Today's News-Saturday, September 11, 2010

The Red Cross will be holding a Day of Rememberance Community Blood Drive in special honor of September 11th. You can give the gift of life between 10 o'clock this morning and 3 p.m. today at the Fairlane Village mall in Pottsville. You can donate blood in memory of those who were lost and help others survive. Your blood donation can help save up to three lives. All members of the public are invited to take part in this special blood drive.

Careless smoking is the cause of a Thursday morning fire that caused the death of John Feeney of Ashland. According reports in the Republican Herald, Ashland Fire Chief Phillip Groody explained that there was an oxygen generator and traveling oxygen inside the apartment. Feeney's son James suffered burns after being awakened by a loud bang and attempting to save his father, he is expected to be released from Lehigh Valley Hospital possibly by as early as today.

Sapa Industrial Extrusions of Cressona has unveiled plans for a ten million dollar expansion to its casting department creating about 37 more jobs. The expansion is expected to be completed by August of next year. Sapa is one of the county's largest employers with over 750 team members already employed.

For a second time, a Schuylkill County jury neither convicted nor acquitted a man on seven sex-related charges stemming from an alleged assault of a teenage girl on Memorial Day 2008. Accordin the Republican and Herald, Ernest D. Schaeffer Jr. of Minersville, did not react Friday evening when jurors told President Judge William E. Baldwin that after deliberating for more than three hours, they could not decide whether Schaeffer committed any of the seven crimes, including involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault and statutory sexual assault. Jurors told Baldwin they were split 6-6 and 7-5 on various charges - they did not specify which votes were for which charges - and that each member of the panel had made up his or her mind. Baldwin, who presided over the two-day trial, then declared a mistrial. Assistant District Attorney Jennifer N. Lehman said she would have to consult with District Attorney James P. Goodman about whether to bring Schaeffer to trial a third time. Since the jury of seven men and five women did not find Schaeffer not guilty of any of the charges, he can be tried again on any or all of them without violating the constitutional prohibition on double jeopardy. The earliest he could be retried would be during the December criminal court term. Friday's result duplicated the one reached by another jury on Dec. 10, 2009. That jury, also after a two-day trial, could not reach a verdict on any of the charges, resulting in Baldwin declaring the first mistrial.

A Wayne Township bar has been cited by the state police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement after using a loudspeaker or other device that could be heard outside the building. The Blue Ridge Hotel, 1270 Route 183 south, was cited by the bureau for the incident that occurred July 22. The charges will be brought before an administrative law judge, who has the authority to impose penalties ranging from $50 to $1,000 for minor offenses and up to $5,000 for more serious offenses.

COATESVILLE, Pa. (AP) - Steel beams from the World Trade Center are going on display in the suburban Philadelphia town where they were made. The steel "trees" will go on display today as part of a ceremony in Coatesville, Pa., marking the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

NEW YORK (AP) - Official ceremonies are planned at all three locations where terrorists struck nine years ago today. President Barack Obama will be at the Pentagon, Vice President Joe Biden will be in New York, and first lady Michelle Obama and former first lady Laura Bush visit Shanksville, where Flight 93 crashed.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Governor Ed Rendell's chief of staff, Steve Crawford, says the state is trying to help the city of Harrisburg avoid a rare default on a general obligation bond. Rendell is scheduled to appear at a Sunday news conference with the city's mayor, Linda Thompson.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A Texas maker of equipment for oil- and gas-field production and processing is building a new manufacturing and distribution plant in suburban Pittsburgh to serve the booming natural gas industry. Houston-based Allied Technology expects to break ground later this month.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - As Americans prepare to remember the victims of the 9/11 terror attacks, thousands of Afghans are protesting and chanting "Death to America" over a once-planned Quran burning in the U.S. Shops and police checkpoints have been set on fire during a protest in Logar province.

NEW YORK (AP) - The Florida preacher at the center of a worldwide controversy over his plan to burn the Muslim holy book is in New York City. Rev. Terry Jones says he wants to meet with the imam behind a proposed mosque near ground zero. Jones' son says there won't be any Quran burning at his father's Gainesville church today.

SAN BRUNO, Calif. (AP) - Crews are searching the smoldering ruins of homes for more victims of a gas line blast and raging inferno that devastated a San Bruno, Calif., neighborhood, killing
at least four people. City leaders have called for a town hall meeting to start the healing process. A federal probe into the tragedy has begun.

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) - A wildfire that has destroyed nearly 170 homes near Boulder, Colo., and forced thousands of people to flee ahead of the flames is roughly 50 percent contained. Authorities hope the fire can be fully contained in the next three to five days.