Today's News-Saturday, September 25, 2010

LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL WEEK 4

Friday's Games

Berks-IC

Pottsville 41, Conrad Weiser 24
Blue Mountain 47, Hamburg 7

Anthracite Football League

North Schuylkill 42, Schuylkill Haven 20
Shenandoah Valley 14, Minersville 7
Tamaqua 49, Mahanoy Area 7
Jim Thorpe 14, Panther Valley 0
Pius X 62, Marian 36

Twin Valley Conference

Nativity 31, Upper Dauphin 6
Pine Grove 31, Tri Valley 14
Millersburg 35, Williams Valley 22
Line Mountain 55, Newport 8

Heartland Conference

Mount Carmel 42, Loyalsock 7
Selinsgrove 38, Shamokin 7
Southern Columbia 37, Central Columbia 0
Shikellamy 48, Warrior Run 14

With the changing of the leaves and the cooler temperatures on the way it is quickly turning to the times when many eager Schuylkill Countians take afield for hunting season. Today the Schuylkill YMCA will be holding a Sportsmen's Health Fair between ten and two at their 520 N. Centre Street location. One of the most common hunting fatalities is linked to heart attacks and today you can participate in blood pressure screening, body mass indexing, breathing tests, have your pulse oxygen checked, your feet examined, and have your vision and hearing screened. Local taxidermists will be on display and there will be educational seminars as well. So take a couple moments to take care of yourself before going into the woods this hunting season.
　
Firefighters from Cressona and surrounding areas were kept busy yesterday afternoon due to a fire along the Gordon Nagle Trail that severely damaged Cressona Trucking. The blaze began after two in the afternoon and firefighters arrived to a smoky scene and were able to bring the fire under control in the hot and humid afternoon after about 20 minutes. However, they were summoned back to the scene around 9:30 last night due to insulation igniting again. Reports from the scene indicated that three firefighters were injured in battling the blaze. No cause has been determined and a State Police Fire Marshall is expected to investigate at some time today.

A 23-year-old Pine Grove man was seriously injured when the pickup truck he was driving crashed in the northbound lanes of Interstate 81, at mile marker 98.9 in Pine Grove Township, about 7:35 p.m. Thursday. State police at Jonestown said Donald Campbell Jr. was driving a 1989 Dodge Power Wagon north when he lost control of it. His truck went off the road and hit several trees. Troopers said off-duty EMS technicians traveling north stopped and administered emergency care to Campbell before Pine Grove EMS and West Schuylkill ALS arrived at the scene. Campbell was flown to Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, in the Life Flight helicopter and is listed in critical condition, troopers said. Two witnesses, troopers said, saw Campbell driving north erratically and at a high rate of speed just before the crash. Anyone who may have also witnessed the crash but did not stop at the scene is asked to call troopers at 717-865-2194.

State police at Jonestown are investigating an incident in which small rocks were thrown into the north and southbound lanes of Interstate 81, at mile marker 96.8 in Pine Grove Township, about 4:15 a.m. Wednesday. Troopers said someone threw the rocks from an overpass, striking a northbound 2011 International truck owned by Tyson Food Inc., Broken Bow, Okla. More small rocks were then thrown and struck a southbound 2004 Chevrolet Silverado driven by Dale A. Sherman, 53, of Pine Grove. The northbound truck sustained damage to the hood and driver-side window while Sherman's vehicle sustained damage to the driver-side windshield. Anyone with information is asked to call troopers at 717-865-2194.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Todd Eachus says he intends to bring legislation to impose a tax on Marcellus Shale natural gas extraction to a vote next week.
However, leaders of the Republican-controlled Senate are expected to pursue a tax plan with a lower tax rate.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - U.S. House GOP leader John Boehner (BAY'-nur) has given a pep talk to Pennsylvania Republicans. He said last night in Harrisburg that Republicans probably have a better chance to score big election wins in Pennsylvania than anywhere else. The dinner kicked off the Republican State Committee's fall meeting.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown was in Philadelphia yesterday for a fundraiser for Republican Senate candidate Pat Toomey. Brown says Toomey is an independent thinker like himself. Toomey's opponent, Democrat Joe Sestak, says Toomey is an extremist and out of touch with working Americans.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Two men who hacked into Comcast's website have been sentenced to 18 months in prison. Christopher Lewis of Delaware and Michael Nebel of Michigan were sentenced yesterday in Philadelphia. The May 2008 cyber-attack redirected all traffic from
Comcast's home page to sites that boasted of the hack.

WEST TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - The Delaware River Basin Commission has issued a drought warning for the lower basin of the Delaware River. The agency is calling for voluntary conservation by businesses and residents in the Delaware River watershed. Director Carol Collier says the warning was prompted by falling reservoir levels upstream.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama is taking on House Republicans over their "Pledge to America." In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama says promises of tax and spending cuts if they take over Congress in November "were the very same policies that led to the economic crisis in the first place."

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republicans say their promise to cut spending and taxes and repeal the health care overhaul is the result of listening to Americans. In the weekly GOP radio and Internet address, California Rep. Kevin McCarthy says the pledge "embodies Americans' rejection of the notion that we can simply tax, borrow and spend our way to prosperity."

MIR ALI, Pakistan (AP) - Intelligence officials say three missiles struck a vehicle in a village in northwestern Pakistan today, killing four alleged militants. The village is in the North Waziristan tribal area that is under effective militant control. The area is home to Islamist groups focused on attacking NATO troops across the border in Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Local and federal authorities are teaming up today out of concern about the growing misuse of prescription drugs, especially among kids 12 to 17 years old. Police Departments and other agencies across the country are joining the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration today to collect unused, expired and unwanted prescription drugs that will later be destroyed.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - NATO says action in eastern Afghanistan has killed more than 30 insurgents. Two NATO troops have been killed by a bomb in a separate incident. NATO also says it captured an insurgent commander and killed another linked to attacks and other violence during last weekend's parliamentary elections.