Today's News- Thursday, October 2nd, 2008

Crash injures 4 in Hegins Township

4 Ashland area youths were flown from the scene of a crash in Hegins Township Wednesday afternoon, leaving about 300 homes without power. 18 year old Nathan Wasilus lost control of the vehicle on Deep Creek Road, and struck two utility poles. Wasilus, his brother Zachary, Richard Huntsinger and Travis Hinkel were injured. Two were released and two remain hospitalized today.

County buys salt for winter

Schuylkill County has found a new source for a precious commodity, road salt, to treat county maintained roads this winter. County Engineer Lisa Mahal asked the county commissioners to purchase 40 tons of rock salt from the Borough of Orwigsburg to care for roads around Rest Haven. The cost is $63.48 per ton, and will be stored at the Orwigsburg water plant for their use. That salt was previously purchased and stored at the North Manheim Township garage, but that agreement was terminated earlier this year. Craig Morgan of the Schuylkill Conservation District received approval to apply for Environmental Initiative Program Grant Funds for several county projects, including the Bartram Trail, Sweet Arrow Lake County Park and Pine Knot watershed abandoned mine drainage effort. Matching funds for the $725,500 in grants will be provided by several funding sources.

Health and Wellness fair gathers crowd at Penn State

College students typically don’t have follow the best health habits when they go off to school. Yesterday’s Health and Wellness fair at Penn State Schuylkill provided an opportunity for the community to learn how to live better. More than 2 dozen vendors offered important information about quitting tobacco, curbing drinking, responsible sex education and a host of other topics. Through a grant gained by the University, over 100 students were able to have their DNA gathered to be put into the National Bone Marrow Database. A quick swab of the inside of their mouths was all it took. A number of community residents also paid the $52 dollar fee to make a difference in someone’s life down the road. The fair was last held in 2005.

FRACKVILLE - Police are investigating the theft of two forklifts from a Schuylkill County business. Police say sometime between ten last night and two this morning two forklifts were removed from a building at Cleveland Brothers on Altamont Boulevard in Frackville.

SHAMOKIN - Leading executives from two alternative energy companies said they hope to build facilities in the Coal Township/SEEDCO Industrial Park in Northumberland County. The FUTURES project was unveiled yesterday. Intelliwatt Renewable Energy, of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and Northeast BioEnergy LLC, of Harrisburg, revealed plans they hope will result in new jobs within the coming 12 to 15 months. The county hopes to fund new technology and entice development in Northumberland County through money it gets each year from coal royalty revenues. FUTURES - Fossil Underwriting Technology to Utilize Renewable Energy Sources - will be an administrative and marketing support mechanism behind the economic development.
LATROBE, Pa. (AP) - A western Pennsylvania college is opening an educational center honoring the late Fred Rogers, creator of public television's "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." The $12 million Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children's Media is located at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, near where Rogers grew up. Rogers had been trying to create the center for about three years before he died of stomach cancer in 2003 at age 74. The center will train educators to use media, including television, to teach young children. It will also house a Fred Rogers archive and a library and research area.

PALMYRA, Pa. (AP) - Hazardous-materials workers are cleaning up a chlorine leak at a high school in south-central Pennsylvania. Thursday's leak at Palmyra Area High School caused a two-hour delay in starting the school day. The problem was discovered under the school's pool area. Superintendent Larry Schmidt says classrooms are safe for students to be in but there was no immediate word about the locker rooms.

WASHINGTON (AP) - If there ever is another anthrax attack, the letter carrier may deliver your antibiotics. Federal health officials are beginning a project in
Minneapolis-St. Paul to let letter carriers stockpile a personal supply of emergency antibiotics. That way, they will be protected and ready to deliver aid to the rest of the city at a moment's notice. The project aims to overcome a big hurdle of emergency planning. The government has drugs stockpiled in case of future bioterrorism, but few ways to get them quickly to panicked citizens. Officials say someone who may have inhaled anthrax has the best chance of
survival if antibiotic treatment begins within 48 hours. Test projects in Seattle, Philadelphia and Boston over the past two years paired letter carriers with police officers on holidays. Carriers volunteered to do double routes, delivering empty pill bottles along with a "This is a Test" flier explaining what was
happening. In Philadelphia, officials say, 50 carriers reached about 53,000
households in eight hours.

WASHINGTON (AP) - House members are gearing up for their second chance to vote on a financial bailout bill. The measure passed the Senate yesterday, with several changes added. Today, House leaders will be lobbying for the dozen or so more votes they think will help the bill pass. A showdown vote is expected tomorrow.

NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks are extending their losses today, after a report showed demand at the nation's factories has dropped by four percent. The Dow, which had been down about 150 points before the report, was off more than 200 afterwards.

NEW YORK (AP) - John McCain says he's "confident" his running mate Sarah Palin will do fine in tonight's debate against Joe Biden. He tells Fox News that the more people get to know Palin,
the more they'll "love her." Tonight's debate in St. Louis will be Palin's first lengthy give-and-take session since joining the GOP ticket.

MAMMOTH LAKES, California (AP) - There's word that an aerial search has turned up the wreckage of missing adventurer Steve Fossett's airplane. Authorities say ground crews confirm finding Fossett's plane in the Inyo National Forest in California. Fossett vanished a year ago during a flight from Nevada.

BAGHDAD (AP) - Police in Iraq say suicide bombers have targeted Shiite worshippers at two Baghdad mosques today. At least 24 people are dead, and dozens of others are wounded. In a separate attack, gunmen ambushed six people traveling north of Baghdad to visit relatives.