Today's News-Wednesday, June 3, 2009

BOY KILLED IN BIKE CRASH IDENTIFIED

Authorities have identified the boy who died from injuries in a bicycle crash Monday night in the village of William Penn. 14 year olds Ryan Stankavage and Damien Leyton, both of Shenandoah, were riding on Mt Olive Boulevard, Route 54 around 9pm when they collided with a van driven by Andrea Bobarsky. Both boys were thrown from the bike onto the van, and ended up on the highway. Stankavage was pronounced dead at the scene. Leyton remains in critical condition at Geisinger Medical Center. An investigation continues.

SENAVITIS BAIL REVOKED

Bail revoked for driver in fatal crash in 2008

STROUDSBURG, Pa. (AP) - Bail has been revoked for a Broadheadsville man charged with driving drunk and causing the accident that killed state Sen. James Rhoades. A Monroe County prosecutor says Thomas Senavitis was drunk when he accompanied his wife Dolores to her pretrial conference April 23 at the Carbon County courthouse on unrelated charges that she
assaulted a state trooper in 2008. Sheriff's deputies handcuffed Senavitis and took him to jail Monday after a hearing before a judge in Stroudsburg. State police say Senavitis had a blood-alcohol level more than four times the legal limit when he was involved in the crash that fatally injured Rhodes in October 2008. Senavitis maintains that Rhoades' car drifted into his lane.

ACLU DEFENDS defends girl's lewd MySpace principal parody

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The lawyer for the Blue Mountain School District says it should be able to discipline a middle school student for posting a photo of her principal on a Web site portraying him as a pedophile. The district argued before a federal appeals court in Philadelphia that the principal's career could have been damaged. The American Civil Liberties Union argues that students enjoy free-speech rights off-campus that protect such parodies, however vulgar. An ACLU lawyer told a three-judge panel that parents, not schools, should be monitoring the behavior of students when they're not at school.

COUNTY BOY CAN LIVE WITH GRANDFATHER UNTIL CASE IS SETTLED

BLOOMSBURG - A 17-year-old Schuylkill County teen can live at his grandfather's farm rather than a detention center, at least until a hearing concludes into a motor vehicle crash that killed two of his passengers. Columbia County Judge Scott Naus said Joseph Puglio of McAdoo must wear an electronic shackle while staying on the farm in Rock Glen, Luzerne County. The Standard-Speaker reports, the hearing will resume when Puglio, who faces charges that include homicide by vehicle and involuntary manslaughter, obtains an expert witness to testify about the speed of the fatal crash last September 30th. Two 16-year-olds from West Hazleton, Steven Geraci and Paul PenkaLa, died from injuries sustained in the crash in Columbia County's Beaver Township along Scotch Valley Drive. Puglio and three other passengers were hurt.

ONE SUFFERS MINOR INJURY IN CRASH

A Pine Grove man suffered minor injuries in a two vehicle crash in Wayne Township Tuesday. Schuylkill Haven state police say the crash happened on Route 183 near the Berks/ Schuylkill County line around noontime. Jonna Richard of Schuylkill Haven was southbound and reportedly not paying attention to stopped traffic when her car rear ended Fred Schach Jr.'s Dodge Caliber. Schach's car had his four way hazard lights on when the accident happened. Schach had to be taken to a local hospital for treatment. Southbound 183 was closed for a time for cleanup. Richard will be cited in the crash.

PHILADELPHIA BULLETIN
The Bulletin in Philly is suspending publication
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The publisher of a Philadelphia newspaper founded in 2004 with a reputation as a conservative voice says the paper has suspended publication. Employees of The Bulletin say Publisher Thomas Rice informed them Monday the paper couldn't afford to operate any longer. Rice wouldn't go into detail Tuesday, but confirmed The Bulletin had 'temporarily' suspended publication Monday. Meredith Cunningham, who handled page layout for the sports section, told The Philadelphia Inquirer on Monday that employees hadn't been paid on time for several months. The Bulletin's Web site did not mention the suspension. An earlier paper called the Bulletin had long been Philadelphia's dominant newspaper before shutting down in 1982. Rice got permission from the family that published that paper to use its name.

PHILADELPHIA NEWSPAPERS
CEO: Philly.com likely to charge by end of 2009
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The owner of Philly.com says The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News Web site will probably start charging for access to its online services by the end of 2009. Philadelphia Media Holdings CEO Brian Tierney told a Philadelphia TV station program on Monday that a lot of other newspapers are already charging their customers for online access. He said, "We can't spend $53 million on newsroom costs and give it away on the back door in terms of things." Tierney also said he plans to take on Google over possibly getting money for Philadelphia Media Holdings content that resides on the popular search engine's site. Tierney said there are no plans for the papers to become an online-only service.

CAMP COUNSELOR-SEX
Pa. man accused of underage sex to stand trial
OTTSVILLE, Pa. (AP) - A judge has dismissed 10 of the 55 counts against a suburban Philadelphia man accused of having sex with teenage boys because two witnesses didn't show up at a preliminary hearing. The charges dismissed Tuesday against 20-year-old Joshua Farrell of Quakertown include the only sexual assault count he faced. That was for allegedly performing oral sex on one of the teens. Defense lawyer David Knight says the dismissals show the case against Farrell is "clearly not the sexual abuse case as advertised." A Bucks County prosecutor says the dismissed charges might be refiled if authorities can get the missing witnesses to agree to testify. Farrell worked as a camp counselor in the summer of 2007. He's accused of asking boys he met at the camp for sex, but authorities say those boys refused.

SWINE FLU-PA
Pa. school closes campus due to illnesses
YORK, Pa. (AP) - A private school in south-central Pennsylvania is closing one of its campuses for the rest of the school year because 20 of the 56 students there were out sick Tuesday. Logos Academy in York says it's closing its East Campus as a precaution after consulting with public health officials, even though no specific diagnosis has been made. Its West Campus is to remain open because it doesn't have a high absenteeism rate. The move by the private school came a day after the School District of the City of York announced that two schools would be closed through the end of the school year. The school district says the only person confirmed to have swine flu is a student who has recovered, but other cases are still awaiting results of lab tests.

CELEBRITY PATHOLOGIST TRIAL
Feds drop all charges against celebrity coroner
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Cyril Wecht says he's pleased that federal prosecutors have dropped all charges against him. The former Allegheny County coroner says he plans to continue working as a private forensic pathologist and he's considering writing a book. Wecht was accused of using his county staff to benefit his multimillion-dollar private practice. He's highly critical of U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan, saying she has no shame. For her part, Buchanan says she still believes a crime was committed, but says she can't prove it in court now that a judge has thrown out much of the government's evidence.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
Pa. gov wants to expand seniors' drug program
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Gov. Ed Rendell says he wants bigger discounts from pharmaceutical companies so thousands more seniors can join Pennsylvania's low-cost prescription drug program. Rendell said Tuesday he wants the Legislature to approve the expansion of the state program known as PACENET as soon as possible. Under his plan, PACENET's income eligibility ceiling would rise to $30,000 from the current $23,500 for individuals, and to $40,000 for couples from the current $31,500. Most of the $60 million cost would come from requiring pharmaceutical companies to give larger discounts. Increasing the income limits will allow 30,000 more people to join the program. The program currently serves about 220,000 and state officials say it is more generous than the federal Medicare drug benefit.


WASHINGTON (AP) - Top officials from General Motors and Chrysler will testify before the Senate Commerce Committee today to discuss their restructuring while under bankruptcy protection. With thousands of jobs and dealerships about to disappear, the executives can expect to face some tough questions.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor is meeting privately today with 10 Republicans and Democrats as she seeks to assure senators that she would follow the law and not allow her life experiences to unduly influence her judging. Leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee will meet to try to cut a deal on when to hold confirmation hearings.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama is due to arrive soon in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as he begins his tour of the Mideast and Europe. The president hopes to open a dialogue with the Muslim world. He'll start by paying a call on Saudi King Abdullah.

WASHINGTON (AP) - An Associated Press-GfK survey finds that just over half of Americans polled say torture is at least sometimes justified to thwart terrorist attacks. They're evenly divided over whether to close the Guantanamo Bay prison. Even so, the survey also finds that President Barack Obama enjoys broad confidence that he can effectively handle terrorism.

FERNANDO DE NORONHA, Brazil (AP) - France has joined Brazil in confirming that debris found in the Atlantic Ocean came from missing Air France Flight 447. A French military spokesman says it's time for a "naval operation" to collect the remains and look for the jetliner's black boxes.