Today's News-Thursday, September 18th, 2008

Schuylkill Transportation System looking for grant monies

STS is applying for monies to buy new busses and make some improvements to their facilities and equipment. Officials sought approval for the $1.2 million dollar grant from the Schuylkill County Commissioners Wednesday. The monies would buy 4-12 passenger busses and two-28 passsenger busses. In other work session business, Interim Chief Clerk Darlene Laughlin will be promoted to the job permanently at next week's Commissioners meeting. She replaced Jean Heffner, who retired.

Construction worker hurt in hit and run on I-81

A construction worker was injured in a hit and run along Interstate 81 last night. 23-year-old Bryan Barletta of Dallas was resetting downed reflective pylons near mile marker 115 after 9pm when his arm was struck by the mirror of a passing car. The driver didn't stop. After the incident, Barletta drove himself 7 miles to seek help from another construction crew. Barletta was taken to Schuylkill Medical Center East for treatment. Frackville state police are looking for a white car with possible damage to the passenger side of the vehicle.

Pottsville teacher negotiations to continue

KRATER

That's Pottsville school board negotiating committee chair Scott Krater, updating the board on the negotiations between teachers and the district last night. Krater was referring to a two-hours plus session Tuesday night. The teachers have been working without a contract since the end of June. Negotiations are being moderated by an arbitrator, and representatives for PSEA and the district have not responded to our repeated requests for comment. The date for the next session is not yet known. In other business, the Pottsville High Boys Tennis Team was awarded the Walter F Jones Scholar-Athlete Award for having the highest GPA of all the 2007-2008 sports teams. Their grade point average was 3.76 out of a possible 4.0. Jones was Sports Director of WPPA and T102 for many years. The award was named in his honor nearly a decade ago.

House committee to conduct healthcare hearing today

Members of the House Majority Policy Committee will hold a hearing today to discuss healthcare. State Representative Tim Seip is hosting the event at Schuylkill Medical Center South at 1pm. The panel, chaired by Luzerne County Democratic Representative Todd Eachus, will take testimony about Governor Rendell's basic healthcare plan, PA ABC. The program, which already passed the House, offers health insurance at a lower cost for Pennsylvanians who can't afford regular coverage. The public is invited to attend. Eachus will be a guest on Step Up To The Mic on WPPA later this morning.

Fumo corruption trial to resume Oct. 20; judge ill

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The long-anticipated trial of state Sen. Vincent Fumo is being delayed a month due to the trial judge's illness. Jury selection will resume Oct. 20. Jurors selected this month for a preliminary 42-person pool will likely be questioned anew about holiday commitments and other hardships. The trial is set to last three months.
U.S. District Judge William H. Yohn Jr. battled flu-like symptoms during last week's jury questioning. The 65-year-old Fumo is charged with 139 counts of fraud and corruption. Federal prosecutors say he misused more than $3.5 million in funds and resources from the Senate, a charity and a museum. Fumo insists that he's done nothing illegal.

Nearly 35,000 in W. Pa. powerless 3 days after Ike

BUTLER, Pa. (AP) - Thousands of people in western Pennsylvania remain without power as a result of Hurricane Ike-related damage.
Utilities said nearly 35,000 homes and businesses remained without electricity and that full power would not be restored until Friday or Saturday. High winds from remnants of Hurricane Ike tore through the
region Sunday, and at least two people died during cleanup efforts. One of the hardest-hit areas was Butler County, a largely rural area of just over 180,000 not far from the Ohio border. County officials declared a state of emergency on Tuesday.

Bill addressing crowded prisons gets Pa. Senate OK

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Legislation making the most significant changes in many years to how Pennsylvania deals with nonviolent criminals is getting closer to final approval. The bill seeks to move nonviolent offenders out of Pennsylvania's overcrowded prisons more quickly by rewarding them for good behavior and providing greater access to addiction treatment. The bill passed the state Senate on Wednesday, 48-to-2, after the chamber made minor changes to it.
Legislative officials say they expect final approval from the House in the coming days. Prompted by prison overcrowding, lawmakers have worked on a set of related bills for more than a year.

Pa. getting emergency federal heating aid

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania and other states are getting
emergency federal aid to help poor people heat their homes this winter, but Gov. Ed Rendell says it's too early to release state money that's been set aside for that purpose. The Bush administration said Wednesday it's releasing $121 million in emergency funds nationwide for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Pennsylvania is expected to receive more than $6.5 million. The state's consumer advocate and others have urged Rendell to release $10 million in state money that's been set aside to supplement the federal aid. Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo says the administration will make an announcement about its plans for making the money available "closer to winter, when it is most needed."

Obama ad highlights closure of Pa. TV tube plant

WASHINGTON (AP) - Barack Obama's new TV ad highlights the closure of Corning's plant in State College and says Washington -- with John McCain's help -- sold out the workers. The ad features photos of blue collar workers. It claims that, in 2004, the company hired many of the workers back to dismantle the equipment so it could be shipped to China.
It also accuses McCain of supporting tax breaks to companies that moved jobs overseas and of voting against a crackdown on unfair trade practices. Obama campaign spokesman Sean Smith says the ad will run
statewide in Pennsylvania and 12 other states. Obama has been seeking to connect with blue collar workers, many of whom voted for Hillary Rodham Clinton in Democratic primaries.

Obama won't repeal 'don't ask' on his own

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrat Barack Obama says if elected president he would not try to repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on his own. Obama says in an interview to run in gay publications Thursday
that he wants to work with military leaders to build a consensus on
removing the ban on openly gay service members in the armed forces.
He says that wouldn't be accomplished by attaching a signing statement to a military spending bill, a process that President Bush has used to set other military policies. Obama's interview was with Mark Segal, publisher of the Philadelphia Gay News, on behalf of the Gay History Project, a coalition of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender publications.
Segal says Republican presidential nominee John McCain did not respond to an interview request.

W.Pa. state prison hit with power outage, phone problems; lights back on, lockdown remains

SOMERSET, Pa. (AP) - Officials at a western Pennsylvania prison
say lighting has been restored after power was lost for about six
hours because of malfunctioning generators but prisoners remain in
lockdown. The medium-security State Correctional Institute at Somerset
lost power Wednesday afternoon during a monthly test of the generator system and the entire prison was without power at 2 p.m. Department of Corrections spokeswoman Sue McNaughton says lights came back on about 8:20 p.m. Wednesday, but the lockdown will remain in effect until the problem was fixed. The outage also affected telephone lines. As of last month, the prison housed just over 2,300 inmates. Visitations were also suspended until power is restored.

Pa. man charged with kidnapping girl he met online

OAKLAND, Md. (AP) - Authorities in western Maryland have charged
a Pennsylvania man with kidnapping and sexually abusing a 14-year-old New York City girl he allegedly met online. The Garrett County Sheriff's Office says 28-year-old Andrew Pettitt, of Arnot, Pa., had been living with the girl in his car for three days before deputies found them parked on a dirt road early Tuesday. Investigators say the pair met through an online gaming Web site in January and started a sexual relationship.
Deputies say the girl willingly left her home in the Bronx with Pettitt about a week ago. She has been released to her parents. Pettitt is being held on more than $300,000 bond.

HONG KONG (AP) - Asian markets started rebounding from a rough
start after Europe's central bank announced it was joining the Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world to pump more money into global markets. One analyst says the move appears to be restoring investor confidence.

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's finance minister tells news agencies there trading on Russian exchanges won't resume until tomorrow. He also says Russia's three largest banks will be getting an extra 2.36 billion dollars to help bolster financial markets that have dropped to their lowest points in nearly three years.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush meets with his top advisers to discuss an economy in turmoil. It bumps a fundraising trip to Alabama and Florida. The last few weeks have seen a series of federal interventions aimed at preventing an economic collapse.

JERUSALEM (AP) - Tzipi Livni has won an election to take over Israel's ruling party. She's in line to become the first female to lead Israel in 34 years. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says he's stepping down amid allegations of corruption.

LAS VEGAS (AP) - O.J. Simpson's robbery and kidnapping trial continues in Las Vegas. Back on the stand will be the detective who
first arrived on the scene of an incident involving Simpson last year. He says because of Simpson's fame, he and his partner made sure "everything was right" before arresting O.J.