Today's News-Saturday, November 8, 2008

The helping hands of caregivers provide comfort to the sick and dying. Now, they need your help so their mission can continue. Covenant Hospice is hosting a Pick A Ticket Auction on Sunday at St Ambrose Parish Center in Schuylkill Haven. Part of Covenant Home Care, serving Schuylkill and Berks County for over 30 years. A browse and bid will be held TONIGHT from 6 to 8pm. Then, Sunday, the doors open at noon, and the auction begins at 2pm. Food and other refreshments will be available to make an afternoon of it. The Covenant Hospice Auction, tonight and tomorrow at St. Ambrose Parish Center.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Federal authorities are investigating identical letters sent to three Pennsylvania county courthouses that mentioned anthrax but didn't contain any of the poisonous substance. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service says the letters were received in Jefferson and Pike counties on Tuesday and Schuylkill County on Wednesday. Reggie Wade, the service's spokesman in Philadelphia, said Friday investigators are currently tracing the letters and trying to develop suspects. He says there have been 19,000 incidents of threats or references to anthrax sent through the mail since the October 2001 mailings of anthrax to media organizations and Congress. All have been hoaxes or false alarms, and 116 people have been arrested.

CHICAGO (AP) - It's going to be a quiet weekend at home in Chicago for the Obama family and the campaign staff that helped the president-elect to Tuesday's win. For many it'll be the first relaxing moment in months.

JENIN, West Bank (AP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is touring the West Bank in an effort to show support for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Her first stop was a hospital in Jenin, where she helped open a ward renovated with $700,000 in U.S. aid. She'll also meet with local security commanders.

BAGHDAD (AP) - A top Iraqi official says the U.S. military is still needed, and warns time is running out for approving a security agreement with the United States. Iraq's deputy prime minister, who is Kurdish, says the new pact is needed to preserve "the security improvement which has been achieved."

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) - Police officers in a small eastern Arizona town have charged an 8-year-old in the fatal shootings of his father and another man. The county prosecutor says he's not sure where the case is headed, and adds the child has no record of any kind, anywhere.

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands (AP) - Paloma is now an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 hurricane pounding the Cayman Islands. A new forecast from the National Hurricane Center calls for Paloma to make landfall in Cuba as a major hurricane late tonight or early tomorrow.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania Lottery officials are apologizing to players for a mishap in a Cash 5 drawing. On Friday evening's drawing, the first numbered ball didn't drop into the viewing area in a reasonable amount of time. The drawing official went on to the Match 6 drawing. After that, the Cash 5 machine drew the remaining numbers. The machine is being taken out of service so the manufacturer can inspect it. The lottery has a backup Cash 5 machine to use in the meantime.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - More than a million Pennsylvania electric customers are being spared rate increases because of a Commonwealth Court ruling. Metropolitan Edison Co. and Pennsylvania Electric Co. were seeking to break the deregulation-era rate caps on the cost of electricity that they agreed to a decade ago. The utilities cited the rising cost they're paying for electricity. A judge says they could have the utilities could have signed long-term contracts to keep their costs steady, but didn't. A spokesman for FirstEnergy Corp., the utilities' parent company, says he doesn't know whether the ruling will be appealed.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) - The editor of Penn State's independent student newspaper says he doesn't think a photographer charged with misdemeanors did anything wrong. The photogapher was covering an unruly street celebration following the Penn State football team's dramatic win over Ohio State two weeks ago. Daily Collegian Editor Terry Casey says 20-year-old staff photographer Michael Felletter followed police orders -- yet was charged with failure to disperse and disorderly conduct. Casey says Felletter was told by one officer to stand nearby, but the officer never told him to leave the scene. Casey says later, the photographer obeyed a second officer's request to leave. Casey says as Felleter was walking away, he snapped pictures over his shoulder.
Borough Police Chief Thomas King says journalists have an obligation to follow the same rules as the public.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia and five other states have agreed to cooperate in planning for rail and highway improvements along the Interstate 81 corridor. The Virginia Department of Transportation announced Friday that Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York signed a memorandum of understanding to work together. The goal is to establish a seamless freight and passenger network along I-81 and its extensions. All six states are members of the Interstate 81 Regional Commerce Corridor. The agreement calls for the states to share and coordinate I-81 freight truck and rail study planning. They also will consider a joint work plan to identify long-term funding needs.