Today's News-Tuesday, December 9, 2008

County couple allegedly took $85,000 from elderly man

Prosecutors say an eastern Pennsylvania couple milked an elderly man's bank account of $85,000 while they were supposed to be caring for him.
But the couple's attorney told a Schuylkill County jury Monday that the two had permission to use the man's money. Trial continues Tuesday in Pottsville for Robert and Catherine Whitney. They are charged with theft and conspiracy for allegedly stealing the money from Louis Long of Mahanoy City. Attorneys say Long was suffering from Alzheimer's Disease when the Whitneys took him into their home. Prosecutors say the couple had power of attorney over Long's finances and used his money to buy a luxury car and an SUV and to pay their taxes. Their attorney says Long was never deprived of anything. The case continues today.

Pa. governor shows grim finances to legislators

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Gov. Ed Rendell has presented a plan to fill what he says will be an expected $1.6 billion state budget shortfall without further spending cuts. Rendell said Tuesday he's projecting the expected shortfall will be reduced partly by $500 million in spending cuts that he has already ordered from state government and independent agencies. He says the administration also plans to take $476 million in reserves and divert $174 million from the sale of oil and gas drilling rights in Pennsylvania's state forests. That leaves a $455 million hole that Rendell says he hopes will be filled by a package of federal aid. State tax collections are running nearly 7 percent behind expectations for the fiscal year that ends June 30.

KOZ expansion proposed

Representatives of two regional economic development groups are looking to expand Keystone Opportunity Zones. CAN-DO and SEDCO have asked county officials to expand KOZ's at the Humboldt and TIDE Industrial Parks, saying that the tax abatement programs are important to drawing new businesses to those site. Local taxing authorities surrounding the business parks are studying the proposal. Schuylkill County is holding off on their approvals until everyone is on board.

Row offices set, next up is race for Pa. governor

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Several state row office holders may be looking to their political futures, even though they were just re-elected last month. Auditor General Jack Wagner ended his campaign with $430-thousand-dollars in the bank as he considers a run for governor in 2010. If he runs, he may face a crowded field of candidates for the
Democratic nomination vying for the same pool of big-money Democratic donors. The other row-office candidate to win a second term is Attorney General Tom Corbett. Corbett also is a potential candidate for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, but he ended his campaign in debt after spending five times as much as Wagner. Corbett's campaign manager says he has time to rebuild his campaign account.

Coyote goes shopping

Shoppers at a Lehigh Valley store couldn't believe their eyes when they saw a coyote walking around the Sears Appliance and Hardware store near Nazareth Monday. Game commission officials tranquilized the animal after they trapped it between exit doors. The coyote will be checked out by a veterinarian and authorities will try to find out if anyone came in contact with it before it was captured. Coyotes normally avoid humans and hunt at night.

Pa. woman charged with fatally shooting FBI agent

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A suburban Pittsburgh woman has been charged
in federal court with killing an FBI agent who came to her house to serve an arrest warrant on her husband. Christina Korbe was charged Monday in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh with first-degree murder and firearms charges in the death of Special Agent Sam Hicks. She already faces a criminal homicide charge in Allegheny County. Hicks was one of several agents who went to the Korbe home on Nov. 19 to serve a warrant on Christina's husband. Authorities say they knocked and identified themselves as law enforcement before entering the home. Authorities say that's when Christina Korbe fired a shot that killed Hicks. Korbe's lawyer has said his client thought her house was being broken into.

Pa. man charged with sex crimes stays behind bars

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A wealthy Russian-born businessman from
suburban Philadelphia will remain behind bars on charges he traveled to orphanages in his native country to molest young girls and hire them out as prostitutes. A federal magistrate at Andrew Mogilyansky's hearing Monday said she needs more time to decide whether he should get bail. The hearing resumes Wednesday. Mogilyansky's lawyer says his client has known for years that he was being investigated but never fled. But prosecutors say the Richboro man has the money to flee. Federal investigators say Mogilyansky molested three girls brought to his St. Petersburg apartment from a nearby orphanage in 2003 and 2004. Authorities say he then recruited them into an online-based child prostitution business in Moscow.

Man pleads guilty in porn producer's death in Pa.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) - A man has pleaded guilty in the stabbing death of a northeastern Pennsylvania porn producer. Thirty-four-year-old Joseph Kerekes pleaded guilty Monday to second-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Prosecutors say Kerekes and a co-defendant, 27-year-old Harlow Cuadra, killed Bryan Kocis inside his Dallas home, then set the house on fire to try to cover up the crime. Prosecutors say the suspects wanted to eliminate a rival in the gay porn industry. Kerekes' plea spares him a potential death sentence. He says he won't testify against Cuadra, who is schedule to go on trial next
month. Both men are from Virginia.

Pa. counties: State should increase court subsidy

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The association that represents Pennsylvania's county governments is going to court to try to force the state to pay more of what it costs to run district and county courts. The County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania said Monday it is asking the state Supreme Court to enforce provisions of a 1996 ruling. That previous case said greater state support was needed to ensure uniform justice across Pennsylvania's 67 counties. The association says it wants the court to address funding of support staff for common pleas judges and district judges, domestic relations and parole offices, and court-related row offices such as prothonotary.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Negotiators are hammering out the final details of a bailout plan for the U.S. auto industry. Any deal is going to come with a slew of conditions attached, and a federal "car czar" will get broad authority over the carmakers. It could get voted on tomorrow.

CHICAGO (AP) - A worker takeover at a factory in Chicago continues. Last night's meeting between representatives from Republic Windows and Doors, its workers, and Bank of America didn't resolve the ongoing sit-in. They'll meet again today.

GENEVA (AP) - The main international airlines association says industry losses around the world will total around $2.5 billion next year. The International Air Transport Association says only U.S. airlines can expect even modest profits.

HONG KONG (AP) - Three dead chickens in Hong Kong have tested positive for bird flu. The city says poultry imports will be suspended for the next 21 days and 80,000 birds will be slaughtered. The birds are being tested to see if they carried a deadly strain of the virus.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - At least 5 of 6 suspicious letters filled with powder and sent to governors around the country have tested negative for anything harmful. Test results from a sixth is due back today. Letters have been sent to the governors of Alabama, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana and Rhode Island.