Today's News - Saturday, September 5th

VINTAGE CAR STOLEN

A VERY VALUABLE VINTAGE AUTOMOBILE STOLEN IN NORTH MANHEIM TOWNSHIP. STATE POLICE SAY SOMEONE ENTERED A POLE BUILDING OWNED BY WAYNE YEICH OVERNIGHT THURSDAY. THE PROPERTY IS LOCATED AT 39 GREENVIEW ROAD. THE 1978 CHEVY CORVETTE IS TWO TONED SILVER, AND IS VALUED OVER $26 THOUSAND DOLLARS. THE PA CLASSIC REGISTRATION IS 90534. ANYONE WITH INFORMATION SHOULD CALL SCHUYLKILL HAVEN STATE POLICE.

MAN ASSAULTS GRANDMOTHER IN POTTSVILLE

A FIGHT OVER MONEY BETWEEN RELATIVES LEADS TO INJURY AND JAIL. POTTSVILLE POLICE REPORT THURSDAY AFTERNOON THAT 18 YEAR OLD SEAN COOKE OF SOUTH JACKSON STREET ASKED HIS GRANDMOTHER, HELEN PRETE FOR MONEY. COOKE OVERTURNED A TABLE ONTO THE WOMAN, CAUSING INJURY TO HER LEGS AND MIDSECTION. HE ALSO SHOVED AND THREATENED HIS STEP-FATHER, LEROY ROYER. COOKE IS CHARGED WITH ENDANGERMENT, ASSAULT AND HARASSMENT, AND REMANDED TO SCHUYLKILL COUNTY PRISON.

BODY FOUND IN FRAILEY TOWNSHIP

A BODY HAS BEEN FOUND IN FRAILEY TOWNSHIP, BELIEVED TO BE A MISSING GRANTVILLE MAN. KEITH WEIST WAS REPORTED MISSING IN MID AUGUST, AND HIS VEHICLE FOUND AT THE INTERSECTION OF ROUTE 25 AND INTERSTATE 81. A SEARCH WAS CONDUCTED USING CADAVER DOGS ON AUGUST 24TH, AND THEY TURNED UP HUMAN REMAINS. ITEMS FOUND AT THE SCENE INDICATE IT MAY BE WEIST. STATE POLICE ARE CONTINUING THEIR INVESTIGATION.

PA 511

Pennsylvania travelers can get the latest information on travel conditions by calling up "511" on their cellphones or computers. Don Rooney has details:

ROONEY 9/5/09

SHENANDOAH MAN CAUGHT WITH DRUGS

A 33-year-old Shenandoah man was committed to Schuylkill County Prison after being arrested by Mahanoy City police on drug charges stemming from an incident at Main and South streets about 9:15 p.m. Thursday. Police said Keith L. King was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Charles V. Moran, Pottsville, on one count each of possession with intent to manufacture or deliver a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance. Kilker committed King to prison after he was unable to post 10 percent of $25,000 bail. Police said officers pulled over a vehicle King was in after the driver ran a stop sign. After learning the driver did not have a valid license, police said occupants of the car were removed and a search was initiated. K-9 Apollo indicated something was under King's passenger seat, police said, adding that further investigation found two cigarette packs containing substances that field-tested positive for crack cocaine. The drugs have a street value of about $400, police said.

CARBONDALE, Pa. (AP) - A former volunteer firefighter has pleaded no contest in connection with a series of arsons in northeastern Pennsylvania. Twenty-six-year-old Benjamin Christensen entered the plea in Lackawanna County Court on Friday. Prosecutors say the Carbondale resident faces up to 20 years in prison. Christensen was arrested in April 2008. He was charged in seven fires that caused more than $1 million in damages to homes and businesses over a 15-month period in 2007 and 2008. Prosecutors say he set the fires out of boredom and anger. Christensen pleaded no contest to setting five of the fires; he also pleaded no contest to conspiracy in two others, in which authorities say he assisted another man. Prosecutors say the other man, Robert Woolaver Jr., is serving a 4-to-12 year sentence for his role.

READING, Pa. (AP) - The mayor of Reading says increasing financial pressures have forced the city to apply for Pennsylvania's Act 47 distressed cities program. Act 47 is a state law that provides state oversight to municipalities and access to low-interest loans to help them recover. Mayor Tom McMahon says it will give Reading more power in labor negotiations and the option to tax out-of-town workers. McMahon says the city needs to fill a $15 million budget gap next year and will have to cut nearly 100 jobs - including 45 police officers and 35 firefighters - unless labor unions come up with a better plan. City Councilman Jeffrey Waltman Sr. criticized McMahon's decision Friday. He says McMahon's administration is responsible for the city's financial problems and Act 47 won't solve them.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A former Pennsylvania state legislator and one of his aides have been ordered to stand trial on all charges in a corruption case. That was the ruling Friday by a magisterial district judge at a preliminary hearing in Harrisburg. Former Rep. Mike Veon and Annamarie Perretta-Rosepink face charges related to a nonprofit agency in Beaver County that Veon controlled. Both are charged with theft, conspiracy and other counts. Charges were refiled after being thrown out in May due to lack of evidence. Veon and Perretta-Rosepink face trial in a separate corruption case over misuse of public money and employees.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Fire crews in Southern California are reporting good progress against the ferocious wildfire burning north of Los Angeles. The blaze has turned into a creeping giant, and is said to be 42 percent contained. Investigators, meanwhile, are trying to track down the arsonist they say is responsible for starting the fire.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistan says paramilitary troops have killed 30 suspected militants in the northwestern tribal region of Khyber. The toll could not immediately be confirmed independently. Authorities say scores of militants have been killed in the operation, which began last week.

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan (AP) - NATO is investigating whether villagers siphoning fuel were among scores killed in a U.S. airstrike on two tanker trucks hijacked by the Taliban. Meanwhile, a bomb blast has wounded four German troops in the same northern Afghan province.

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) - Authorities in Georgia have arrested a suspect in the deaths of eight people in a mobile home in Brunswick. Guy Heinze (hynz) Jr. is the same person who alerted 911 to the bodies. Seven of the dead were relatives, including his father. Family members are preparing to bury the victims today.

LONDON (AP) - A senior British official says trade and oil considerations played a big part in the decision to include the Lockerbie bomber in a prisoner transfer agreement between Britain and Libya. The British government has faced intense criticism over its decision to release Abdel Baset al-Megrahi BECAUSE he's dying of cancer.