Today's News-Saturday, January 16, 2010

FIRE IN SHENANDOAH

SHENANDOAH FIREFIGHTERS BATTLED AN EARLY AFTERNOON FIRE YESTERDAY AT 415 ATLANTIC STREET IN THE BOROUGH. STATE POLICE FIRE MARSHAL MARK DEMKO DETERMINED THE BLAZE TO BE ACCIDENTAL IN NATURE AND NO INJURIES WERE REPORTED.
　
BARN FIRE UPDATE

OFFICIALS ARE STILL ATTEMPTING TO DETERMINE THE CAUSE OF AN EARLY MORNING BARN FIRE AT THE BAVER FARM IN WEST BRUNSWICK TOWNSHIP. CREWS FROM SCHUYKILL AND BERKS COUNTIES RESPONDED TO THE SCENE WHICH CONTINUED TO SMOLDER ALL DAY LONG.
　
UPDATE ON MURDER SUICIDE

THE SCHUYLKILL COUNTY CORONER AND STATE POLICE HAVE CONCLUDED THEIR INVESTIGATION INTO THE BODIES FOUND IN NEW RINGGOLD. A FAMILY MEMBER DISCOVERED THE BODIES OF RANDOLPH ARNDT II AND HIS WIFE CINDY ARNDT IN A GARAGE AT THEIR HOME. AUTHORITIES CONCLUDED THAT CINDY ARNDT SHOT RANDOLPH WITH A .44 CALIBER HANDGUN AND THEN TURNED THE GUN ON HERSELF. POLICE WERE ABLE TO CONFIRM THAT THE ARNDT'S WERE EXPERIENCING MARITAL PROBLEMS.
　
FRACKVILLE PLASTIC PLANT CLOSING

MORE THAN 40 JOBS WERE LOST WITH THE CLOSING OF ST. JUDE POLYMER CORPORATION ON THURSDAY. OFFICIALS STATED THAT THE COMPANIES PRODUCT LINE OF PLASTIC STRAPPING IS NO LONGER POPULAR. THE PLANTS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS, ILLINOIS TOOL WORKS INCORPORATED STATED THAT PRODUCTION WOULD BE PICKED UP BY ANOTHER LOCATION IN FLORENCE, KENTUCKY AND THAT THE ECONOMY WAS A MAJOR FACTOR IN THIS BUSINESS DECISION.

MINERSVILLE PUSHERS CAUGHT

THREE DRUG DEALERS ARE OFF THE STREETS THANKS TO THE COORDINATED EFFORTS OF THE MINERSVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT AND THE SCHUYLKILL COUNTY DRUG TASK FORCE. THURSDAY NIGHT FRANCIS VANNICOLO, ROBERT VESAY, AND ANGEL CHRIST WERE ALL SENT TO SCHUYLKILL COUNTY PRISON AS A RESULT OF SELLING HEROIN TO AN UNDERCOVER OFFICER AND THEN INSTRUCTING HIM TO WAIT UNTIL A FRESH SUPPLY WAS DELIVERED FROM READING. ALL THREE WILL PARTICIPATE IN PRELIMINARY HEARINGS IN FRONT OF MAGISTERIAL DISTRICT JUDGE CHARLES MORAN IN POTTSVILLE.
　
SIMPLE ASSAULT

A FIGHT AT A DEER LAKE ESTABLISHMENT ENDED PEACEFULLY, BUT CHARGES WILL BE FILED AGAINST A SCHUYLKILL HAVEN MAN IN DISTRICT COURT. EARLY FRIDAY MORNING, TYLER HAAS SHOVED BRET REIFSNYDER AGAINST A WALL, AND PUNCHED HIM, THEN ALLEGEDLY SLAMMED REIFSNYDER'S HEAD ON THE GROUND. HAAS THEN HELPED REIFSNYDER TO HIS FEET, OFFERED TO BUY HIM A BEER AND SETTLED IT. STATE POLICE WILL CHARGE HAAS WITH SIMPLE ASSAULT AND HARASSMENT.
　
HAITIAN HELP

THE DEVASTATION IN HAITI IS BEING KEENLY FELT IN PENNSYLVANIA'S GROWING HAITIAN COMMUNITY, WITH AT LEAST 30-THOUSAND IN THE PHILADELPHIA AREA ALONE. FOLLOWING THIS WEEK'S EARTHQUAKE NEAR THE CAPITAL OF PORT-AU-PRINCE, INTERNATIONAL AID AGENCY OXFAM SAYS IT NEEDS DONATIONS FROM ACROSS THE STATE AS RECOVERY EFFORTS BEGIN. TOM JOSEPH REPORTS:

HAITI AID
　
VANITY PLATES CAN BE CHECKED ON LINE

FOR THOSE OF US WHO LIKE CATCHY PHRASES ON OUR CAR LICENSE PLATES, IT USED TO BE HIT OR MISS WHETHER YOUR PERSONAL PLATE WAS ALREADY TAKEN. NOW, AN ONLINE SYSTEM THROUGH PENN DOT CAN INSTANTLY CHECK WHETHER YOUR FAVORITE SAYING IS STILL AVAILABLE. SIMPLY LOG ON TO DMV-DOT-STATE-PA-US, SELECT "ONLINE DRIVER AND VEHICLE SERVICES" AND THEN CHOOS PERSONALIZED VANITY PLATE AVAILABILITY. THE APPLICATION MV-904 MUST STILL BE USED TO FORMALLY APPLY AT A COST OF $20 DOLLARS. PENN DOT OFFICIALS SAY THAT THERE ARE APPROXIMATELY 276-THOUSAND PERSONALIZED PLATES IN USE ACROSS PENNSYLVANIA.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A Dauphin County-based Pennsylvania Air National Guard unit is helping with earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. Governor Ed Rendell says the 193rd Special Operations Wing sent three planes and about 50 airmen as part of the mission.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Two sisters who run an orphanage in Haiti have received permission to bring 150 Haitian children to Pittsburgh. The three-house orphanage was mostly destroyed by Tuesday's earthquake. Jamie and Ali McMutrie are from the Pittsburgh suburb of Ben Avon.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A defense lawyer in the legislative corruption case says a prosecutor had improper contact with one of his clients. In a loud confrontation inside a Harrisburg courtroom Friday, attorney Bryan Walk accused Senior Deputy Attorney General Patrick Blessington of violating rules for lawyer conduct.

LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) - A former visiting nurse has been convicted of third-degree murder for giving an 11-year-old Lancaster County boy a lethal dose of morphine in 2002. Joy O'Shea Woomer testified that she never gave the any medication to the boy, who had cerebral palsy.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Philadelphia authorities say an off-duty state Capitol police officer was shot during a robbery attempt at a University City movie theater Friday evening. Police say the
officer was shot in the shoulder and a 20-year-old man was shot in the thigh. Both were hospitalized in stable condition.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Officials say the arrival of a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Haitian capital's damaged port is helping take the pressure off a clogged airport. But the effort to get
earthquake aid to the victims is still bottlenecked by the airport congestion, blocked roads and other obstacles to getting help for millions who need food, water and everything else.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham is headed to earthquake-ravaged Haiti today. She'll inspect earthquake damage and confer with Haitian and other officials on how to speed humanitarian aid and shape the recovery effort. She'll be the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Haiti since Tuesday's quake.

KABUL (AP) - The Afghan parliament has dealt another blow to President Hamid Karzai. Lawmakers have again rejected the majority of Karzai's slate of Cabinet choices. It's the second slate from the U.S.-backed leader that lawmakers turned thumbs down on, rejecting rejected 10 nominees and approving only 7.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Three more banks have been shut down by federal regulators. That brings the number of bank failures this year to four. Banks in Illinois, Minnesota and Utah have been taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The Utah-based Barnes Banking Co. is the largest of the failed banks.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) - The family of an Illinois National Guard soldier says innocent snapshots of a 4-year-old relative in a swimsuit have led to possession of child pornography charges against him. The U.S. Army has charged Spec. Billy Miller of Galesburg, Ill. The family says their son became close to the little girl after she was diagnosed with a serious illness.