Today's News-Friday, September 18, 2009

FOUR CHARGED IN DEATH

QUICK WORK BY INVESTIGATORS HAVE LED TO THE ARREST OF FOUR MEN, ACCUSED IN THE MURDER OF A HAZLETON MAN. 21 YEAR OLD ANTHONY LOCASIO'S BODY WAS FOUND NEAR BRANDONVILLE TUESDAY AFTERNOON. SCHUYLKILL COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY JIM GOODMAN REVEALED THE FOUR MEN'S IDENTITIES AT A PRESS CONFERENCE THURSDAY MORNING:

GOODMAN ACCUSED

AUTHORITIES BELIEVE THAT THE FOUR ACCUSED BEAT LOCASIO TO DEATH WITH BASEBALL BATS FOR RATTING THEM OUT FOR A PRIOR INCIDENT, WHERE BRAKES WERE TAMPERED WITH AND SUGAR POURED INTO THE GAS TANK OF A VEHICLE BELONGING TO THE ESTRANGED HUSBAND OF ONE OF LOCASIO’S FRIENDS IN JULY 2009. LOCASIO TURNED HIS FRIENDS IN, AND ADMITTED HIS ROLE IN THE INCIDENT. FINALLY, POLICE SAY THAT LOCASIO'S CLOTHES AND JEWELRY WERE REMOVED AFTER THE BEATING IN SOME SORT OF RITUAL FOLLOWED BY HARDCORE HIP-HOP FANS. THE ACCUSED ARE CHARGED WITH CRIMINAL HOMICIDE AND JAILED AT THE COUNTY PRISON WITHOUT BAIL. A PRELIMINARY HEARING IS SCHEDULED FOR NEXT FRIDAY IN SHENANDOAH.

HARLEY ACQUITTED

POTTSVILLE, PA. (AP) - A FORMER POLICE CHIEF ACCUSED OF USING HIS POLICE CAR TO STRIKE TEENAGERS IN SCHUYLKILL COUNTY HAS BEEN ACQUITTED OF ALL CHARGES. JOHN HARLEY SR. HAD BEEN POLICE CHIEF IN CASS AND FOSTER TOWNSHIPS IN SCHUYLKILL COUNTY. A JURY ACQUITTED HIM OF TWO COUNTS OF SIMPLE ASSAULT AND OTHER CHARGES THURSDAY FOR TWO INCIDENTS IN 2005. AFTER LEAVING COURT, HARLEY SAID HE WAS GRATEFUL FOR THE VERDICT
AND ADDED, "AT NO TIME DID I ATTEMPT TO HARM ANY KIDS." STATE POLICE ALLEGED HE HAD USED HIS PATROL CAR TO STRIKE ONE TEENAGER ON HIS DIRT BIKE ON JUNE 24, 2005, AND ANOTHER ON AN ALL-TERRAIN VEHICLE JULY 25, 2005.

TWO DALMATIA DIE IN NORTHERN DAUPHIN CRASH

TWO MEN WERE KILLED IN A MULTI-VEHICLE CRASH ON ROUTE 147 IN NORTHERN DAUPHIN COUNTY LAST NIGHT. DAVID TROUTMAN OF HALIFAX WAS SOUTHBOUND WHEN HIS SUV VEERED INTO THE OPPOSING LANE, STRIKING JOE WINGERT JR'S FORD EXPLORER HEAD ON. WINGERT, OF DALMATIA, AND TROUTMAN WERE PRONOUNCED DEAD AT THE SCENE. FOUR PASSENGERS IN WINGERT'S CAR WERE ALSO HURT, BUT THEIR CONDITIONS ARE NOT KNOWN.

POT PLANTS FOUND

A SACRAMENTO MAN IS JAILED FOR POT POSSESSION AND OTHER DRUG RELATED COUNTS. POLICE AND AGENTS FROM THE DA’S DRUG TASK FORCE FOUND SIX MARIJUANA PLANTS IN HIS HOME, WITH A STREET VALUE OF $4-THOUSAND-DOLLARS. HE WAS ARRAIGNED AND JAILED IN THE COUNTY PRISON, BEING UNABLE TO POST BAIL. THE ARREST HAPPENED ON TUESDAY.

BOSCOV'S BANKRUPTCY PLAN APPROVED

WILMINGTON, DEL. (AP) - A DELAWARE JUDGE HAS APPROVED BOSCOV'S EMERGENCE FROM CHAPTER 11 BANKRUPTCY PROTECTION. JUDGE KEVIN GROSS ON THURSDAY APPROVED THE COMPANY'S PLAN TO RESOLVE ALL OUTSTANDING CLAIMS FROM CREDITORS. THE PLAN ALLOWS THE BIRTH OF A NEW BOSCOV'S BY PROVIDING FOR THE TRANSFER OF SUBSTANTIALLY ALL OF THE OLD COMPANY'S ASSETS TO A TRUST THAT WILL MAKE DISTRIBUTIONS TO CLAIM HOLDERS. THE PLAN RECEIVED OVERWHELMING SUPPORT FROM HOLDERS OF BOTH PRIORITY AND UNSECURED CLAIMS. LAST YEAR, THE JUDGE APPROVED THE SALE OF THE READING, PA.-BASED COMPANY TO THE FAMILIES OF ALBERT BOSCOV AND EDWIN LAKIN, THE SON AND THE SON-IN-LAW OF THE PRIVATELY HELD COMPANY'S FOUNDER. THE DEAL WAS VALUED AT BETWEEN $275 MILLION AND $300 MILLION. BOSCOV’S HAS A STORE IN POTTSVILLE.

BUDGET MAYBE?

HARRISBURG, PA. (AP) - GOV. ED RENDELL ISN'T SAYING WHAT HAPPENED IN HIS MEETING WITH TOP STATE LEGISLATORS TO MAKE HIM DRAMATICALLY CHANGE HIS STANCE ON BUDGET NEGOTIATIONS. JUST HOURS AFTER THREATENING TO VETO THE BUDGET, RENDELL TOLD REPORTERS HE'S CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC ABOUT GETTING A BUDGET DEAL ONE "IN THE NEXT DAY OR TWO."

RENDELL BUDGET

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER DOMINIC PILEGGI SAYS THE MEETING WITH
RENDELL WAS CORDIAL BUT DIDN'T BRIDGE A GAP OF $200 MILLION TO $300 MILLION IN REVENUE PREDICTIONS.

ARRESTS MADE IN CASE

FOUR MEN HAVE BEEN CHARGED FOR BEATING A HAZLETON MAN TO DEATH IN A WOODED AREA NEAR BRANDONVILLE. 21 YEAR OLD ANTHONY LOCASIO WAS BEATEN AND LEFT TO DIE MONDAY NIGHT. SCHUYLKILL COUNTY D.A. JIM GOODMAN EXPLAINED WHAT HAPPENED:

GOODMAN WHAT HAPPENED

THE ACCUSED ARE SHANE ROOF OF PALMERTON, JEFFREY GOMBERT, ANDREW TUTKO THE SECOND AND CURTIS FOOSE OF HAZLETON. THE FOUR ACCUSED STRIPPED LOCASIO’S CLOTHES OFF AND REMOVED HIS JEWELRY IN SOME FORM OF RITUAL FOLLOWED BY HARD CORE HIP HOP FOLLOWERS. THE MEN ARE IN SCHUYLKILL COUNTY PRISON WITHOUT BAIL. THEY FACE A PRELIMINARY HEARING NEXT WEEK.




HARRISBURG, PA. (AP) - A BILL TO AVERT A FISCAL CRISIS IN PHILADELPHIA IS ON ITS WAY TO GOV. ED RENDELL. THE SENATE VOTED YESTERDAY TO APPROVE THE BILL ON THE EVE OF THE MAILING OF LAYOFF NOTICES FOR NEARLY 3,000 EMPLOYEES OF THE CITY. THE LAYOFFS WERE TO TAKE EFFECT OCT 2. THE BILL AUTHORIZES THE CITY TO GENERATE $700 MILLION TO BALANCE ITS BUDGET.

HARRISBURG, PA. (AP) - PENNSYLVANIA'S UNEMPLOYMENT RATE HIT ITS HIGHEST MARK IN NEARLY 25 YEARS EM AS THE STATE'S UNEMPLOYMENT RATE HIT ITS HIGHEST MARK IN NEARLY 25 YEARS. THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR ESTIMATES THAT PENNSYLVANIA EMPLOYERS SHED 8,800 NONFARM JOBS
IN AUGUST AS THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE CREPT UP TO 8.6 PERCENT - THE
HIGHEST SINCE 1984.

SCRANTON, PA. (AP) - POLICE SAY A NORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA MAN HAD A BLOOD-ALCOHOL LEVEL NEARLY THREE TIMES THE LEGAL LIMIT AFTER A HIT-AND-RUN FATAL CRASH. ALFRED ALEXANDER ATSUS WAS ARRAIGNED YESTERDAY ON CHARGES INCLUDING HOMICIDE BY VEHICLE. THE MOSCOW, PA., MAN IS ACCUSED OF CAUSING THE SEPT. 9 CRASH IN SPRING BROOK TOWNSHIP, LACKAWANNA COUNTY, THAT KILLED MATTHEW GAROFALO OF LAKE ARIEL.

PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN (AP) - MORE THAN TWO DOZEN PEOPLE HAVE BEEN KILLED IN A SUICIDE ATTACK IN NORTHWEST PAKISTAN. POLICE SAY THE BOMBER RAMMED AN EXPLOSIVES-LADEN VEHICLE INTO A HOTEL OWNED BY A SHIITE. THE TOWN IS NOT FAR FROM THE AFGHAN BORDER AND HAS A HISTORY OF SECTARIAN VIOLENCE.

LAHORE, PAKISTAN (AP) - PAKISTANI POLICE SAY THEY PLAN TO ARREST A HARDLINE CLERIC WHO INDIA HAS ACCUSED OF BEING BEHIND THE MUMBAI
TERROR ATTACKS. HAFIZ MUHAMMED SAEED HEADS AN ISLAMIST CHARITY THAT THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY HAS SAID IS A FRONT FOR THE TERRORIST GROUP LASHKAR-E-TAIBA WHICH INDIA BLAMES FOR LAST YEAR'S ATTACK.

KABUL (AP) - OFFICIALS SAY A U.S. SERVICE MEMBER AND A CANADIAN SOLDIER HAVE BEEN KILLED IN SEPARATE ROADSIDE BOMBINGS IN SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN. THE INCIDENTS HAPPENED YESTERDAY, THE SAME DAY A CAR
BOMBER KILLED SIX ITALIAN TROOPS IN A BRAZEN MIDDAY ATTACK IN THE
CAPITAL, KABUL.

DENVER (AP) - THE FBI PLANS TO A THIRD DAY OF INTERVIEWS FOR A MAN SUSPECTED OF HAVING LINKS TO AL-QAIDA. AN ATTORNEY FOR NAJIBULLAH ZAZI CALLS HIS CLIENT "SIMPLY SOMEBODY WHO WAS IN THE WRONG PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME." BUT HE SAYS ZAZI HAS BEEN ASKED TO RETURN TO THE FBI'S DENVER OFFICE LATER TODAY.