Today's News-Wednesday, April 1, 2009

UNEMPLOYMENT VAULTS
The jobless rate in Schuylkill County vaulted more than 7 tenths of one percent in February according to the latest job report from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. Nine point four percent of Schuylkill County workers are without work, three full percentage points higher than just a year ago. Manufacturing and retail jobs have been permanently lost here in the county over the past year, and more may be added to those rolls during the economic downturn. Statewide, the unemployment rate is 7.5 percent. The nation's unemployment rate is still higher than Pennsylvania's....at 8.1 percent according to L & I statistics.

FIRE IN GIRARDVILLE
Fire crews were called out shortly after midnight last night to battle a house fire in Girardville. The blaze was reported at 259 West Main Street in Girardville. Flames were reported shooting through the roof and third floor of the home that was up for sale. The Schuylkill County 9-1-1 center tells us there were no injuries in that fire. No word as to a cause and no damage reports at this time. Crews were back in service just before three this morning.

STATE POLICE WEIGH IN ON BURNING AND BRUSH FIRES
In spite of weekend rains, the threat of brush fires sparking up continues to be a problem. Now, state police are weighing in on the problem. Springtime brings property owners outdoors to clean up from the winter, using outdoor burning to clear yard waste. But, when those fires get out of control, life and property are at risk. State police from Troop L, which includes Schuylkill County, remind all citizens to maintain and control all outdoor burning. Troopers say that uncontrolled burns that spread could cost you legally. They are prepared to cite you if you violate local laws regarding burning. Make sure you can extinguish any burning by having water or an extinguisher handy, and check local laws about outdoor burns as well.

TOWER CITY MAN VICTIM OF IDENTITY THEFT
Another case of identity theft is reported. This time, the victim is a Tower City man. State police at Lykens say that Monday, someone tried to buy airline tickets for a Continental Airlines flight, using credit card information belonging to Matthew Reibsane. The investigation is continuing. Troopers remind everyone to protect their identity at all times.

CITIZENSHIP LEGISLATION
The problem of illegal immigration is on the minds of many. Some illegals have been trying to gain public benefits intended for US citizens. Now, a Senate bill approved by the Appropriations committee will mandate proper identification before benefits are paid, and make it a crime if the law is broken. Senator Dave Argall announced his support this week that would require every person applying for state benefits to show proper, legitmate ID. Argall states that the goal of the legislation is to prevent public funds from getting into the hands of illegal immigrants. Senate Bill 9 makes it mandatory that every person applying for benefits be verfied through the Systematic Alien Verification of Entitlement system, operated by the Department of Homeland Security. The bill now moves to the state Senate for consideration.

THREE INJURED IN RUSH TOWNSHIP CRASH
Three people were hurt in a crash and fire in the village of Ginthers Tuesday afternoon. Two vehicles were involved in the early afternoon crash on Route 309. The unidentified men in the car, which caught fire after impact, were taken to Hazleton General Hospital for treatment. A female in the other car, operated by the woman's husband, was flown to Lehigh Valley. More details and identities are expected from police today.

COURTHOUSE KICKBACKS
Corrupt Pa. judge seeks dismissal of kids' lawsuit
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) - A Pennsylvania judge who pleaded guilty to corruption is seeking dismissal of a lawsuit filed on behalf of hundreds of children who allege he violated their civil rights by taking money in exchange for sending them to private detention centers. Former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella says he's entitled to judicial immunity for decisions he made from the bench, even if those decisions were corrupt. Ciavarella and former judge Michael Conahan have pleaded guilty to fraud. Prosecutors say they took more than $2 million in kickbacks from private juvenile detention centers. They each face more than seven years in prison when they are sentenced. The suit filed by the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center is one of three civil actions faced by Ciavarella, Conahan and others.

FAKE STUDIES FRAUD
Ex-employee admits defrauding Columbia U. of $180K
NEW YORK (AP) - A former Columbia University science department manager has admitted bilking the school of more than $180,000 to pay for his Poconos wedding and other personal expenses. John Bzdil III of Allentown, Pa., pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to wire fraud. Guidelines call for 21 to 27 months in prison when the 35-year-old is sentenced, set for June 25. Prosecutors say that as manager of a pediatric neuroscience department at Columbia, Bzdil signed off on payments for medical studies that were never done. Prosecutors say he also bamboozled Columbia into reimbursing $25,000 in expenses for his wedding at the Skytop Lodge in Skytop, Pa. Defense lawyer William Aronwald says Bzdil was motivated by "compelling and extenuating circumstances" but declines to detail them until the sentencing. Columbia declined to comment.

PRISON-STRIP SEARCHES
Judge OKs inmate suit over routine strip searches
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A federal judge says operators of a privately run prison in suburban Philadelphia can be sued for allegedly conducting routine strip searches of even minor offenders.
Federal courts have mostly held that prison officials must have reason to suspect such inmates are hiding contrabands before conducting strip searches, given their humiliating nature.
Senior U.S. District Judge Jan E. DuBois says in this month's 49-page ruling that the suit against the Geo Group can move forward. The Boca Raton, Fla.-based company ran the nearly 1,900-bed Delaware County Prison until ending the contract last year. The suit mirrors similar class-action suits around the country filed against government agencies.

STIMULUS-PENNSYLVANIA
Rendell picks ex-CEO as Pa.'s stimulus watchdog
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Gov. Ed Rendell has picked the retired CEO of two Philadelphia area manufacturers to be a watchdog over how federal economic stimulus dollars are spent. Ronald Naples appeared Tuesday with Rendell for the announcement at the Capitol. Naples' job as chief accountability officer is to ensure that the money is spent wisely, and that the public can see how the money is spent. He will be paid $120,000. The Rendell administration says state and local government agencies in Pennsylvania will share nearly $10 billion from the stimulus package over three years. The 63-year-old Naples retired a few months ago from Quaker Chemical Corp. in Conshohocken. He is a West Point graduate and served in Vietnam with the U.S. Army.

MORTGAGE INSURANCE
Pa. suit targets mortgage disability insurance
PITTSBURGH (AP) - A western Pennsylvania couple is pursuing a class action suit against a Wisconsin company that offers insurance for credit union loans. The Beaver County couple say CUNA Mutual Insurance Society stopped disability coverage 10 years after they got the loan in
1997. But the couple claim the policy was supposed to provide 10 years of coverage once the husband became disabled in 2003 and could no longer make the payments - which run until 2012. The couple's attorney says the Madison, Wisconsin-based company also didn't provide proper warnings to credit union customers who bought disability insurance that covers less than the full term of their loans. A Pittsburgh attorney for CUNA Mutual says he can't comment
until he gets clearance from the company.

PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette limiting distribution
PITTSBURGH (AP) - The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette will no longer distribute Monday through Saturday editions outside its core circulation area. Circulation director Randy Waugaman says home and retail delivery outside Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Washington and Westmoreland counties represented just a small portion of overall delivery. The change is effective Wednesday; Sunday distribution will continue. With the change, Waugaman says the paper can support growth in its core market. Customers have been notified and the paper is making an
electronic edition available to affected subscribers.

SEIZED CASH
Texan gets most cash seized in Pa. back
PITTSBURGH (AP) - A Texas businessman who had more than $500,000 in cash seized by the federal government is getting all but $150,000 of it back. A federal judge in Pittsburgh approved the agreement Tuesday between federal prosecutors and Glenn Marsh, who runs Houston-based trucking company Versatile Enterprise Transportation. The money was carried in a locked duffel bag in one of the company's trucks. A security guard at a western Pennsylvania nuclear plant noticed it in 2006 and it was found to contain the cash, which prosecutors said was wrapped in a manner used by drug traffickers. Marsh denies being involved in a drug ring. His lawyer says agreeing to let the government keep $150,000 was easier than fighting it out in court.

PREGNANT DEATH
W.Pa. man to have judge decide death penalty case
PITTSBURGH (AP) - A Pittsburgh man accused of fatally beating a woman pregnant with twins and her mother will have a judge, not a jury, decide if he's guilty and, if so, whether he should get the death penalty. Thirty-five-year-old William Lee Brown is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 19-year-old Tiffany Griffin and her unborn daughters in Sept. 2003. He's also charged in the death of 44-year-old Carmen Griffin, who went into a coma and died 18 months later. Authorities contend Brown went on a rampage a day after he overheard the women making disparaging remarks about him to a neighbor. His trial will start Monday in Allegheny County Court before Judge Jeffrey Manning.

SHOT OUTSIDE SCHOOL
Philadelphia teen shot in head outside school
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A 16-year-old boy is critically wounded after being shot by three assailants outside his Philadelphia high school. It happened Tuesday afternoon outside an alternative disciplinary school in Philadelphia's Hunting Park neighborhood. Philadelphia School District spokesman Fernando Gallard says the assailants are unknown and the victim was shot in the head. The assailants ran off and no arrests were immediately made.

MARIJUANA-ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
14 bags of pot seized at Philly elementary school
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Police have confiscated 14 bags of marijuana at a Philadelphia elementary school. Two 10-year-old boys and a 9-year-old boy were taken into custody Tuesday at Thomas Morton Elementary in Philadelphia's Mantua neighborhood. Police say it appears one boy sold a small bag of the drug for $2 and gave away another bag.

CHILD-MENINGITIS
Philadelphia child hospitalized with meningitis
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Philadelphia School District officials say a sixth grader is hospitalized after contracting bacterial meningitis. School district spokesman Fernando Gallard says the child attends John Welsh Elementary School in North Philadelphia. Gallard says the child is reported to be in good condition. The city Health Department says no one else appears to have come down with the disease. A letter went home to parents on Monday about the case. Gallard
says health officials aren't testing anyone else for meningitis, and they say kids who shared a classroom or school bus with the child aren't at risk. Recent meningitis cases have popped up recently at three Pennsylvania universities: Penn State, Penn and East Stroudsburg.

CHILD SLAIN-CULT
Experts: Cult member not insane despite odd plea
BALTIMORE (AP) - The mother of a 1-year-old boy who was starved to death and whose body was left in Philadelphia believes he will be resurrected. But legal experts say Ria Ramkissoon's extreme faith in a cult doesn't make her criminally insane. The mother made an extraordinary deal with prosecutors in Baltimore. Her guilty plea to child abuse resulting in death will be withdrawn if her son, Javon Thompson, comes back to life. Law experts and psychiatrists say extreme religious beliefs aren't deemed insane by law. Ramkissoon could be out of jail by August. Prosecutors are eager to have her testify because their case against the other cult
members is largely circumstantial. The plea agreement also calls for Ramkissoon to meet with a man who has studied cults for more than 25 years and counsels former cult members.

PROSECUTOR-LAWSUIT
Cops' lawsuit vs. cent. PA DA dismissed
CLEARFIELD, Pa. (AP) - A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against a west-central Pennsylvania district attorney filed by two police officers. Clearfield Police Officer Brian Dixon and Sergeant Gregory Neeper had said that Clearfield County District Attorney William Shaw Jr., wrongly charged them last year of lying on police reports in connection with a Dec. 2007 domestic dispute and questions of whether a suspect had a knife. A district judge later dismissed those charges. The officers said they were prosecuted because they supported Shaw's opponent during last year's re-election campaign. Now, U.S. District Judge Kim Gibson has dismissed the officers' suit against the prosecutor. Shaw had said in court papers that he
has prosecutorial immunity as district attorney.

POCONOS FATAL FIRE
13-year-old boy dies in Pa. house fire
BUSHKILL, Pa. (AP) - A 13-year-old boy is dead after a fire at his home in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains. Bushkill Volunteer Fire Company chief Leon Prince Jr. says the house in Lehman Township, Pike County, was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived Monday night. The body was removed at around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday. A school official identified him as
Anthony White, a seventh grade student. The cause of the fire was still under investigation Tuesday. The house was a complete loss.

SHELTER CLOSES
Pa. animal shelter that closed may be replaced
STROUDSBURG, Pa. (AP) - In northeastern Pennsylvania, a new group is forming that plans to replace the animal shelter that abruptly closed in January. Monroe County has been without any place for police to take stray pets since the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals closed its shelter near Stroudsburg. Rescue groups have tried to fill the void, but police can only take strays to a licensed shelter. The new group is called the Animal Welfare Society of Monroe County, or AWSOM. Its founders, Samantha Holbert and Bruce Barton, say getting a shelter building is the first priority. It's possible that they'll end up using the former SPCA shelter, which is currently for sale.

LONDON (AP) - President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown are meeting at No. 10 Downing Street ahead of this afternoon's global economic summit meetings in London. Obama will also meet this morning with the leaders of Russia and China. In the noon hour, he has an audience with Queen Elizabeth.

HONG KONG (AP) - Asian stock markets have been mixed Wednesday as regional economies continue to struggle. Plummeting demand in industrialized countries has hit the region's exports. Hong Kong's index was down 1 percent. But Japan's Nikkei rose 1.8 percent. The dollar and crude oil prices both slipped.

MAPLEWOOD, Minnesota (AP) - 3M Co. says it's cutting its worldwide work force by another 1,200 jobs, or 1.5 percent, because of the global economic slump. A 3M spokeswoman says fewer than half the jobs will be in the U.S. but include "several hundred" in Minnesota. The company makes Scotch tape and other products.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The first round of school dollars from the economic stimulus law is going to states this week. Public schools will get an unprecedented amount of money over the next two years. President Barack Obama says the stimulus will save teachers' jobs.

FARGO, N.D. (AP) - Flood waters from the Red River continue to recede. They've now fallen below most of the sandbag levees protecting Fargo, N.D. But engineers and National Guard troops continue to monitor the dikes for signs of stress. A snowstorm is making the job more difficult.