Today's News-Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Pa. couple faces prison in theft from elderly man

POTTSVILLE, Pa. (AP) - A Pottsville couple is being given time to appeal a prison sentence for the theft of $10,000 from an elderly man they cared for in their home.
Schuylkill County President Judge William Baldwin sentenced Robert and Catherine Whitney to 11 to 23 months each in prison, but said they may apply for work-release and made their sentences effective March 16, to allow time to file appeals. The Whitneys' attorney, Frederick Fanelli, said he believed appeals would be filed, possibly by another attorney. The two were convicted in December of the theft of $10,000 from Louis Long, an elderly man with dementia who was under their care, during 2005. Long died in 2006. Baldwin also sentenced the Whitneys to pay costs, including more than $22-thousand-dollars for expert prosecution witnesses, and $10,000 in restitution.

CITY MAN CHARGED WITH BURGLARY AND AGGRAVATED ASSAULT

A Pottsville man is charged with burglary and aggravated assault following a break in at a Davis Avenue home early Tuesday. Bernard Visnefski called police to report a burglary, and found 43-year-old Samuel Pullins at the home. Pullins reportedly punched Visnefski and threatened to stab him. The incident happened around 3:30am yesterday.

REILEY TO GIVE STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS TONIGHT

Pottsville Mayor John DW Reiley will give his annual state of the city address tonight at Sovereign Majestic Theatre . The speech will outline the state of affairs in Pottsville for the past year and will outline initiatives for 2009. An update on the Intermodal Trade and Transit Center is also expected during the address. The event begins at 6:30pm.

CRASH NEAR NEW PHILLY INJURES TWO

A Tuesday night crash on Route 209 injured two people last night. Initial reports indicate that a white sedan hit a car occupied by Paul and Sally Egan of New Philadelphia around 10:30pm, then fled the scene. Additional details are expected from police later today. No word on the Egan's condition at this time.

CURB OVERTIME

With today's tough economics, hospitals are like the rest of us, and being forced to do more with less. But nurses and lawmakers joined together to say "hold on, some things can only be cut so far. Roseann Cadau has more from Harrisburg:

CADAU

School districts to try and tax closed churches

BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) - At least two eastern Pennsylvania school districts scratching for revenue in tough economic times are seeking to add closed churches to the tax rolls.
The Bethlehem Area School District says it should be able to collect property taxes from the Catholic Diocese of Allentown for four closed churches in south Bethlehem. The district is facing a nearly $5 million deficit. Superintendent Joseph Lewis says the churches should no longer be tax-exempt since they are no longer houses of worship. Their assessed value of $928,700 would bring the district $40,045 in revenue. Elsewhere in the Allentown Diocese, the Panther Valley School District seeks to tax seven closed churches in its area. Spokesman Matt Kerr says the diocese, which has closed nearly 50 churches in four of its five counties, is assessing its options.

Biden, Rendell to appear in Pennsylvania

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Vice President Joe Biden is visiting Pennsylvania to discuss the economic stimulus bill. Biden and Gov. Ed Rendell are to speak together Wednesday
afternoon at the Pennsylvania Capitol. President Barack Obama says the Senate's passage of an economic stimulus package is a good start but there's still more work to do over the next couple of days. Obama wants House and Senate conferees to get together on a final version before the end of the week.

Pa. court: Man rightly kept alive after accident

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A Pennsylvania Superior Court panel says there's a heavy burden of proof for guardians who want to withhold life-preserving treatment from the legally incompetent. The court says a guardian must prove death is in the person's best inerest.
The court ruled Tuesday against the parents of a 50-year-old severely retarded man. The parents had sought to take him off a ventilator after he developed complications from choking. He was on a ventalator for three weeks before he could breathe without the machine. The panel says its decision wouldn't necessarily extend to a case involving a patient in a persistent vegetative state. Also, it may not apply to someone with an end-stage medical illness. The ruling didn't spell out precisely the circumstances that would justify such a decision by a guardian.

Prosecutors seek to use Fumo's 1980 testimony against him

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Federal prosecutors want to use testimony that a Philadelphia power broker gave decades ago as evidence against him in his current trial. Vincent Fumo's 1980 trial resulted in a conviction in a ghost-worker scheme. The conviction was later overturned. Prosecutors say allegations of misusing public employees are critical elements of both cases. They also say the 1980 trial should have put Fumo on notice about the rules. A defense lawyer countered that the the trial was nearly 30 years ago, and the alleged misconduct occurred before Fumo became a state senator. The judge didn't immediately rule on whether the 1980 testimony is admissable. Much of the case revolves around Fumo's alleged personal use of resources that belonged to the state, a charity and a maritime museum.

2 men charged in Pa. woman's strangulation death

CARLISLE, Pa. (AP) - Two men are in custody in the death of a woman whose body was found in an alley in south-central Pennsylvania. Police accuse 43-year-old Richard Anthony Hodge of Carlisle of strangling 45-year-old Sheila Kline. A co-defendant is 46-year-old George Ray Brooks Jr., also of Carlisle. He's accused of stealing Kline's wallet. Police say the three met in a Carlisle tavern and left together Jan. 23. Her body was found nearby. Both men were charged Tuesday. It was not immediately clear whether they were represented by lawyers.

W.Pa. cop held for trial on drug charges

CANONSBURG, Pa. (AP) - A western Pennsylvania police officer accused of obtaining counterfeit painkillers from an informant has been ordered to stand trial. Authorities say 30-year-old Michael Andre North, of McDonald, obtained what he believed were prescription narcotics from an informant on a recorded set up last month. Authorities say North regularly gave the informant rides to a pharmacy and the informant in turn shared the drugs with North. North was held for trial on charges of possession of a counterfeit controlled substance and attempting to possess a controlled substance at a preliminary hearing on Tuesday. He's been suspended from part-time positions in Donora and Smith Township in Washington County.

Rendell likes Senate stimulus vote, not aid cuts

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Gov. Ed Rendell says the economic stimulus bill approved Tuesday by the U.S. Senate could mean even deeper cutbacks in state spending in Pennsylvania. The Democratic governor said his office will work to reverse the cuts in state aid as the bill is refined by a conference committee in the days ahead. He says failure to restore Pennsylvania's $500-million-a-year share could result in further cuts to such items as basic education and wipe out as many as 4,000 additional jobs. Last week, Rendell proposed $29 billion in state spending for the fiscal year that starts July 1, but that was built on projections that the state would receive $3.5 billion in federal money through mid-2010. Still, Rendell praised the Senate vote and said passage of a stimulus bill has to be the top priority.

DA: No charges in Pa. boy's horseplay death

EASTON, Pa. (AP) - Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli says a boy who caused the death of a friend couldn't have foreseen the fatal consequence of his action. That's why he isn't charging the 13-year-old boy in the death of 12-year-old Dakota Galusha.
Morganelli says a criminal charge of involuntary manslaughter requires reckless or grossly negligent behavior. The bus that hit Dakota was going 3 to 5 miles per hour as it approached the curb to drop children off at Northampton Middle School outside Allentown. Its rear wheels ran over the boy's midsection. The name of the boy who pushed Dakota wasn't released.

Philly teen convicted of fatally shooting grocer

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A Philadelphia teenager has been convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting of an immigrant Chinese grocer during a holdup. The Common Pleas Court jury deliberated two hours before returning the verdict Tuesday against 17-year-old James Canady. He was also found guilty of robbery. Canady fatally shot 47-year-old Lu Jiaxing in August 2007 at his grocery store in the city's Crescentville section. Lu's daughter told police Canady was the gunman because he had tried to rob the store the previous year. Canady's alleged accomplice also testified against him. Canady will be sentenced to life in prison on March 31.

3 to stand trial in W.Pa. nursing home assaults

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Three former staffers at a western Pennsylvania nursing home will stand trial on charges they abused an elderly Alzheimer's patient, but charges were dropped against a fourth person. Authorities say Shelly Keene, Karen Perry, and Shalaya Hatten, all from or near Pittsburgh, abused Thelma Bryant at the Allegheny County-owned Kane Regional Center's Glen Hazel facility. The alleged abuse included punching Bryant in the face and stamping on her feet over a six-month period. The trio were held at a preliminary hearing Tuesday. Charges against Danielle Taylor, of Pittsburgh, were dropped for lack of evidence. Nursing supervisor Mary Ann Bower, of Munhall, is also charged and is awaiting her preliminary hearing. All have been fired.

FBI: Man shot dead was Phila. bank robbery suspect

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The FBI says the man shot dead during a confrontation with law enforcement in Northeast Philadelphia was a bank robbery suspect. The FBI says 48-year-old Daniel Trinsey was suspected in Friday's armed robbery of a TD Bank branch near Northeast Philadelphia Airport. City police were working with the FBI at the time of Monday afternoon's shooting death. The FBI says Trinsey brandished a weapon and ignored repeated warnings to drop it before he was shot.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Chief executives of eight banks can expect a battery of questions when they testify before Congress today over how they've used more than $160 billion in taxpayer money. There has been much criticism over how funds from the $700 billion government bailout have been doled out.

WASHINGTON (AP) - House and Senate negotiators hope to reach an agreement on President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package today. The Senate passed an $838 billion bill; the House had earlier passed an $820 billion measure. Lawmakers say the negotiators are trying to reach a ballpark figure of $800 billion.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Authorities in southern Oklahoma plan to resume looking for victims of a deadly tornado at daybreak. Eight people were killed and 14 others were seriously injured in last night's twister, one of several that occurred in the state.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The president of a company blamed for the national salmonella outbreak is being summoned before Congress. Stewart Parnell, president of Peanut Corp. of America, has been subpoenaed for a hearing on the outbreak that has sickened at least 600 people and may have contributed to eight deaths.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Miguel Tejada of the Houston Astros is expected to enter a guilty plea when he appears in federal court in Washington today. Tejada is charged with lying to Congress when he denied knowledge of an ex-teammate's use of performance-enhancing drugs. He could face up to a year in jail, but would probably be sentenced to less.