Today's News- Thursday, October 16th, 2008

Pedestrian hit while crossing Pottsville Street

A Pottsville man is hospitalized after he was struck while crossing the street in the city Wednesday afternoon. 37-year-old Dean Blain of Williamstown was driving west in the 1000 block of West Market Street. Blain's vehicle struck 74-year-old Joseph Subach, who was attempting to cross the street. Subach suffered head injuries and was flown to Hershey Medical Center, where he's in serious condition today.

Pottsville teachers, school board ratify contract

KRATER

That's Pottsville school board member and chair of the negotiations team Scott Krater, beginning his report last night to announce that a contract between teachers in the Pottsville school district and the board of directors has been approved. The pact, effective July 1st, covers 3 years, and has been in negotiations off and on since January. The contract provides for 4 percent annual salary increases, and faculty will see annual increases in health care premium sharing and co-pays toward their health care plans. The teachers union overwhelmingly approved the deal earlier in the evening according to Union President Kathleen Landa. The contract covers over 200 teachers in the Pottsville School District.

County energy efficiency project moves forward

Schuylkill County's energy savings project is moving forward, and the Commissioners are making sure that they get their monies worth. The 15 year plan with PPL to make county buildings more energy efficient includes accountability from the company that projected savings are realized in the future, and the Commissioners are planning to earmark $15-thousand-dollars in a future budget to pay for additional analysis to protect the county's investment if needed. County Solicitor Eric Mika explains:

MIKA

In other business, Schuylkill County will be looking for other sites to house Children and Youth operations. A site at 500 North Centre Street was being looked at, but the costs were apparently too high to renovate that building, along with other deficiencies. A state grant of $500 thousand dollars has been earmarked to find a new home for the agency.

ReDCo van crashes

One person was injured when a van transporting clients for the REDCO group crashed on Route 61 Wednesday morning. The driver, 41-year-old Joann Burns was driving south and experienced some sort of health problem, and the van left the road. One of the clients had minor injuries, and was taken to St Catherine's Medical Center. Burns was also taken to the hospital for evaluation. The crash happened near Frackville around 8am.

Pioneer Evergreen hosts Fall Festival

As the leaves change, its a great time to take the family outdoors to enjoy the fall season. One Christmas tree farm near Orwigsburg has converted its operation to a Fall Festival. Pioneer Evergreen Farms, Adamsdale Road is hosting families and groups with hayrides, bounce houses, food and entertainment through next weekend. Manager Kenny Fetherolf explains:

FETHEROLF

Pioneer Evergreen's Fall Festival is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday this weekend, and Friday and Saturday, October 24th and 25th. For more information, call 366-2619.

A special event tonight at an area middle school is all the buzz...as WPPA Reporter Kerry Dowd reports:

DOWD

Phillies fly home after NCLS victory in LA

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The Phillies are on their way home. Fans will be lined up at the fence when the team's plane touches down at Philadelphia International Airport at 7:40 a.m.
Fans have waited 15 years to cheer like this. Cole Hamels, Jimmy Rollins and Brad Lidge led Philadelphia to a 5-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the National
League Championship Series on Wednesday night to send the Phils to the World Series for the first time in 15 years. The Phillies will face either the Tampa Bay Rays or Boston Red
Sox. Tampa Bay leads the ALCS 3-1. Fans poured into the streets across the city, honking horns and setting off fireworks after the game ended. Police made some arrests for disorderly conduct and other offenses, but there were no reports of serious problems.

Rollins, Hamels lead Phillies into World Series

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Jimmy Rollins got the Phillies off to a fast start on their way to the World Series. Rollins led off the game with a home run and Philadelphia went on to a 5-1 win over the Dodgers to clinch the National League Championship Series 4-1. Rollins connected off of Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley who also gave up RBI singles to Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell before he left in the third inning. Philadelphia added two runs in the fifth thanks to three errors by Los Angeles shortstop Rafael Furcal. Meanwhile, Phillies starter Cole Hamels was named the series
MVP. The left-hander gave up a home run to Manny Ramirez as one of only five hits he allowed in seven innings in the clincher. He also beat the Dodgers in the series opener. Philadelphia earns its first trip to the World Series since 1993. It begins next Wednesday night at Tampa Bay or Boston. The Rays lead the Red Sox 3-1 in the ALCS, which resumes Thursday night at Fenway Park.

McCain, Palin, Michelle Obama to campaign in Pa.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The political battle for Pennsylvania is intensifying. There are three campaign events in the next few days. John McCain will appear at a rally outside Philadelphia Thursday morning. The Republican presidential candidate is to speak to supporters at the United Sports Training Center in Downingtown. On Saturday, his running mate, Sarah Palin, will rally with supporters in Lancaster. The Alaska governor will be at Clipper Magazine Stadium.
Also, Michelle Obama, the wife of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, will visit Pittsburgh on Thursday. She is hosting a rally at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial in the late
morning.

Murtha: Western Pa. 'racist' but Obama should win

PITTSBURGH (AP) - U.S. Rep. John Murtha says his home base of western Pennsylvania is racist and that could reduce Barack Obama's victory margin in the state by 4 percentage points.
The 17-term Democratic congressman tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a story posted Wednesday on its Web site that, as he put it: "There is no question that western Pennsylvania is a racist area. He says it's taken time for many Pennsylvania voters to come around to liking Obama, but he should still win the state, though not in a runaway. In a separate interview posted Wednesday on the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Web site, Murtha says Obama has a problem with the race issue in western Pennsylvania that could shave 4 points off his lead in the state.

Retired executive submits bid for Boscov's

READING, Pa. (AP) - Days before a scheduled bankruptcy court hearing, the retired chairman of Boscov's Inc. says he has submitted a bid for the mid-Atlantic department store chain that
his family founded in 1921. Seventy-six-year-old Albert Boscov passed the chairmanship of
Boscov's to his nephew, Kenneth S. Lakin, in 2006. He said he worked with several people to submit a bid for the company ahead of the scheduled auction of Boscov's assets next week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. The deadline for submission of bids was Wednesday. The auction of Boscov's assets is to be held Monday and the results certified Tuesday.

TV station censors candidate's bank failure gaffe

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) - Seeking to avoid causing any financial harm, a TV station has censored a congressional candidate's statement, made during a taped debate, that two major banks had failed when in fact they hadn't. When the debate aired Monday, WFMZ-TV muted the sound and blurred the lips of Democrat Sam Bennett as she made the erroneous remarks about the two banks. The debate was taped Friday in front of about 200 people and Webcast live. At that time the mistake went uncorrected by her opponent, Republican Rep. Charlie Dent, and the moderator. But hours later, one of the banks contacted Bennett's staff about the error and they in turn alerted WFMZ. Bennett's campaign manager, Josh Levin, said the candidate meant to say the banks had "nearly failed." The station altered the videotape after consulting with Dent's campaign, the Federal Communications Commission and the National Association of Broadcasters.

Pa. killer receives third death sentence

LEBANON, Pa. (AP) - A convicted Pennsylvania killer has been sentenced to death for a third time for fatally stabbing a woman in 1982. A Lebanon County jury determined unanimously Wednesday that Freeman May should die for killing 22-year-old Kathy Lynn Fair of Lancaster. Fair's skeletal remains were discovered in a remote, wooded area in 1988. May was originally sentenced to death in 1991, but the state Supreme Court has overturned the sentence twice on appeal. Defense attorney John Kelsey says he plans to appeal the latest death sentence.

NEW: Barnes Foundation: Philly location to open in 2011

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The Barnes Foundation says it plans to have its new building in Philadelphia finished by 2011. Gov. Ed Rendell and other city and state officials were at what
is to be the Barnes Foundation's new home on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Wednesday.
The foundation is moving from its longtime home in Lower Merion Township to downtown Philadelphia. Several dozen protesters were on hand for the announcement. Some groups have long opposed the move. Robert Zaller of the group Friends of the Barnes calls the plan "a criminal conspiracy to bring about the biggest art heist since the Second World War."

DEP checking storage tanks in W. Pa. chemical leak

PETROLIA, Pa. (AP) - State environmental officials are focusing on above-ground storage tanks in their probe of a toxic chemical leak that forced hundreds to evacuate near a western Pennsylvania plant. Indspec Chemical Corp. in Petrolia, a town about 60 miles north of Pittsburgh, makes a chemical used in tire and rubber products and others. Saturday's leak involved the chemical oleum - which is used at the plant - that caused an acid cloud forcing 2,500 people from their homes. They returned Sunday. The state Department of Environmental Protection is also investigating whether the leak is related to a fish kill just
downstream of a drainage pipe near the plant. The DEP says the plant's storage tanks have passed inspections in recent years.

Bill could lead to Medal of Honor for airman

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - U.S. Rep. Earl Pomeroy says legislation signed by President Bush is a step toward recognition for a military hero who died in Laos some 40 years ago. Pomeroy says language in the defense bill waives the legal deadline for awarding a Medal of Honor to Chief Master Sergeant Richard Etchberger. Pomeroy, of North Dakota, says Etchberger was stationed at a secret radar base in Laos that was stormed by North Vietnamese commandoes in 1968. He says Etchberger saved the lives of two other men and was fatally shot in a rescue helicopter. Pomeroy says the bill clears the way for a Medal of Honor nomination to be sent to the president. He says Etchberger was based in Bismarck during the Vietnam War. He was from Hamburg, Pa. Pomeroy says Etchberger's nomination was denied by President Lyndon Johnson for fear it would bring attention to the secret radar station.

LONDON (AP) - European stock markets are down in early trading. The Asian markets were hit hard overnight with Japan's Nikkei falling more than 11 percent. The latest bout of selling comes after Wall Street's rocky finish yesterday ending the day down more than 700 points.

NEW YORK (AP) - Wall Street is expected to make a mild rebound today after its steep dive yesterday. Investors, however, remain anxious ahead of third-quarter earnings reports which likely show the economy is in a recession.

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) - The final presidential debate last night proved a busy one for fact checkers. Each candidate again twisted his rival's health care plan. John McCain repeated an inflated claim about how much oil the U.S. buys from hostile countries and Barack Obama overstated the proportion of McCain ads that have been negative.

AURORA, Ill. (AP) - A medical helicopter crashed in a Chicago suburb overnight killing three crew members and a 13-month-old girl. The helicopter was headed to a children's hospital in Chicago with the child who was suffering from seizures. Fire officials say the helicopter may have clipped a wire before it crashed and burned.

WASHINGTON (AP) - It looks like Social Security recipients will see a raise in their 2009 checks. An announcement is expected later today that the new cost-of-living increase will go up by at least 5.5 percent. That would make it the largest increase since 1982. It translates to about $60 more a month.