TODAY'S NEWS:MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2010

SEIP SECURES STATE GRANT

STATE REPRESENTATIVE TIM SEIP ANNOUNCED A $125,000 STATE GRANT FOR THE SCHUYLKILL ALLIANCE FOR HEALTH CARE ACCESS. THE ALLIANCE NEGOTIATES WITH DOCTORS FOR LOWER-COST SERVICES AND HELPS CLIENTS FIND CARE PROVIDERS WHO WILL SEE PATIENTS AT MEDICAID PRICES OR OTHER REDUCED RATES. THE ALLIANCE STAFF HELPS CLIENTS FIND LOW OR NO-COST PRESCRIPTION MEDICATION AND ALSO LINES UP BLOOD TESTING FOR DIABETIC PATIENTS AND OTHERS WHO NEED REGULAR TESTING. THERE ARE OVER 1,000 PEOPLE IN SCHUYLKILL COUNTY CURRENTLY BEING SERVED BY THE ALLIANCE.

WILL SCHUYLKILL COUNTY SEE CHANGE?

IN ADDITION TO CHOOSING A NEW GOVERNOR AND U.S SENATOR, SCHUYLKILL COUNTY VOTERS ALSO HAVE FOUR LOCAL RACES TO DECIDE FOR REPRESENTATION ON THE STATE AND NATIONAL LEVELS. THE U.S REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE 17TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT AND THE STATE HOUSE MEMBERS FOR THE 123RD, 124TH, AND 125TH LEGISLATIVE DISTRICTS WILL ALL BE CHOSEN TOMORROW ON ELECTION DAY. VOTING WILL BE DONE IN 125 PRECINCTS. POLLS OPEN AT 7AM AND CLOSE AT 8PM. DON'T FORGET TO GET OUT AND VOTE!

MINERSVILLE ARSON MEETING

LAST NIGHT, THE COMMUNITY OF MINERSVILLE HELD A MEETING AIMED AT EDUCATING THE PUBLIC ABOUT ARSON AND PREVENTION. "PREVENTING ARSON TOGETHER" WAS HOSTED BY MINERSVILLE BOROUGH OFFICIALS AFTER A NUMBER OF ARSON FIRES IN THE BOROUGH. A COMMUNITY CRIME WATCH HAS BEEN SET UP. A $5,800 REWARD IS BEING OFFERED TO THE APPREHENSION AND CONVICTION OF THE ARSONIST.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA IS COMING TO PHILADELPHIA TO STUMP FOR DEMOCRATS ON THE EVE OF TUESDAY'S MIDTERM ELECTIONS. OBAMA IS HEADLINING THE GET-OUT-THE-VOTE RALLY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA TONIGHT. THE FIRST LADY HIT THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL IN OCTOBER FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE HER HUSBAND'S 2008 ELECTION.

WASHINGTON (AP) - FEDERAL AUTHORITIES SAY THEY PLAN TO DEPLOY MORE THAN 400 OBSERVERS AND OTHER PERSONNEL TO PLACES IN 18 STATES, INCLUDING PHILADELPHIA, TO MONITOR POLLS DURING TOMORROW'S ELECTION. THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SAYS THE CIVIL RIGHTS DIVISION'S EFFORT IS AIMED AT FINDING OUT WHETHER VOTERS ARE SUBJECT TO DIFFERENT VOTING QUALIFICATIONS OR PROCEDURES ON THE BASIS OF RACE.

CAIRNBROOK, PA. (AP) - AUTHORITIES IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HAVE RELEASED THE NAMES OF AN ELDERLY MAN AND HIS FATHER FOUND DEAD AFTER AN EARLY MORNING FIRE DESTROYED THEIR HOME. STATE POLICE IN SOMERSET COUNTY SAY THE BLAZE IN SHADE TOWNSHIP WAS REPORTED JUST BEFORE 5 A.M. YESTERDAY. THEY SAY 66-YEAR-OLD GARY GEORGE AND 96-YEAR-OLD EDWARD GEORGE WERE FOUND DEAD INSIDE.

ERIE, PA. (AP) - JURORS IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA WILL RESUME DELIBERATIONS TODAY IN THE CASE OF A WOMAN CHARGED WITH PLOTTING TO FORCE A PIZZA DELIVERY DRIVER TO ROB A BANK WEARING A METAL BOMB COLLAR THAT EXPLODED SHORTLY AFTER THE AUGUST 2003 HEIST. THE ERIE PANEL HEARD CLOSING ARGUMENTS THURSDAY AND DELIBERATED ALL DAY FRIDAY WITHOUT REACHING A VERDICT.

MOUNT MERAPI, INDONESIA (AP) - INDONESIA'S DEADLY VOLCANO HAS UNLEASHED ANOTHER POWERFUL ERUPTION, SPEWING OUT TOWERING CLOUDS OF HOT ASH. THERE WERE NO IMMEDIATE REPORTS OF NEW CASUALTIES OR DAMAGE.MOUNT MERAPI, ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST ACTIVE VOLCANOES, HAS KILLED AT LEAST 38 PEOPLE IN THE PAST WEEK.SAFARI DWIYONO, A VOLCANOLOGIST, SAID ASH AND DEBRIS WERE FIRED HUNDREDS OF YARDS (METERS) INTO THE AIR ON MONDAY MORNING. SEARING GASES WERE ALSO SPILLING DOWN THE SLOPES OF THE 9,700-FOOT (3,000-METER) MOUNTAIN. INDONESIA IS PRONE TO EARTHQUAKES AND ERUPTIONS BECAUSE IT STRADDLES A SERIES OF FAULT LINES AND VOLCANOES KNOWN AS THE PACIFIC "RING OF FIRE." ON THE OTHER END OF THE COUNTRY, RESCUE WORKERS WERE FERRYING AID TO SURVIVORS OF A TSUNAMI THAT KILLED AT LEAST 450 PEOPLE.

KINGSTOWN, ST. VINCENT (AP) - TOMAS (TOH-MAHS') HAS NOW WEAKENED TO A TROPICAL STORM, BUT NOT BEFORE TEARING OFF ROOFS AND BRINGING DOWN POWER LINES IN THE EASTERN CARIBBEAN. FORECASTERS SAY THE STORM COULD REGAIN STRENGTH AND HEAD TOWARD HAITI, WHICH STILL HASN'T RECOVERED FROM A POWERFUL EARTHQUAKE EARLIER THIS YEAR. TOMAS HAS MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS OF 65 MPH, SLIGHTLY WEAKER THAN A HURRICANE. THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER IN MIAMI SAYS TOMAS WILL PROBABLY WEAKEN MORE DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS AS IT CONTINUES TO MOVE AWAY FROM LAND, BUT IT COULD GET STRONGER AROUND THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK AND THEN HEAD NORTH TOWARD HAITI. THAT COULD BE DISASTROUS FOR THE ISLAND NATION, WHERE SOME 1.3 MILLION PEOPLE ARE LIVING UNDER TARPS AND TENTS AFTER JANUARY'S QUAKE. AND A CHOLERA EPIDEMIC HAS KILLED MORE THAN 330 AND
HOSPITALIZED NEARLY 5,000.

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (AP) - AN AFGHAN POLICE CHIEF AND TALIBAN SPOKESMAN SAY THE MILITANT GROUP HAS OVERRUN A DISTRICT IN EASTERN AFGHANISTAN, OCCUPYING GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS AND CAPTURING POLICE OFFICERS AFTER AN INTENSE GUNFIGHT. KHOGYANI DISTRICT POLICE HEAD MOHAMMAD YASIN WAS AWAY DURING THE OVERNIGHT ATTACK BUT CONFIRMED GOVERNMENT OFFICES HAD BEEN TAKEN OVER. HE DID NOT HAVE ANY INFORMATION ON CASUALTIES.
TALIBAN SPOKESMAN ZABIULLAH MUJAHID SAID MONDAY INSURGENTS ARE IN CONTROL OF THE DISTRICT HEADQUARTERS AND ALL THE POLICE GUARDING IT HAVE BEEN KILLED OR CAPTURED. IN RECENT MONTHS, GHAZNI HAS BECOME OF THE MOST UNSTABLE PROVINCES IN AFGHANISTAN. THE COUNTRY HAS MORE THAN 350 DISTRICTS. AROUND 10 ARE UNDER DIRECT TALIBAN CONTROL BUT THEY HAVE A PRESENCEIN MANY MORE.


BAGHDAD (AP) - OFFICIALS IN IRAQ SAY AT LEAST ONE PRIEST AND NINE POLICEMEN ARE AMONG THE 39 DEAD FROM THE BLOODY SIEGE OF A BAGHDAD CATHOLIC CHURCH. DOZENS OF PEOPLE WERE INJURED WHEN ATTACKERS STORMED THE BAGHDAD CHURCH YESTERDAY DURING A CHURCH SERVICE, TAKING ABOUT 120 PEOPLE HOSTAGE. THEY WERE LATER FREED BY IRAQI FORCES WHO STORMED THE BUILDING.

PARACHINAR, PAKISTAN (AP) - LOCAL INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS SAY FIVE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN KILLED IN NORTHWEST PAKISTAN BY A SUSPECTED U.S. DRONE ATTACK. AL-QAIDA AND TALIBAN MILITANTS HAVE LONG SOUGHT SANCTUARY IN THE REGION. ALSO IN THE NORTHWEST, FOUR MILITANTS STORMED A POLICE COMPLEX, KILLING TWO OFFICERS, AND GUNMEN ATTACKED TANKERS CARRYING FUEL FOR NATO AND US TROOPS JUST ACROSS THE BORDER IN AFGHANISTAN.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - THE MAN ACCUSED OF KIDNAPPING ELIZABETH SMART FROM HER UTAH HOME EIGHT YEARS AGO GOES ON TRIAL IN FEDERAL COURT TODAY AFTER EIGHT YEARS OF DELAYS. BRIAN DAVID MITCHELL WAS DEEMED INCOMPETENT TO STAND TRIAL IN STATE COURT. FEDERAL AUTHORITIES STEPPED IN AND HE WAS DECLARED COMPETENT EARLIER THIS YEAR.

AUSTIN, TEXAS (AP) - PROSECUTORS AND DEFENSE ATTORNEYS ARE SCHEDULED TO FIRE OPENING SALVOS TODAY AS THEY LAY OUT THEIR CASES IN THE LONG DELAYED TRIAL OF FORMER U.S. HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER TOM DELAY. HE'S ACCUSED OF HELPING TO ILLEGALLY FINANCE TEXAS LEGISLATIVE RACES IN 2002. THE TRIAL IS IN AUSTIN.

ARLINGTON, TEXAS (AP) - SAN FRANCISCO GETS A SHOT AT WRAPPING UP THE WORLD SERIES TONIGHT. MADISON BUMGARNER ALLOWED THREE HITS IN EIGHT INNINGS, AUBREY HUFF AND BUSTER POSEY HOMERED AND SAN FRANCISCO BEAT THE TEXAS RANGERS 4-0 LAST NIGHT TO TAKE A 3-1 LEAD. OPENING-GAME WINNER TIM LINCECUM PITCHES FOR THE GIANTS TONIGHT AGAINST GAME 1 LOSER CLIFF LEE.