Mahantongo Parking Garage when a water main broke. Repairs were made by Schuylkill County Municipal Authority workers. Homes in a two block span of Howard Avenue were without water during the break.

Traffic info

Motorists need to be aware of possible traffic delays this week. Schuylkill Products will be moving concrete beams today through Thursday at 9 am and 11am . Traffic on Routes 901, 183 and 61 may be slowed while the oversized loads are moved. In the City of Pottsville, paving will begin on Tuesday on East Norwegian Street, between Line Alley and Charles Street. Drivers should seek an alternate route.

Weekend burglary in Frackville

Police are investigating a burglary at the Memorial Park concession stand in Frackville sometime Friday or Saturday. Police say there is $25-hundred dollars worth of damage to the stand and an undetermined amount of cash was taken. Anyone with information is asked to call Frackville police.

Pa. 'twins law' lets parents request school class

BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) - With twin and multiple births on the rise, schools face the question of whether to keep siblings in the same class or separate them. In Pennsylvania, parents will now have more say in the decision thanks to a law passed last month. The so-called "twins law" lets parents request whether to keep their children stay together. Six other states have passed similar laws. State Rep. Karen Beyer, a Lehigh Valley Republican, still remembers the pain she felt being separated from her twin, Kevin, throughout their school years. She says she felt there must be something wrong with being a twin. The number of multiple births in Pennsylvania is up about 27 percent over 15 years, compared to an 11 percent climb in all births.

Pa. funeral director charged in wife's death

LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) - The husband of a Lancaster County woman found dead in the family pool has been charged this weekend in her death. East Cocalico Township police say they charged funeral director Michael Roseboro with criminal homicide in the death of Jan Roseboro.
The 41-year-old suspect had called police late on July 22 to say he had found his 45-year-old wife in the pool. The mother of four had been severely beaten and drowned. Michael Roseboro is being held without bail in the Lancaster County Prison after his arrest late Saturday. It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer. The district attorney plans a news conference today.

Pa. charges $25 per year to collect child support

READING, Pa. (AP) - Under a new policy, custodial parents in Pennsylvania are being charged $25 a year by the state to offset the cost of collecting child support. The fee is the result of the 2006 federal Deficit Reduction Act. Federal officials gave states the option of paying the $25 fee on behalf of parents, collecting it from custodial parents or collecting it from noncustodial parents. The federal government says most states, including Pennsylvania, have chosen to collect from custodial parents. A state Department of Public Welfare spokeswoman says noncustodial parents are harder to track down. If the state were to pay the fee, it would cost
taxpayers $2.6 million this year and $3.2 million next year. Not all custodial parents must pay. Parents who have received cash assistance from the welfare department and those who receive
$500 to $1,999 a year in child support are exempt.

Next shoe to drop in bonus case could be cover-up

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - There are indications that the attorney general's investigators might file charges against people accused of trying to cover up corruption. The few public documents to surface in the investigation show that obstruction of justice and destruction of evidence has been very much on the minds of state prosecutors. Suggestions of a cover-up were contained in a judge's October ruling. Judge Barry Feudale allowed state prosecutors to sift through 20 boxes of records scooped up last summer in a search of House Democratic research offices. The judge said authorities were investigating the intentional destruction of evidence, obstructing the administration of law or other government functions and hindering apprehension or prosecution.

World Anglican leader urges extended moratorium on gay bishops

NEW YORK (AP) - The spiritual leader of the world's Anglicans is urging an extended ban on consecrating another gay bishop until their troubled fellowship can be healed. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams made the plea on the final day of the Lambeth Conference, the once-a-decade Anglican meeting in Canterbury, England. The 77-million-member Anglican Communion has been splintering since 2003, when the U.S. Episcopal Church consecrated the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. The 650 bishops at the conference said in a statement that there is widespread support among them for a moratorium on consecrating gay bishops and blessing same-sex couples. Williams warned that the fellowship will be in "grave peril" without such a moratorium. Conservative Anglican leaders from Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and elsewhere now have authority over seceding Episcopal parishes. One
diocese - San Joaquin, based in Fresno, Calif. - has broken away. Two more - in Pittsburgh and Fort Worth, Texas - are poised to do the same this fall.

Pa. funeral director charged in wife's death

LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) - Lancaster County authorities say they will release more information Monday about a funeral director charged in the beating, strangling and drowning death of his wife. Police have said in court papers that another woman alleged she was having an affair with 41-year-old Michael Roseboro. The woman told police she met with Roseboro hours before the July 22 death of 45-year-old Jan Roseboro. Michael Roseboro called police at about 11 p.m. to say he had fallen asleep that night and awoke to find his wife in the pool. He was trying to revive her when paramedics arrived. Three of the couple's four children were home at the time. No blood was found in or near the pool, but police said they noticed a bucket nearby containing a rag and a cleaning agent. East Cocalico officer Bob Good says Michael Roseboro was arrested late Saturday on a criminal homicide charge. He was being held in the Lancaster County Prison without bail and it was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.

Brick boating accident kills 1, injures 4, including 2 from Pa.

BRICK TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) - State police in New Jersey are looking for a boat involved in a fatal hit-and-run on the Jersey Shore. The crash on the Metedeconk River in Ocean County killed 49-year-old Robert Post of Essex Fells and injured his wife and three of their friends. It occurred at about 1:15 a.m. Saturday in a small strait between the mainland of Brick Township and Herring Island. Post died from blunt trauma to the head and body, while the other four sustained various injuries that authorities say ranged from "moderate to severe." They were taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune. Fifty-two-year-old Bonnie Post and 46-year-old Joan Farren, of St. David's, Pa., are still hospitalized, but officials are not
releasing further details on their condition. Farren's 45-year-old husband, Cliff, and 46-year-old Karen Kelly, of Norcross, Ga., were both treated and released. Meanwhile, authorities have few clues to help in their search. They say that due to the time the crash occurred and that it
happened in a relatively remote part of the river, none of the victims could provide a description of the boat that hit them.

NE Pa. Revolutionary War monumuent damaged

WYOMING, Pa. (AP) - Officials in Luzerne County plan to set up an emergency fund Monday to repair lightning damage to a historic monument. The Wyoming Monument was built in 1843 to mark a mass grave of Revolutionary War soldiers killed by British troops and their American Indian allies in 1778. Monument association vice president Marcella Starr says Saturday
morning's lightning strike caused about $10,000 in damage. Structural engineers will have to inspect it to determine the exact extent of the damage. Wyoming Mayor Robert Boyer says an emergency fund is needed because the monument isn't insured and the association doesn't have
the money to repair it.

Pa. schools scrimp to pay rising fuel costs

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - School districts in the Philadelphia area are combining bus routes, eliminating field trips and looking for other ways to save money due to the high cost of fuel.
The American Association of School Administrators says that nearly all school districts it surveyed are affected by high fuel prices, and few are getting extra state aid. One district in Minnesota plans to go to a four-day school week. That's not happening in Philadelphia. But teachers in Malvern's Great Valley School District are cutting out personal coffee makers
to save on energy. Philadelphia officials say they spent $2.5 million on fuel last school year, up from $1.9 million a year earlier. But they say anyone entitled to a bus ride can stay on board.

Man, 32, struck and killed by Norfolk Southern train under bridge in Jeannette, Pa.

JEANNETTE, Pa. (AP) - Authorities say a Norfolk Southern train struck and killed a man under Jeannette's Seventh Street Bridge. Officials say 32-year-old James Scott Loughner was on Track #1 when he was hit by an eastbound train on the Pittsburgh Line at 3:40 a.m. Saturday. He was pronounced dead at the scene by Westmoreland County Deputy Coroner Christopher O'Leath. Jeannette and railroad police are still trying to find out why Loughner was on the tracks, although investigators say they have ruled out suicide. The coroner's office says toxicology tests will take several weeks.

US scientist says he has discovered the world's tiniest snake in Barbados

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - A Penn State scientist says he has discovered the globe's tiniest species of snake in the easternmost Caribbean island of Barbados. Evolutionary biologist S. Blair Hedges says the snake was found slithering beneath a rock near a patch of Barbadian forest. He says it is the smallest of the roughly 3,100 known snake species. The species to be introduced to the scientific journal "Zootaxa" has full-grown adults that are typically less than 4 inches long. It is so small that it can curl up on a quarter. The Barbadian snake apparently eats termites and insect larvae, but nothing is yet known of its ecology and behavior, although it is not venomous. Hedges says genetic tests identified the snake as a new species. Penn State research teams also have discovered the world's tiniest lizard in the Dominican Republic and the smallest frog in
Cuba.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Investigators say solving the 2001 anthrax attacks was a case of fighting fire with fire -- using science to lead them to a scientist. Investigators traced unique DNA back to Bruce Ivins' government lab. Ivins killed himself last week before he could be indicted on murder charges.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Tropical Storm Edouard is moving west and gaining speed as residents along the Gulf of Mexico get ready. It's supposed to hit somewhere along the coast of Texas or southwest Louisiana tomorrow and could be near hurricane strength by then.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - There's a rescue attempt on the world's second-tallest mountain. Helicopters have flown to K-2 in Pakistan to try to pick up a stranded Italian climber. An avalanche near the top has left at least nine people missing and feared dead.

ANANDPUR SAHIB, India (AP) - Relatives have grimly searched rows of bodies in India where a Hindu temple stampede killed 145 people. Volunteers from nearby temples helped relatives load the victims onto vehicles to be taken home for cremation.

MIANYANG, China (AP) - Rousing pop music has filled a Chinese stadium that recently housed thousands of earthquake victims. As the music blared, the Olympic flame was carried around the track in a ceremony that had been postponed from June due to the deadly quake.