Today's News-Monday, September 29, 2008

Hit and Run crash in McAdoo

State police have charged a Kelayres man with hit and run and related charges in an incident early Sunday in McAdoo. Frackville troopers report that 29-year-old Ryan Eckhart was traveling south on Route 309 and hit a car parked on Kennedy Drive in McAdoo, then fled. Police followed leads and found Eckhart's vehicle in an alley behind his home. Charges will be filed in District Court.

State police announce fugitive apprehension

A commercial vehicle inspection detail conducted by state police on Interstate 81 nabbed a fugitive from justice. State police were stopping vehicles at the interstate weigh station, and found that the driver, Eric Don Jones of Clinton, North Carolina was wanted for failing to register as a sex offender in his home state. Jones was arraigned via video conference, and was remanded to the county prison on $50-thousand-dollars bail. He awaits extradition to North Carolina.

Shenandoah man wanted for Franklin County warrant, apprehended

A 37-year-old Shenandoah man is jailed following a traffic stop in Mahanoy Township Saturday night. State police at Frackville say that Freddie Rodriquez was found to be wanted by Franklin County, PA officials on an outstanding warrant, and charged with driving with a suspended license and registration.

Fire in Marion Heights

An explosion in the kitchen of a pizza shope in Northumberland County sends a Marion Heights man looking for a place to stay. The News Item reports 87 year old Mitch Burach stood outside the Tower of Pizza in Marion Heights after fire tore through his upstairs apartment Sunday night. The owners of the pizza shop were just leaving the business Sunday after eight p.m. when the fire erupted with an explosion. There's no word at this time as to the exact cause ofthe blaze. No one was hurt fighting the fire.

Cephalon to pay $425M for improper drug marketing

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Federal authorities have announced a $425 million civil settlement with a pharmaceutical company charged with off-label drug marketing. Authorities in Philadelphia say Cephalon marketed three drugs for uses other than what they were federally approved for.
Authorities say Cephalon marketed one of the drugs, Actiq, for maladies including migraines and injuries. But authorities say the fentanyl lollipop is a highly addictive narcotic only approved for
certain cancer patients. The suburban Philadelphia company has signed an agreement to
plead guilty to one count of distribution of misbranded drugs.

Pa. man accused of shooting ex; she later dies

LEWISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A 46-year-old Lewisburg man is accused of shooting his estranged ex-fiancee - and charges are expected to be upgraded now that she had died. Police say Roderick Sims shot 27-year-old Charity Spickler on Saturday. Sims was arrested after a brief standoff and charged with attempted homicide and other offenses. He was held in the Union County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail. Spickler died early Monday at Geisinger Medical Center.

Pittsburgh's new convention center not seeing boom

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Pittsburgh's $373 million David L. Lawrence Convention Center isn't attracting the larger events and convention attendees that backers had hoped for. The center opened almost five years ago and is much larger than its predecessor. But in only one year has attendance been higher than in the last full year the old center was open. The new center
also hasn't hosted more events in a given year than the old center. Heywood Sanders, a professor at the University of Texas San Antonio who studies convention centers, says many other cities that expanded their centers also aren't seeing expected results. Pittsburgh's convention center and tourism officials say numbers tell only part of the story. They say money spent by visitors is largely up, as are hotel bookings.

TV REPORTER-COUNCILMAN

Philadelphia council aide apologizes for accusation of racism at TV station

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A Philadelphia City Council aide says she shouldn't have made accusations of racism after a television reporter investigated her work habits. But Latrice Bryant says Philadelphia's Fox affiliate used "bush-league ambushing" in its report.
Reporter Jeff Cole says he has video of Bryant attending to personal business while she was logged in as working at her City Hall office. During a City Council meeting, Bryant held up signs accusing Cole and his employer of racism. Cole is white and Bryant is black. Now Bryant says her behavior was "inappropriate and inexcusable." But she says she never ripped off the city and her lawyer says a defamation lawsuit is possible.

MSHA schedules hearings on drug test rules

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has scheduled public hearings on its proposal to test all miners for drugs and alcohol. MSHA says hearings will be held via a Webcast on Oct. 14 for Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh and Englewood, Colo. A joint
audio-only session also is planned Oct. 14 for Beaver and Birmingham, Ala. The federal agency's proposal would prohibit the possession and use of drugs and alcohol at coal, copper, gold or any other type of mine. It calls for testing of all job applicants and for random testing of existing miners.

Death penalty phase continues Monday for Pa. man who murdered, robbed pair from Brooklyn, NY

BROOKVILLE, Pa. (AP) - The defense is scheduled to present witnesses Monday in the death-penalty case of a western Pennsylvania man already convicted of killing two people in 2006
kidnapping and robbery. The jury convicted 27-year-old Jason Clinger of first- and second-degree murder in the 2006 killings of 22-year-old Davon Markeys Jones and 21-year-old Dianikqua Arshell Johnson, both of Brooklyn, N.Y. The jury reached a verdict late Thursday after about five hours of deliberation. The death penalty phase of the trial began Friday and continues Monday because some defense witnesses weren't available. Hunters found the bodies of Jones and Johnson in the woods of rural western Pennsylvania in November 2006. Prosecutors say the shootings were drug-related.

Suburban Philadelphia woman accused of sex with boys due in court

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A woman accused of engaging in sex acts with two teenage boys at a suburban Philadelphia sleepover is due in court. Bucks County prosecutors say 38-year-old Angela Honeycutt did so at a sleepover hosted by a friend of hers, 45-year-old Lynne Long-Higham. The boys attending the sleepover were 14 and 15 years old. Honeycutt is due in court Monday. Long-Higham pleaded guilty earlier this month to three counts each of corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of children. She was ordered to continue mental-health counseling until sentencing is scheduled.

South-central Pa. head-on crash kills 2 from Md.

LITTLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) - State police in south-central Pennsylvania say a head-on collision killed two Maryland men over the weekend. Police in Gettysburg say one vehicle heading south on Frederick Pike veered into the other lane and collided with a vehicle carrying three people. The accident happened Saturday afternoon in Germany Township, Adams County. The driver of the first vehicle, Richard Allen Peregoy of Taneytown, Md., died at the scene. The other driver, Walter Lee Chrobot, of Westminster, Md., was pronounced dead at York Hospital. One of his passengers, Margie Chrobot, also of Westminster, Md., was listed in stable condition at York Hospital early Monday. Police are investigating the accident.

WASHINGTON (AP) - House floor debate has begun on a 700 billion dollar financial industry bailout. House Financial Services panel chairman Barney Frank calls the measure a "tough vote," but a necessary one. The package cleared a test vote this morning. A final House vote could come by this afternoon.

NEW YORK (AP) - Citigroup is buying Wachovia's banking operations in a deal brokered by the government's FDIC. The move greatly expands Citigroup's retail outlets and secures its place
among the U.S. banking industry's Big Three. Citigroup says it will try to shore up its capital position by selling 10 billion dollars in common stock and slashing its quarterly dividend.

NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks are down sharply in late morning trading. Markets are strained ahead of the planned House vote on a the rescue plan for troubled financial companies.

DISTRICT HEIGHTS, Md. (AP) - A teenager who survived a traffic accident and a fatal helicopter crash is clinging to life at a Maryland trauma center. She's the sole survivor of a weekend medical helicopter crash that killed the four other people aboard. Investigators are looking into the cause of the crash, which came after the pilot twice radioed for help in foggy weather.

MACHIAS, Maine (AP) - Maine has escaped a direct hit from Hurricane Kyle, and Canada was nearly as lucky. In Maine, the Category 1 storm showed up as little more than a classic -- but
very wet -- nor'easter. Kyle weakened to a tropical storm by the time it reached Canada. High winds and heavy rains continue, and thousands of people are without power in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.