Today's News-Saturday, May 2, 2009

VERDICT IS IN
Two Shenandoah teenagers, accused in the death of a Mexican illegal immigrant , were acquitted of the most serious charges by a Schuylkill County jury Friday night. WPPA News Director Jay Levan reports from the county courthouse:

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VERDICT PROSECUTION REAX
Four days of testimony wrapped up Friday night in the Shenandoah beating trial with two teenagers acquitted of the most serious charges in the beating death of a Mexican illegal immigrant last July. WPPA News Director Jay Levan reports from the Schuylkill County Courthouse:

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CELEBRATE SCHUYLKILL

Fairlane Village Mall will help Schuylkill County come together today between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. You can "Celebrate Schuylkill" County's diverse ethnic heritage today with food, music, and displays as 34 vendors pack the mall. Formerly known as Unity Day, this event is in it's second year and brings together the meld that makes up our County with a full slate of entertainment and the dishes made popular by our founding ancestors.

SENATOR SPECTER VISITS AREA

Senator Arlen Specter was in the area yesterday to discuss funding to research the rare cancer polycythemia vera diagnosis. At Penn State Hazelton campus Specter announced $5.5 million split between the Center for Disease Control and Drexel University to find an answer regarding the PV cluster that has shown up in Northern Schuylkill Communities.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania health officials say they're now investigating six probable cases of swine flu in the state. The Department of Health said Friday that they were looking into two addditional cases. One is a 28-year-old Montgomery County man who hadn't traveled in the past month and didn't know of any contact he may have had with an ill person. Officials later said a 39-year-old woman from Philadelphia was the state's sixth suspected case. The department says it's doing 20 to 30 tests a day for swine flu. A 55-year-old woman who had landed at Philadelphia International Airport was rushed to a hospital with flu-like symptoms Friday evening. It was not immediately clear if the passenger on a flight from Montego Bay had swine flu.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is suing Lockheed Martin Corp. over the cost of cleaning up a radioactive site in the state's Moshannon State Forest. The federal lawsuit filed Thursday seeks to recover about $20 million in costs caused by the release or threatened release of a radioactive substance at the Quehanna Wild Area Nuclear Site in Clearfield County. The lawsuit says Lockheed Martin's corporate predecessor left behind contamination. The state's been involved in cleaning up the seven-acre site since the 1990s. Lockheed spokeswoman Gail Rymer says the company is reviewing the lawsuit but doesn't believe it has any liability.

UNDATED (AP) - There's some more mixed data on the economy. U.S. manufacturing activity contracted at a slower-than expected pace in April. The figures from The Institute for Supply Management, a private trade group, suggest economic decline may be moderating. But a government report shows a larger-than-expected decrease in orders to U.S. factories.

NEW YORK (AP) - Chrysler is hoping its ambitious plan to emerge in as little as 30 days as a leaner company will be successful in bankruptcy court. Judge Arthur Gonzalez convened the first hearing on Chrysler's plan this morning in New York. He approved the automaker's motion to pay its employees and contract workers pre-bankruptcy wages, benefits and businesses
expenses.

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexican health officials say they are optimistic that new cases and the death rate from swine flu are leveling off. Officials in mexico say they have confirmed 300 swine flu cases and 12 deaths. In the U.S., the confirmed case count stands at 132. New cases have been confirmed in Hong Kong and Denmark.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Supreme Court Justice David Souter is planning to retire this summer, but his departure is unlikely to change the high court's conservative-liberal split. The head of the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center says President Barack Obama will seek to name left-wing judicial activists to the court. Souter is considered a liberal-leaning judge.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Government health officials are announcing the recall of a popular weight loss pill. Food and Drug Administration officials says the manufacturer of Hydroxycut has launched a nationwide recall of the dietary supplement after reports of liver damage and other health problems.