TODAY'S NEWS: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2011

12:20p COP TRIAL UPDATE:

A JURY HAS BEEN SELECTED IN THE TRIAL OF THREE FORMER SHENANDOAH POLICE OFFICERS. FOURTEEN OUT OF THE THIRTY FIVE HAVE BEEN SELECTED, AND TWO WILL SERVE AS ALTERNATES. JUDGE A. RICHARD CAPUTO WILL INSTRUCT THE JURY THIS MORNING. OPENING STATEMENTS ARE SCHEDULED TO BEGIN THIS AFTERNOON AFTER 1:00pm.

JURY SELECTION CONTINUES

AFTER NEARLY THREE DAYS AND A SNOW DELAY, THE TRIAL OF THREE LOCAL POLICE OFFICERS WILL HAVE A JURY. WPPA'S BRITTANY HAS MORE:

COP TRIAL

SCHUYLKILL COUNTY PRISON MAY BRING IN CONSULTANT

AFTER A COUNTY PRISON BOARD MEETING ON WEDNESDAY, THE SCHUYLKILL COUNTY PRISON MAY BRING IN A CONSULTANT TO HELP OUT. THE REPUBLICAN HERALD REPORTS, PROBLEMS AT THE PRISON HAVE BEEN MOUNTING. SUSPENSIONS, OVERTIME, AND BUDGETARY PROBLEMS ALL NEED TO BE CORRECTED. THE BOARD SUGGESTED BRINGING IN FORMER SUPERINTENDENT OF THE STATE CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION ROBERT SHANNON, BUT THE DEAL MUST BE APPROVED BY COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.

WOMAN HIT BY CAR DIES

A MAHANOY CITY WOMAN DIED AT GEISINGER MEDICAL CENTER IN DANVILLE TUESDAY AFTER SUFFERING SEVERE INJURIES WHEN SHE WAS HIT BY A CAR. 79-YEAR-OLD ELEANOR CLOVER WAS CROSSING THE STREET WHEN 82-YEAR-OLD FRANK SOUCHACK HIT HER. CLOVER WAS FLOWN TO THE HOSPITAL WITH SEVERE HEAD TRAUMA WHERE SHE LATER DIED.

GORDON MAN CHARGED IN WALMART THEFT

A GORDON MAN HAS BEEN CHARGED BY POLICE AFTER HE ALLEGEDLY STOLE $695.23 WORTH OF MERCHANDISE, $185 IN CASH, AND CAUSED $119.70 DAMAGE TO A CASH REGISTER DRAWER FROM WAL-MART SUPERCENTER AND THEN TOOK POLICE ON A CHASE. WADE HUBLER IS CHARGED BY COAL TOWNSHIP POLICE WITH RETAIL THEFT, THEFT BY UNLAWFUL TAKING, RECEIVING STOLEN PROPERTY AND CRIMINAL MISCHIEF. HUBLER WAS PREVIOUSLY CHARGED WITH NUMEROUS OFFENSES INVOLVING THE CHASE BY MOUNT CARMEL TOWNSHIP POLICE. ALSO CHARGED IS HUBLER'S ALLEGED ACCOMPLICE, 32-YEAR-OLD ROBERT BERGAN OF GORDON.

MAHANOY CITY MAN CHARGED

A MAHANOY CITY MAN IS CHARGED WITH BURGLARY, THEFT OF A MOTOR VEHICLE, RECEIVING STOLEN PROPERTY, AND OTHER CHARGES AFTER BEING STOPPED BY POLICE TUESDAY AFTERNOON. POLICE REPORT, 22-YEAR-OLD JONATHAN DOMBROWSKI BURGLARIZED HIS GRANDMOTHER’S HOME, STOLE HER CAR AND THEN CRASHED INTO A UTILITY POLE. DOMBROWSKI ADMITTED HE USED HERION WITHIN THE PAST TWO DAYS AND WAS TRANSPORTED TO POTTSVILLE HOSPITAL FOR A BLOOD TEST. HE WAS NOT INJURED.

IT'S TIME TO THINK SPRING, AND DAFFODILS. JAY LEVAN HAS MORE:

DAFFODIL DAYS

STATE NEWS:

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A HEARING IS SCHEDULED FRIDAY FOR A MAN CHARGED IN A SHOOTING DEATH IN A PITTSBURGH-AREA HOUSING DEVELOPMENT MORE THAN TWO YEARS AGO. AUTHORITIES TOLD THE PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE THAT ANDREW CARRINGTON WAS ALREADY BEING HELD ON AN UNRELATED FEDERAL CHARGE WHEN HE WAS CHARGED LAST WEEK WITH CRIMINAL HOMICIDE AND A FIREARMS CRIME IN THE DEATH OF DANIEL BRACEY.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A MAN WHO WAS STABBED TO DEATH IN PHILADELPHIA BY ANOTHER MAN WHO ALSO CRITICALLY INJURED A LAW STUDENT HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS EDWARD PRESCOTT OF THE WISSINOMING SECTION OF THE CITY. POLICE TOLD THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER THAT PRESCOTT WAS SITTING ON STEPS ON THE EDGE OF THE NORTHERN LIBERTIES SECTION WHEN A MAN WALKED UP AND STABBED HIM IN THE CHEST MONDAY.

READING, PA. (AP) - AN EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA TEENAGER HAS BEEN ORDERED HELD FOR TRIAL IN THE STABBING DEATH OF ANOTHER MAN LAST FALL. NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD JEAN VERLY OF WYOMISSING IS CHARGED WITH FIRST- AND THIRD-DEGREE MURDER, AGGRAVATED ASSAULT AND RELATED OFFENSES IN THE DEATH OF VICTOR MOTA JR. OUTSIDE A READING HOME.

ANN ARBOR, MICH. (AP) - TROUBLED BOOK SELLER BORDERS GROUP SAYS IT WILL CLOSE ONE OF THREE DISTRIBUTION CENTERS IN MID-JULY AND ELIMINATE THE TENNESSEE FACILITY'S 310 JOBS. BORDERS SAID ITS STRATEGIC FOCUS REMAINS ON REFINANCING ITS DEBT. CENTERS IN CARLISLE, PA., AND MIRA LOMA, CALIF., WILL ABSORB THE TENNESSEE CENTER'S FUNCTIONS.

NATIONAL NEWS:

TUCSON, ARIZ. (AP) - PRESIDENT OBAMA IS URGING AMERICANS TO RESIST PARTISAN BICKERING AND EMBRACE THE IDEALISTIC VISION OF DEMOCRACY HELD BY CHRISTINA TAYLOR GREEN. THE 9-YEAR-OLD WAS AN ASPIRING POLITICIAN AND THE YOUNGEST OF THE SIX PEOPLE KILLED IN SATURDAY'S SHOOTING IN TUCSON, ARIZONA. HER FUNERAL IS SET FOR LATER TODAY.

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) - SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND SAYS THE PROGRESS HER FRIEND, REP. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, IS MAKING EXCEEDS HER DOCTORS' GREATEST HOPES. GILLIBRAND SAYS SHE WAS HOLDING GIFFORDS' HAND YESTERDAY AND TALKING ABOUT TIMES THEIR FAMILIES HAD SHARED TOGETHER, WHEN THE WOUNDED CONGRESSWOMAN OPENED HER RIGHT EYE AND RAISED HER ARM.

BEIRUT (AP) - LEBANON'S PRESIDENT HAS ACCEPTED THE RESIGNATION OF PRIME MINISTER SAAD HARIRI'S (SAHD HAH-REER'-EEZ) CABINET. THAT FOLLOWS THE RESIGNATION OF HEZBOLLAH (HEZ-BUH'-LAH) MINISTERS AND THEIR ALLIES, WHICH FORCED THE GOVERNMENT TO COLLAPSE. THE FALL OF THE YEAR-OLD UNITY GOVERNMENT HAS THROWN LEBANON INTO UNCERTAINTY AGAIN AND THERE ARE CONCERNS ABOUT A NEW OUTBREAK OF SECTARIAN VIOLENCE. ISRAEL HAS PUT TROOPS NEAR THE BORDER ON ALERT.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - MUDSLIDES HAVE DEVASTATED A NUMBER OF MOUNTAIN TOWNS IN BRAZIL, KILLING MORE THAN 250 PEOPLE AND LEAVING DOZENS MORE MISSING. THE DEATH TOLL IN THE REGION NORTH OF RIO DE JANEIRO IS EXPECTED TO RISE AS FIREFIGHTERS REACH REMOTE VALLEYS AND STEEP MOUNTAINSIDES WHERE NEIGHBORHOODS HAVE BEEN DESTROYED.

BERLIN (AP) - GERMAN AUTHORITIES SAY A TANKER LOADED WITH SULFURIC ACID HAS CAPSIZED ON THE RHINE RIVER IN GERMANY AND TWO CREW MEMBERS ARE MISSING. THE RIVER HAS BEEN CLOSED TO SHIPPING AS EMERGENCY CREWS WORK TO SECURE THE TANKER AND FIND THE MISSING CREW MEMBERS. THERE'S BEEN NO INDICATION THAT THE 2,400 TONS OF SULFURIC ACID HAS LEAKED INTO THE RIVER.