TODAY'S NEWS: SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2011

SENATOR TOOMEY OPENS NEW OFFICE

Senator Pat Toomey has officially announced the opening of his permanent Senate office in Allentown. The office is led by Deputy State Director Sue Zimskind and will serve Pennsylvanians in Schuylkill County, as well as; Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Monroe, and Northampton Counties.

LOCAL STORES SELLING BATH SALTS USED TO GET HIGH

They're on store shelves all over the area and are being used to get high. The legal "drug", bath salts have similar effects or crystal meth. Bath salts are even reported to be much more potent and dangerous. Thousands of dollars of these products are being sold each day throughout the area. Nirvana's closet at the Schuylkill Mall carries the "legal drug." Choice Tobacco store in Atlas, Northumberland County, and Utopia in Wilkes-Barre also have it in stock. These dangerous products are also available over the internet for around $40. What the fine print may leave out is that this chemical causes hallucinations, paranoia, a rapid rate, and even suicidal thoughts. The girlfriend of a missing Shamokin man reported that he was using the "legal drug" before his disappearance on February 3rd.

MAN USES FRADULENT CARDS CAUGHT

A Kelayres man is accused of access device fraud and identity theft in which he authorized an ATM card in the name of an elderly man and spent nearly $5,000, state police at Frackville said. Troopers said James F. McGill Jr. obtained the card in the name of an tenant of White Owl Manor, Mahanoy City, and used it 13 times to the amount of $4,926 between Aug. 16 and Aug. 30, 2010. McGill was arraigned Friday before Magisterial District Judge Stephen J. Bayer, Tamaqua, on two counts of access device fraud and one count each of identity theft and theft. He later posted 10 percent of $25,000 bail, troopers said. Troopers withheld the name of the victim.

MYERSTOWN, Pa. (AP) - State police have arrested a Lebanon
County man after they say he shot and killed his wife then used her
10-year-old daughter as a shield during a standoff. Police say the
standoff began after Jonathan Eisenhauer called 911 early Friday to
report he'd shot and killed his wife and a dog inside the home in
Jackson Township. The girl was later released.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) - An eastern Pennsylvania man will serve up
to three years in prison for having sex with a teenage patient at a
group home where he worked. The Allentown Morning call reports
Andre Lamonte Ingram pleaded guilty in October to felony
institutional sexual assault at Northwestern Human Services.
Officials say he was a staff member and the 17-year-old girl was
being treated there.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A new filing in a court case over conduct
at the multibillion-dollar charitable trust that controls the candy
maker Hershey reveals the identity of a former executive allegedly
fired for violating his duties to the trust. Robert Vowler's 2009
termination letter accuses him of including individual retirement
accounts in The Hershey Trust's common funds.

WINDHAM, N.Y. (AP) - State police say a novice skier from
Pennsylvania has died after an accident on a slope in New York's
Catskills Mountains. They say 69-year-old Joan Sabatini of Yardley
was skiing with friends when she fell and slid off a trail into a
tree at Windham Mountain Ski Resort yesterday.

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) - Organizers of an officially banned
anti-government demonstration in the Algerian capital say it's
picking up steam. Organizers say several thousand people have
gathered in the city center. Hundreds of riot police in Algiers,
blocked streets and charged the crowd in a bid to keep protesters
out of the city center. The protest comes a day after Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak resigned.

CAIRO (AP) - The military is now fully in charge in Egypt,
following the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak after three
decades of authoritarian rule. Military officials, who have pledged
to shepherd reforms for greater democracy, told the nation they
will announce the next steps soon. Protesters are trying to decide
whether to head home or stay until the military announces reforms.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama says he is making
difficult cuts to allow needed spending increases in education,
technology and basic infrastructure like roads and bridges. His
weekly radio and Internet address provided a broad preview of his
administration's budget for fiscal 2012. Obama says the combination
of cuts and new spending will result in an overall spending freeze
for the next five years.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republicans are taking issue with President
Barack Obama's budget plans. In the Republican radio and Internet
address, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch argues Obama's spending reduction
plans are too timid. Hatch says the nation is "on borrowed time
and needs to "make some significant changes in order to compete."

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - At least one person is dead in a
bold midday assault on the provincial police headquarters in the
southern city of Kandahar by Taliban insurgents. The insurgents
fired rocket-propelled grenades and touched off an ongoing street
battle. The assault showed insurgents are still able to launch
strikes on heavily fortified government institutions despite an
influx of U.S. troops into Afghanistan.