Today's News- Monday, March 16, 2009

CRASH INJURES TWO, ONE DIES

A Sunday afternoon crash claims the life of a man and injures several others near Ringtown. Union Township police report that the unidentified man, in his mid 50's, was a passenger in a Jeep Cherokee. A van collided with the Jeep at Aristes and Little Mountain Road after noon. The 17 year driver of the Jeep was flown to Geisinger Medical Center. The driver of the van, a female, was treated at St Catherine's Medical Center, then released. Another man, passenger in the van, was also taken to Geisinger Medical Center, treated and released.

MAN ARRESTED FOR TEXTING OBSCENE MATERIAL

State police at Lykens have charged a Millersburg man with sex related crimes after he allegedly text messaged obscene pictures to a 15 year old Schuylkill County girl. The incidents happened in January, where 21 year old Jared Lower sent the pictures of himself to the teen. He has been charged with five counts of disseminating obscene and sexual materials along with other crimes against minors. Lower was arraigned, then released on $5-thousand-dollars bail.

HOLDEN TO PRESENT GRANTS TODAY

US Congressman Tim Holden will hold a press conference this morning in Pottsville to present federal funding to several organizations. The site is Schuylkill Medical Center South. Monies to be doled out total over $850-thousand-dollars. Recipients include Schuylkill Women in Crisis, SEDCO, Schuylkill Transportation System and the Schuylkill Medical Center.

Fumo: Juror discussing case on Facebook, Twitter

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The defense says a juror on the panel weighing corruption charges against ex-Pa. Sen. Vincent Fumo discussed his or her jury service on Facebook and Twitter.
The defense motion filed Sunday comes after five days of deliberations in the five-month case.
The motion cites a Facebook post late Friday that allegedly tells friends to expect a "big announcement" on Monday and a Twitter message that same day stating "This is it ... no looking
back now!" Fumo, a long-powerful Philadelphia Democrat, is charged with defrauding the Senate, a charity and a museum of $3.5 million, and with destroying evidence. The defense wants U.S. District Judge Ronald Buckwalter to question the juror and perhaps consider a mistrial. The juror is not identified.

Philly transit workers on job without contract

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Philadelphia's bus, subway and trolley operators are working without a contract as negotiators take a break from bargaining talks. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority said earlier that its largest union had agreed to keep working after the
current agreement expired Sunday morning. SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney says negotiations with the Transportation Workers Union Local 234 have been going "professionally." He said Saturday evening that the two sides would meet again Tuesday. The company has said the parties remain far apart. The union represents 4,600 operators and mechanics in SEPTA's
city transit division. Union officials did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Jury to resume deliberations in killing of former Marine in Allentown, Pa.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) - An eastern Pennsylvania jury will resume deliberations Monday in the trial of a 28-year-old Allentown man accused of killing an ex-Marine in a drug-related shooting. Jurors deliberated for eight hours Friday in the case of 28-year-old Kendall Richardson. He is charged with first-degree murder, attempted homicide, aggravated assault, robbery and reckless endangerment. Prosecutors say Richardson killed 23-year-old Alfredo Suarez Jr. and tried to gun down another man during a June 2007 robbery in an Allentown apartment. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

Biden's mother hospitalized after fall

GREENVILLE, Del. (AP) - Vice President Joe Biden's 91-year-old mother has been hospitalized after a fall at her Delaware home. Biden's spokeswoman, Elizabeth Alexander, said in a tatement
that Catherine Eugenia "Jean" Biden was admitted Sunday to the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. Alexander said Jean Biden "is currently receiving treatment and
is in good spirits." The spokeswoman did not immediately return messages seeking details about Biden's condition. A hospital spokeswoman confirmed that Biden's mother was admitted Sunday, but said she was not authorized to release any further information. Jean Biden attended occasional campaign events with her son and was on stage with him at President Barack Obama's election night rally in Chicago. She lives in a guesthouse on the grounds of
Biden's home in Greenville, a suburb of Wilmington.

Man, 75, dies in West Philadelphia fire

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Philadelphia fire officials say one person died and another was injured in a house fire. Authorities say a 75-year-old man was found in a second-floor bedroom after the 4:15 p.m. Saturday blaze in West Philadelphia. The man's wife escaped unharmed. A 58-year-old woman who lived nearby was taken to a hospital after an asthmatic reaction to the smoke.
Officials say a basement smoke alarm in the home sounded, but the man was hearing impaired and it was unclear whether he heard the alarm. The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.

Pa. Asian-Americans fearful after rash of crimes

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Police and Asian-American community groups in the Philadelphia area have been meeting with residents worried by recent crimes, including a wave of home invasion robberies and three murders. In the home invasion robberies, the criminals staked out a
business, trailed the owners home, and robbed them. The scenario was repeated at least 14 times, including three times in a single day. The victim was always an Asian or Asian-American - and police say the criminals targeted members of the community in the belief that they would be easy marks. Asian-American leaders dispute such a stereotype, but police warn that even the belief can make the community a target. Authorities have made arrests in all but one of the home invasion cases, but the community has also been shaken by three unrelated murders, two of them in home invasions. Arrests have been made in both of those cases. Police fear, however, that they are not being told about many crimes and hope residents in the meetings will report them.

Man dies after Pittsburgh police chase, shooting

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Police in Pittsburgh say a man died after officers fired at him during a police chase. Police say a white SUV nearly broadsided a police vehicle at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday on the city's South Side. They say the vehicle refused to stop and backed away at high
speed, and a pursuit began until the SUV crashed into a parked vehicle. Police say the driver refused to surrender and reversed into an unmarked police vehicle, nearly hitting an officer. The
officers fired, and the suspect fled but crashed into a utility pole. The man was taken to Mercy Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's office has identified him as 33-year-old Nicholas Haniotakis, of Pittsburgh. An autopsy is planned to determine what killed him.

Aid workers taught to escape at Pa. driving course

FARMINGTON, Pa. (AP) - The Nemacolin Woodlands Resort & Spa in Farmington was the site of a three-day workshop that trained about a dozen international relief workers in tactics to get out of dangerous situations in unstable corners of the world. The International Relief and Development organization hosted the course that ended Saturday. In one scenario, driver Tina Westbrock of Virginia was stopped at a roadblock set up by guerillas as sniper fire cracked overhead. She slammed the car into reverse, then turned to the right -- swinging the car forward and accelerating out of danger. Westbrock says violent attacks on humanitarian workers across the world have increased in recent years, especially on workers traveling by car in unknown areas.

EASTERN OREGON PRESIDENCY

Presidential list at E. Oregon Univ. down to 2

LA GRANDE, Ore. (AP) The candidates for president of Eastern Oregon University are down to two, including a Pennsylvania educator. The Observer newspaper in La Grande reports the finalists are Bob Davies of Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Linda Rinker of Western Connecticut State University. Davies is vice president for university relations at Indiana of
Pennsylvania and Rinker is provost and vice president for academic affairs at Western Connecticut. Both will be interviewed March 20 in Portland by the State Board of Higher Education and Oregon University System Chancellor George Pernsteiner. The next president will succeed Dixie Lund, who has served as interim president since July of 2007.

Comcast, Sony to open joint retail store

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Despite the poor economy, Comcast Corp. and Sony Corp. plan to open a retail store Tuesday. The cable TV operator and the electronics company will use the store to showcase new technologies and products. Sony StyleComcast Labs will be in the Comcast Center, the newest skyscraper in Philadelphia and headquarters of the nation's largest cable operator. It will show off such things as home broadband equipment that would enable people to surf at 100 megabits per second. That's roughly 17 times the average speed of cable broadband. Comcast plans to roll out service that fast by year's end. Sony will display a new TV running Comcast's TV interface. It uses Tru2way, which is software that cable providers are rolling out to standardize their systems so the same set-top box can work with any cable operator. The store also will sell Sony PlayStations, laptops, cameras and camcorders.

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) - A spokesman for Pakistani opposition leader Nawaz Sharif says he has left his residence in defiance of an order placing him under house arrest. A convoy of vehicles left Sharif's villa, apparently headed for an anti-government rally where police have been battling stone-throwing demonstrators.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - Violence in Afghanistan has claimed at least 14 lives. A roadside bomb hit a convoy carrying the mayor of Kandahar, killing a passer-by. The mayor survived. In eastern Afghanistan, meanwhile, a French soldier and five Afghan troops
were killed during a clash with militants.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - The launch of space shuttle Discovery is now set for tonight, after a hydrogen gas leak prevented liftoff Wednesday. Officials say there's a "potential risk" the leak will recur, which would mean yet another delay.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Executives of American International Group are getting tens of millions of dollars in new bonuses, even though the company has received a taxpayer bailout of more than $170 billion. AIG says it's contractually obligated to make the payments and could face lawsuits if it fails to do so.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The father of Miss Oregon is embroiled in an immigration dispute. The U.S. government charges that Milenko Krstic failed to inform officials that he was once a
member of a Serbian military unit that slaughtered unarmed Muslims in Bosnia in 1995. Krstic is accused of visa fraud; he's not accused of taking part in killings.