TODAY'S NEWS: SATURDAY, JULY 9, 2011

BICENTENNIAL

TODAY IS A BIG DAY FOR SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, WITH A DAY LONG CELEBRATION AT SWEET ARROW LAKE COUNTY PARK. THE DAY BEGINS WITH A GEOCACHING EVENT AT NOON, WITH THE HUNT TAKING PLACE ALL ACROSS THE COUNTY. THE PICNIC BEGINS AT 1PM, WITH ENTERTAINMENT AND ACTIVITIES THROUGHOUT THE DAY. THE EVENING WILL WRAP UP WITH A SPLENDID FIREWORKS DEMONSTRATION AT THE WATERFALL AT SWEET ARROW AT 9:30PM. COME CELEBRATE WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS TODAY AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SCHUYLKILL COUNTY!

BLOOD DRIVE

WPPA IS PROUD TO BE PARTNERING WITH THE AMERICAN RED CROSS AND SCHUYLKILL M.R.I. FOR THE CHILL N FILL BLOOD DRIVE AT FAIRLANE VILLAGE MALL FROM 9AM TILL 3PM. IT ONLY TAKES AN HOUR TO DONATE BLOOD, WHICH IS IN SHORT SUPPLY IN THE SUMMER MONTHS. PRESENTING DONORS CAN WIN SOME GREAT PRIZES, INCLUDING AN APPLE IPAD! JZ AND JAY LEVAN WILL BE BROADCASTING FROM THE EVENT, AND WALK IN DONORS ARE WELCOMED. FOR MORE, CALL 1800-GIVE-LIFE.

EARLY MORNING BLAZE DAMAGES RINGTOWN HOME

FIRE CREWS FROM SCHUYLKILL AND COLUMBIA COUNTIES WERE CALLED OUT EARLY YESTERDAY MORNING TO BATTLE A TWO ALARM BLAZE IN RINGTOWN. RINGTOWN FIRE CHIEF RAYMOND DUNSAVAGE SAID THE CALL WENT OUT AT FIRST JUST AFTER THREE IN THE MORNING FOR THE SMELL OF SMOKE IN THE AREA OF SHENANDOAH ROAD AND WEST MAIN STREET IN RINGTOWN. FIRE CREWS FOUND SMOKE COMING FROM THE SECOND FLOOR OF THE HOME AT 508 SHENANDOAH ROAD. WHEN CREWS WENT INTO THE HOME THEY FOUND FIRE ON THE SECOND FLOOR AND ATTIC OF THE HOME AND THE FLAMES SOON ERUPTED THROUGH THE ROOF. NO ONE WAS AT THE HOME WHEN THE FIRE BROKE OUT AS THE OWNERS WERE AWAY ON VACATION. THE FIRE WAS DETERMINED BE ELECTRICAL IN NATURE.

TRAFFIC TIE UP

POTTSVILLE POLICE TELL US THAT NORTH CENTRE STREET WILL BE CLOSED TODAY FROM HARRISON STREET TO NICHOLS STREET, AND HARRISON STREET WILL BE CLOSED FROM PROGRESS AVENUE TO NORTH CENTRE STREET FOR THE SCHUYLKILL ROAD HAWGS BIKER DAY FROM 8AM-7PM.

ACCIDENT ON 61

A MAN IS HURT WHEN HIS MOTORCYCLE COLLIDES WITH A DEER YESTERDAY MORNING IN SCHUYLKILL COUNTY. STATE POLICE SAY 50-YEAR OLD KENNETH WHITE OF SHOEMAKERSVILLE WAS DRIVING ALONG ROUTE 61 AROUND 6 YESTERDAY MORNING IN WEST BRUNSWICK TOWNSHIP WHEN A DEER RAN OUT IN FRONT OF HIS MOTORCYCLE. WHITE WAS UNABLE TO AVOID THE DEER. HE WAS EJECTED FROM HIS CYCLE ON IMPACT. WHITE WAS WEARING A HELMET. HE SUFFERED LACERATIONS AND COMPLAINED OF RIB PAIN DUE TO THE COLLISION AND WAS TAKEN TO SCHUYLKILL MEDICAL CENTER SOUTH.

CHURCH HELPING

PARISHONERS OF AN AUBURN CHURCH ARE PUTTING THE WORD OUT TO GATHER SUPPLIES TO HELP OUT FAMILIES IN JOPLIN, MISSOURI WHO WERE DEVASTATED BY LAST MONTHS TORNADO. MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY CHURCH IN AUBURN ARE SPEARHEADING THE VENTURE, GATHERING NON PERISHABLE FOOD, CLOTHING , PERSONAL ITEMS AND MORE AND WILL EMBARK ON A 20 HOUR JOURNEY TO JOPLIN NEXT SUNDAY. FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT SONYA AT 640-8385.

ELYSBURG, Pa. (AP) - Authorities have not yet been able to
determine why a 6-year-old boy died after jumping into a swimming
pool at an eastern Pennsylvania amusement park.
An autopsy was conducted Friday on George S. Roberts III of
Wilkes-Barre. Locust Township police Chief Allen Breach says more
tests are needed to identify the cause of death.
Roberts was found under water on Wednesday in the Crystal Pool
at Knoebels (kuh-NOH'-bulz) Amusement Resort in Elysburg.
Lifeguards tried to resuscitate the boy, but he later died at a
nearby hospital.
There had been conflicting reports about whether Roberts had hit
his head. Breach says preliminary evaluations show no signs of head
or neck trauma.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) - Penn State trustees next week are
expected to formalize a tuition hike, though more fallout from a 19
percent cutback in state funding could trickle out for weeks and
months to come.
Pennsylvania's largest university system this spring was a year
into an intensive financial review that school officials said was
hastened by declining state support over the past decade - and that
was before Gov. Tom Corbett in March proposed a 50 percent cut in
aid to Penn State and 17 other state or state-related universities
in the commonwealth.
Budget negotiations slashed those cuts to 19 percent by the time
the blueprint was signed by Corbett last week.
The College of Agricultural Sciences may endure the toughest
financial blow after having its research and extension funding cut
as well.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - The astronauts aboard space shuttle
Atlantis are awake and beginning a day's work mostly involving
checking the delicate heat shield from launch damage. Astronauts on
the final shuttle mission ever will use the shuttle's robot arm and
an extension to slowly examine the most vulnerable parts of the
shuttle's outer edges.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Former first lady Betty Ford is being
remembered for her candor and courage. She died yesterday at age
93. A family spokeswoman says her children and relatives are
traveling to California to make funeral arrangements. The family
expects to organize a service in Palm Springs over the next couple
days. She'll be buried in Michigan alongside former President
Gerald Ford.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama heads to Camp David
today, just ahead of tomorrow's White House meeting with
congressional leaders about spending cuts and raising the country's
borrowing authority to avoid a default. Options are seen as
dwindling and there's serious disagreement with Republicans.
Officials say a smaller, $2 trillion deal now appears more doable
than a $4 trillion plan.

SANAA, Yemen (AP) - A leading rights group Yemen says fighting
between Yemeni government troops and al-Qaida linked militants in
the country's unsettled south may have killed dozens of civilians
caught in the crossfire. Human Rights Watch cites accounts from
several residents who fled the fighting in Abyan province where the
government lost control over the provincial capital.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Police say a bodyguard working for the
country's second highest-ranking intelligence official shot and
killed two NATO troops in northern Afghanistan. The NATO troops
were with a reconstruction team convoy. Police say the bodyguard
stopped the convoy and argued with troops. The bodyguard was also
killed.