TODAY'S NEWS: FRIDAY SEPT 9,2011

JASMINE BROOKS WALKS THE STREETS OF PINE GROVE AS RESIDENTS BEGIN CLEANING UP AFTER THE FLOOD.




FLOODING IN COUNTY

SCHUYLKILL COUNTY WAS HARD HIT BY MASSIVE FLOODING AND ROAD CLOSURES THURSDAY, WITH THE PINE GROVE AREA BEING THE HARDEST HIT WITH OVER 100 PEOPLE FORCED TO SEEK SHELTER. IN SCHUYLKILL HAVEN RESIDENTS WERE ALSO EVACUATED AND FORCED TO SEEK SHELTER AT SCHUYLKILL HAVEN HIGH SCHOOL AFTER SWOYER‘S DAM OVERFLOWED ITS BANKS THURSDAY. JANET CURTIS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE AMERICAN RED CROSS IN POTTSVILLE SAYS THAT AS OF THIS MORNING OVER 300 RESIDENTS WERE IN SHELTERS OVERNIGHT BUT HAVE RETURNED TO THEIR HOMES. THE PINE GROVE AND SHAMOKIN SHELTERS WILL REMAIN OPEN TO HELP RESIDENTS DISPLACED FROM THE FLOOD. ALSO SCHUYLKILL COUNTY’S FLOOD WARNING WILL EXPIRE TODAY AT 10:30AM

UPDATE ON ATTEMPTED HOMICIDE

YESTERDAY WE REPORTED TO YOU ABOUT 39 YEAR OLD FRANK STUMHOFER OF ORWIGSBURG WHO IS ACCUSED OF SHOOTING HIS FATHER ALONG WITH FIRING AT OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS. THE INCIDENT IS BEING CARRIED AS ONE SERIES OF EVENTS AND ALL CHARGES WILL BE CONSOLIDATED AND FILED IN SCHUYLKILL COUNTY. STUMHOFER WAS ARRAIGNED ON CHARGES OF CRIMINAL HOMICIDE, ATTEMPTED CRIMINAL HOMICIDE, AGGRAVATED ASSAULT AND IS BEING HELD IN SCHUYLKILL COUNTY PRISON.


POWER RESTORED

OVER 350 RESIDENTS OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY HAVE HAD THEIR POWER RESTORED AFTER FLOODING KNOCKED POWER OUT. PPL REPORTS THAT MOSTLY ALL RESIDENTS IN PINE GROVE BOROUGH AND PINE GROVE TWP NOW HAVE ALL CUSTOMERS BACK UP AND RUNNING WITH JUST A HANDFUL LEFT IN UPPER MAHATONGO TWP REMAINING. IN AREAS LIKE DAUPHIN, LUZERNE AND COLUMBIA COUNTIES THEY ARE STILL SEEING THOUSANDS OF RESIDENTS WITHOUT POWER. COLUMBIA COUNTY ALONE HAS NEARLY 55 HUNDRED CUSTOMERS WITHOUT POWER.

STATE NEWS:

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) - The National Weather Service says the
Susquehanna River has crested above 38 feet, but below the top of
the levee system protecting tens of thousands of Luzerne County
residents. Weather service hydrologist Dave Ondrejik says the river
is slowly receding.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) - President Barack Obama has declared a
state of emergency in Pennsylvania. The declaration will allow for
federal aid to more than 40 rain- and flood-soaked counties.
Between 5 and 9 inches of rain fell in some parts of the state in a
little more than a week.

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - Officials are warning that floodwaters
from recent storms are nasty with sewage and other toxins and must
be avoided. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett says a public health
emergency is looming because sewage treatment plants have been
knocked out by the floods.

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) - A former police officer for the U.S. Mint in
Philadelphia has admitted to stealing $2.4 million worth of
"error" coins and selling them to a coin distributor. Federal
authorities say William Gray pleaded guilty yesterday. The New
Jersey man had worked at the Mint since 1996.

NATIONAL NEWS:

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama travels to Richmond,
Va. today to begin rallying public support for the $450 billion
jobs plan he unveiled to Congress and the nation last night. House
Speaker John Boehner (BAY'-nur) says Republicans are hoping Obama
"gives serious consideration" to their ideas as well.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) - Residents in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. who've
had to evacuate their homes because of flooding are being told not
to expect to return home until at least Sunday. On-going rains from
what had been Tropical Storm Lee have inundated communities along
the river. Similar scenarios are playing out in Maryland and New
York state.

SAN DIEGO (AP) - The lights are back on in Arizona and they're
slowly returning to parts of Southern California and Mexico. Some 6
million people lost power yesterday afternoon when authorities say
an electrical worker removed a piece of monitoring equipment at a
power substation in southwest Arizona.

PARIS (AP) - Interpol is issuing red notices for the arrested of
former Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi, his son Seif (sayf)
al-Islam and Gadhafi's former head of military intelligence.
Interpol issued the notice following a request by the prosecutor of
the International Criminal Court at The Hague, which is accusing
the men of crimes against humanity.

ROME (AP) - A U.N. food agency says the number of severely
malnourished children hospitalized in North Korea is quickly
rising. The World Food Program says It's been able to reach fewer
than half the 3.5 million North Koreans it hopes to feed. Recent
flooding has caused damage to farmland in the North.