TODAY'S NEWS: SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2011

ANOTHER SHENANDOAH PHARMACY ROBBED

Borough police are looking for a man who robbed the pharmacy of Redner's Warehouse Market on Friday afternoon. It was the second pharmacy and third store to be robbed in the borough in the past two weeks. No one was injured, police said. According to reports in the Republican and Herald, Police Chief Joseph Hall said the suspect walked into the store, located on the Gold Star Highway, Route 924, about 2:40 p.m. and handed a note to pharmacy employees demanding they give him the medications listed on the paper. The suspect then left the store with an undisclosed amount of prescription medication. The suspect is described by police as a white male, 5 feet 11 inches tall, who wore a scarf over his face, a baseball cap and black hooded sweatshirt. Hall said that officers are working with Redner's main office to obtain video surveillance from the store in hopes it will help them identify the robber. Anyone with information on any of the three robberies in Shenandoah is asked to call police at 462-1008 or the county communications center at 462-1991. All information will remain confidential, police said.

FUNNY MONEY FLOATED IN CITY

Pottsville police are investigating several cases of counterfeit money used at city businesses. Police said several establishments unknowingly accepted counterfeit bills. The most recent instances involved fake $100 bills, police said. The U.S. Secret Service is actively investigating, police said. Tips on detecting counterfeit currency can be found at www.secretservice.gov. Anyone with information are asked to call police at 622-1234.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The Philadelphia Housing Authority board is
giving up control of the agency to the federal government for at
least a year. The feds have also asked all five board members to
resign following the firing of longtime executive director Carl
Greene.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A judge has scheduled the public corruption
retrial of Republican state Senator Jane Orie for April 11th. Orie
is charged with using her state funded staff to do campaign work
and with conspiring with her sister, Janine, to have the staff also
work on the 2009 campaign of a third sister, state Supreme Court
Justice Joan Orie Melvin.

LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) - Police say a central Pennsylvania used-car
salesman who had alcohol and pot in system took a man and his son
on a test drive at about double the speed limit, swerving around a
truck and flipping the car, killing one of the passengers. Michael
Hershey is charged with vehicular homicide and DUI.

CARLISLE, Pa. (AP) - Dickinson College in Carlisle is vowing to
address the concerns of students occupying a campus building in
protest of the school's policy on sexual assaults. The college says
a review committee has determined specific steps to achieve the
goal of bringing a draft sexual misconduct policy to the faculty.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama says Republicans and
Democrats in Congress should look for common ground on spending
cuts. In his weekly radio and Internet message, Obama is urging
compromise to avert a government shutdown when a stopgap bill
expires March 18. He says he's willing to agree to steeper cuts but
offers no specifics. The two sides are about $50 billion apart.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republicans say President Barack Obama isn't
walking the walk when it comes to cutting the budget enough to stem
the flow of red ink. In their weekly radio and Internet message,
Tennessee Congresswoman Diane Black rejects Obama's approach,
saying it adds to the nation's debt. The two sides are about $50
billion apart.

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) - Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's forces
have achieved what could be a crucial breakthrough in the regime's
defense of the Libyan capital, Tripoli. Loyalists broke through
rebel lines in Zawiya today. But rebels had their moment too,
capturing the key oil port of Ras Lanouf after a fierce battle.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - The astronauts aboard the orbiting
space shuttle-station complex are getting ready to part ways. But
first comes a few more maintenance chores. The two crews will work
on the station's air system and make sure a Japanese cargo carrier
is properly loaded with trash. It will be let loose at the end of
this month and plunge through the atmosphere. The shuttle undocking
is Monday.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - The U.S. Marshals Service says a
Connecticut man believed to be responsible for rapes and other
attacks on 17 women in several states since 1997 has been arrested.
The suspect was dubbed the East Coast Rapist.