Today's News-Thursday, February 26, 2009

ST CLAIR FIRE DEEMED SUSPICIOUS

INVESTIGATORS WILL BE BACK ON THE SCENE OF A FIRE THAT HEAVILY DAMAGED A VEHICLE AND A ST CLAIR HOME. THE EARLY MORNING FIRE REPORTEDLY STARTED IN A VAN PARKED BEHIND 41 SOUTH THIRD STREET, AND SPREAD TO THE RESIDENCE OWNED BY PATRICK MURPHY SR. MURPHY AND TWO OCCUPANTS WERE ABLE TO ESCAPE, BUT THE BLAZE CAUSED MORE THAN $100 THOUSAND DOLLARS IN DAMAGES. THE STATE POLICE FIRE MARSHAL AND LOCAL OFFICIALS WILL CONTINUE TO DETERMINE AN EXACT CAUSE TODAY.

DRUG BUST IN GORDON

A TRAFFIC STOP AND THE KEEN NOSE OF A DRUG SNIFFING DOG LED TO THE ARREST OF A FATHER AND SON. 22 YEAR OLD ALFONSO DELAO WAS STOPPED FOR A TRAFFIC VIOLATION TUESDAY NIGHT NEAR DANNY’S DRIVE IN, ASHLAND. ONE OF THE OCCUPANTS WAS FOUND TO BE WANTED ON AN OUTSTANDING WARRANT FROM NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY. A DRUG SNIFFING DOG FOUND 20 PACKS OF MARIJUANA IN A SPARE TIRE IN THE TRUNK. FURTHER INVESTIGATION AND A SEARCH BY POLICE AND THE COUNTY DRUG TASK FORCE AT A HOME ON BIDDLE STREET IN GORDON FOUND EVEN MORE POT AND MORE THAN A THOUSAND DOLLARS IN CASH. THE MONIES WERE GAINED THROUGH AN UNDERCOVER DRUG BUY BY AUTHORITIES. 43- YEAR OLD HECTOR DELAO AND OTHERS WERE ARRESTED. THE DELAO’S MOVED TO THE GORDON AREA FROM NEW MEXICO RECENTLY. BOTH FATHER AND SON ARE IN JAIL ON DRUG CHARGES.

COUNTY OFFICIALS CONTINUE TO SPAR

BUDGETARY TRANSFERS IN THE COUNTY CONTROLLERS OFFICE LED TO A SPIRITED DISCUSSION BETWEEN MELINDA KANTNER AND COUNTY SOLICITOR ERIC MIKA WEDNESDAY. ADMINISTRATOR DARLENE DOLZANI PRESENTED KANTNER WITH BUDGETARY TRANSFERS TO MOVE MONIES FOR DUES AND CONFERENCES BUDGETED FOR PAUL BUBER, CPA, WHO MOVED TO THE COMMISSIONERS WING FROM THE CONTROLLERS OFFICE. THE $999 DOLLAR TRANSFER, AND OTHERS, HAD BEEN PREVIOUSLY REQUESTED, BUT NOT DONE BY CONTROLLER KANTNER. SHE CONTENDS THAT DUE TO PENDING LITIGATION OVER BUBER’S TRANSFER, SHE WOULD NOT COMPLETE THEM. BUBER IS REQUIRED TO ATTEND CONFERENCES AS PART OF HIS CPA CONTINUING EDUCATION. KANTNER BELIEVES THAT SHE WON’T HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO COVER CONFERENCES REQUIRED FOR HER STAFF THIS YEAR, AND BELIEVES THAT THE COUNTY OVERSTEPPED ITS AUTHORITY IN REQUIRING THE MONEY MOVES. MIKA DISAGREED, AND THE MONEY TRANSFERS WERE PASSED BY THE COMMISSIONERS. OTHER MATTERS REGARDING COUNTY GOVERNMENT EXPENSES LED TO CONTINUED TENSE DIALOGUE BETWEEN MIKA, KANTNER AND THE COMMISSIONERS. IN OTHER BUSINESS, FOUR NEW POSITIONS FOR CASEWORKERS IN THE OFFICE OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH WERE APPROVED. THE NEW HIRES ARE NEEDED TO KEEP UP WITH A GROWING WORKLOAD AND TO COMPLY WITH GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS. COMMISSIONER MANTURA GALLAGHER WAS NOT IN ATTENDANCE AT WEDNESDAY’S BOARD MEETING.

MINE EXPLOSION CASE

ONLY THREE LESSER CHARGES REMAIN AGAINST THE TREMONT MAN AUTHORITIES ALLEGE SET OFF THE EXPLOSION THAT KILLED A FELLOW MINER IN OCTOBER, 2006. HOWEVER, THE OWNER OF THE TREMONT TOWNSHIP MINE WHERE THE INCIDENT OCCURRED STILL FACES INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER AND ALL BUT ONE OF THE OTHER CHARGES THAT HAD BEEN FILED AGAINST HIM. IN AN OPINION FROM SCHUYLKILL COUNTY JUDGE JACQUELINE RUSSELL RULED PROSECUTORS HAD NOT PRODUCED SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT ANY OF THE CHARGES AGAINST 43 YEAR OLD JEFFREY KLINGER, OF TREMONT, EXCEPT THREE ALLEGED VIOLATIONS OF THE STATE ANTHRACITE COAL MINE ACT. RUSSELL RULED, HOWEVER, THAT ENOUGH EVIDENCE EXISTS TO SUPPORT EVERY CHARGE FILED AGAINST 53 YEAR OLD DAVID ZIMMERMAN OF PINE GROVE, EXCEPT CAUSING A CATASTROPHE, THE SAME CHARGE THAT A DIFFERENT JUDGE LAST WEEK DISMISSED AGAINST 33 YEAR OLD STEVEN ZIMMERMAN OF PINE GROVE, THE MINE FOREMAN AND DAVID ZIMMERMAN’S SON. INVESTIGATORS FROM THE ATTORNEY GENERAL’S OFFICE CHARGED THE ZIMMERMAN’S AND KLINGER AS A RESULT OF THE OCTOBER 2006 AT THE R&D COAL COMPANY WHERE DALE REIGHTLER DIED.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Green jobs, where are they and how to get one, will be the focus when President Barack Obama's task force on middle-class families begins its work Friday in Philadelphia. The panel, chaired by Vice President Joe Biden, will hear from experts on the potential to create those jobs and help middle-class workers find them.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - If something good isn't coming out of the Pennsylvania Legislature it isn't for lack of Bibles. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that despite financial shortfalls,
the General Assembly bought 220 Bibles and other holy books including Torahs and Qurans for legislators taking the oath of office last month. The bill: $13,700.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The defense continues arguing its case to jurors in the sweeping corruption trial of former Pennsylvania Sen. Vincent Fumo. Fumo's co-defendant was described by witnesses on both sides of the trial as a hard worker. Prosecutors say she also helped fulfill the senator's long wish lists and a few of her own at taxpayer expense

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Members of the Pittsburgh-based River City Brass Band are taking a 15-percent pay cut and dipping into emergency funds because of falling attendance last year and slower ticket sales for the 2009 season. The band agreed to the cuts a condition of getting the band's endowment board to release $250,000 to fund the operation.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - An invasive beetle that destroys ash trees has been found in central Pennsylvania. State Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff says emerald ash borers have been identified in Granville, Mifflin County. Mifflin County will now be included in an ash tree quarantine already imposed on five counties in western Pennsylvania.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama says he's sending Congress a budget that presents some "hard choices." It tops $3 trillion and would boost taxes on the wealthy while cutting Medicare payments to insurance companies and hospitals. That would allow for a more than $600 billion down payment on universal health care.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama is promising to slash federal spending by $2 trillion. While his new budget blueprint projects a $1.75 deficit for the current budget year, Obama says his administration has "already identified" areas where it can find the cuts. But he says the nation must add to its debt in the short run to restore its economic vitality.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Commerce Department says new home sales fell 10.2 percent last month -- the worst showing since records were first kept in 1963. The median sales price also fell to just over $201,000, a nearly 10 percent drop. Meanwhile, first time jobless claims rose more than expected last week.

LONDON (AP) - The British government is acknowledging that two terror suspects its forces captured in Iraq were later transferred by the U.S. to Afghanistan. Defense Secretary John Hutton told the House of Commons that his department had previously given "inaccurate information" on the issue.

NEW YORK (AP) - New York City is turning two heavily used stretches of Broadway into pedestrian plazas this spring. It's an experiment aimed at cutting down on traffic and pollution. Broadway will be closed to vehicles at Times Square, from 42nd to 47th streets, and for a couple of blocks farther downtown at Herald Square.