Today's News-June 2, 2010

MEXICAN ILLEGAL FOUND GUILTY OF SEXUAL ASSAULT
A Mexican illegal has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a teenaged girl in Shenandoah. A jury found 20 year old Evon Rodriquez guilty of two counts of indecent assault and related charges Tuesday, according to the Republican Herald. Rodriquez committed the crimes last summer against a 13 year old girl. While sentencing was deferred following the verdict, immigration officials also placed a detainer against Rodriquez, who is locked up in the county prison. Reports indicate Rodriquez speaks little or no English.

POTTSVILLE MAN JAILED ON ASSAULT CHARGES
A Pottsville man is jailed follwoing a weekend incident in the city. Pottsville police came to 309 West Market Street, where they found 52 year old Ronald Zweizig lying on the ground. According to reports, Zweizig intervened in a fight between his son, Christopher and daughter-in -law Amanda Zweizig. Christopher reportedly pointed a loaded shotgun at his wife. The altercation between father and son escalated until Christopher struck his father in the face. Zweizig is charged with aggravated and simple assault, reckless endangerment, making terroristic threats and possessing an instrument of crime. Christopher Zweizig is locked up in the county jail.

MEMORIAL DAY TRAFFIC
Sixteen people were killed and 290 others injured in crashes investigated by state police over the Memorial Day weekend. As part of the Click It or Ticket initiative, state police cited 924 drivers for not wearing seat belts and 105 citations for not securing children in safety seats. State police Commissioner Frank Pawlowski notes there were more fatalities during the 2010 holiday than last year, when 9 people were killed. There were no fatal crashes investigated by state police in Troop L, the area encompassing Schuylkill County. These statistics are reflective of those accidents that state police responded to over the four day holiday weekend.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A 59-year-old man has admitted to cashing the Social Security checks of his housemate, whose body he buried in their suburban Pittsburgh back yard after she died of natural causes. Kenneth Zang of Turtle Creek pleaded guilty to theft of government property. Authorities say he cashed checks totaling $34,000 from November 2004 to July 2008.

WASHINGTON, Pa. (AP) - A 40-year-old man has been sentenced to life after pleading guilty to killing his wife and two children in their western Pennsylvania home. Orlando Guarino of Marianna pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder in the slaying of his 22-year-old wife, their 2-year-old daughter and 11-month old son.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) - A 23-year-old northeastern Pennsylvania man could spend up to 33 years in prison for shooting a man dead outside a bar last summer. Benji Benjamin was convicted in April of third-degree murder in the death of 38-year-old Joseph Benson outside Liam's Place in Wilkes-Barre a year ago. He was sentenced yesterday to 16 1/2 to 33 years.

SUMNEYTOWN, Pa. (AP) - Authorities in suburban Philadelphia believe the deaths of an elderly woman and her adult son were the result of a murder-suicide. The Montgomery County coroner says 45-year-old Michael Good and 78-year-old Lorene Good died of gunshot wounds. Their bodies were found early yesterday in a trailer home at Green Hill Homes in Marlborough Township.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai is appealing to the Taliban to make peace, saying that will speed the departure of foreign troops from the country. Karzai made the
appeal at a national peace conference in the capital, as security forces battled Taliban suicide attackers outside. Officials say two attackers were killed and one captured, while none of the
conference delegates were hurt.

RAFAH, Egypt (AP) - Egyptian officials say more than 100 Gazans have crossed the border into Egypt after the government temporarily eased its blockade of the Palestinian territory. Cairo's move follows Israel's deadly raid on an international aid flotilla bound for Gaza. Meanwhile, Israel has been expelling the activists it detained in the raid.

TOKYO (AP) - Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has resigned. He says his failure to fulfill a campaign promise to move a U.S. Marine base and a political funding scandal are the two main reasons. Hatoyama's bungling of the relocation of the base on the southern island of Okinawa reinforced his public image as an indecisive leader.

PORT FOURCHON, La. (AP) - Officials in the Florida panhandle say it's inevitable that oil from the Gulf spill will end up on their beaches. Crews have been shoring up booms after an oil sheen was spotted yesterday about nine miles from Pensacola beach. Meanwhile, BP is working on an effort to cut and cap the ruptured pipe that's been leaking the oil.

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - The city of Tucson has joined a lawsuit by one of its police officers to block Arizona's immigration enforcement law. The suit alleges the new law violates numerous
constitutional rights, could hinder some police investigations, and violates federal law because Tucson police and the city have no authority to perform immigration duties.