Today's News - Saturday August 1st, 2009

A New Ringgold man was killed in a one-vehicle crash about 4:15 p.m. Friday on Route 895 in East Brunswick Township. As reported in the Republican and Herald, State Police at Frackville said the crash occurred as a 16-year-old male was driving a 1999 Ford F-350 east on Route 895. The vehicle traveled off the right side of the roadway and continued east on the shoulder, striking a mailbox post and then hitting a large tree head-on. The truck came to rest against the tree facing southeast, police said. A front-seat passenger, Robert P. Dunn, 22, of New Ringgold, was trapped inside the truck and had to be removed by rescue personnel. He was later pronounced dead at a nearby MedEvac landing zone by Deputy Coroner Larry Neff. A rear-seat passenger, James D. Dunn, 46, of New Ringgold, suffered serious injuries and was flown to Lehigh Valley Hospital, Allentown, for treatment. Dunn was in stable condition about 11 p.m. Friday, according to a hospital spokesperson. State police are investigating and are asking anyone who witnessed the crash to contact Trooper Brian L. Walters at the Frackville station by calling 874-5300.

A Frackville borough police officer was injured when the police vehicle he was driving hit a tow truck while he was in pursuit of an erratic driver. According to Frackville Cpl. Marvin Livergood, Officer Shawn Butler was on a routine patrol when a Dodge Stratus almost hit the police vehicle on Nice Street. According to the Republican and Herald, Butler pursued the vehicle, which passed the off-duty Livergood and about five other cars on West Oak Street, ran through a red traffic light and made a right onto Chestnut Street, where Butler failed to drive through the turn and hit the back of the tow truck. "By the time I got there, the Explorer was into the other vehicle and there was smoke coming out of it," Livergood said. According to Frackville Mayor Delmar Phillips, Butler was wearing a seat belt and the airbag in the vehicle deployed. Livergood said that from Chestnut Street, the Stratus made a right onto Balliet Street and traveled in the wrong direction to Oak Street toward Ashland. Butler was transported to Saint Catherine Medical Center Fountain Springs and was admitted with non-life threatening injuries. According to Livergood, the car was a charcoal gray or silver blue Dodge Stratus driven by a male in a white hat.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - There's still no agreement that would end the state budget stalemate. Top legislators met privately with Governor Ed Rendell for 90 minutes on Friday. About 33,000 state employees missed paychecks on Friday because of the standoff.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Former state Senator Vincent Fumo has reportedly been informed he is losing his pension because of his corruption conviction. The Philadelphia Inquirer cited information obtained through Pennsylvania's open-records law. Fumo's pension was $100,500 a
year.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A federal judge has thrown out the plea agreements for a pair of Luzerne County judges in a kickback scheme involving juvenile detention facilities. The judge ruled Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella have not accepted responsibility for the crimes cited in their January guilty pleas.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Pittsburgh police have made a second arrest for the July 18 kidnapping, robbery and stabbing of a former director of the city's housing authority. Police say Terence Mair of Wilkinsburg is one of two men who broke into Stanley Lowe's house, drove him to an automatic teller machine and forced him to withdraw money.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Police say a man who robbed a downtown Philadelphia bank was trapped between interlocking doors on his way out and fired his gun in an attempt to free himself. The escape attempt didn't work and police took the man into custody Friday
afternoon at the Citizens Bank branch at 17th and Market streets.

WASHINGTON (AP) - It's a win for the Obama administration's health care overhaul. The 31-28 vote in the House Energy and Commerce Committee sends the sweeping measure to the full House. The big showdown looms in September.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The chairman of the House Appropriations Committee says the wildly successful "cash for clunkers" program is a case of consumers speaking with their wallets. So much so that the program's $1 billion is nearly exhausted. The House has passed a measure adding another $2 billion and sent it to the Senate.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The list of bank failures this year has grown to 69. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has moved another five banks into receivership. The FDIC expects U.S. bank failures to cost the insurance fund around $70 billion through 2013.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Prospects remain uncertain for a House-passed bill designed to prohibit pay and bonus packages that encourage bankers and traders to take big risks. Despite voter outrage over the bonuses paid this week by nine of the nation's biggest banks, the White House and Senate Democrats haven't fully embraced the measure.

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq (AP) - The search is on for three American tourists who may have been detained by Iran after straying into its territory while hiking in Iraq. The State Department says it's investigating. A security official says the three contacted a companion who stayed behind and told him "they had mistakenly entered Iranian territory and that troops surrounded them."

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - State media in Iran are reporting that a group of opposition political activists and protesters are standing trial in Tehran. They're charged with rioting after the disputed presidential election. The semi-official Fars news agency says there are more than 100 defendants at the court.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the late, former Philippines President Corazon Aquino had an "unshakable commitment to justice and freedom." Aquino died today in Manila.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Thousands of people marching in Malaysia's largest city have been scattered by riot police using batons and firing tear gas. They were protesting a law that allows indefinite detention without trial.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea is accusing a South Korean fishing boat of illegally entering its waters and says an investigation of four seized fishermen would continue. South Korea is urging their quick release, saying the vessel accidentally drifted across the sea border after its satellite navigation system apparently malfunctioned.

NEW YORK (AP) - Police investigating the death of a man identified by friends as a Holocaust survivor are looking for a man and a woman seen entering his Manhattan building. They were seen driving off in his car. A building superintendent found 89-year-old Guido Felix Brinkmann's body Thursday night.

JEFFERSON, Wis. (AP) - Authorities say they've solved a nearly 30-year-old murder mystery in Wisconsin with the arrest of a 76-year-old man in Kentucky. Edward W. Edwards will be arraigned on a fugitive warrant Saturday in the deaths of sweethearts Tim Hack and Kelly Drew in 1980. They were both 19.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd says he will have surgery during the congressional recess to treat prostate cancer. Dodd says it was discovered during a physical last month. He says he plans to return to a full schedule within weeks and will run for re-election.