TODAY'S NEWS TUE. NOV 8, 2011

LOCAL NEWS TUE. NOVEMBER 8, 2011

Pine Grove Water System May Be At Increased Risk From Microbial Contamination

The Chemical Building experienced some equipment failure and due to a water line repair all of the Pine Grove Borough Water Customers are under a Boil Water Advisory until further notice. There are conditions that could allow contamination to enter the distribution system through back-flow by back-pressure or back-siphonage. As a result, there is an increased chance that the water may contain disease-causing organisms.

GENERAL ELECTION DAY

Today is Election Day, and Schuylkill County voters will find judges, commissioners, and many other county and local officials vying for attention with their challengers on the ballot. The ads have all been run, and there is a bumper crop of campaign signs everywhere, but today is the time to decide who will represent you in office. The polls will remain open from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. Weather will not play a part in this election, as sunny skies with warm temperatures are forecast all day. Exercise your rights by visiting your local polling place and casting your ballot for your chosen candidates, then check in with WPPA AM and wpparadio.com for all the results.

CANCER SOCIETY NEEDS DRIVERS ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY

The American Cancer Society's Road to Recovery program provides transportation for cancer patients so they can get to and from their treatments. The Society's Schuylkill Unit is in desperate need of volunteer drivers at this time. The biggest obstacle that many cancer patients face is finding a ride to get to a hospital or doctor's office for life-saving treatments, and the Road to Recovery Program is there to provide this service for them. Drivers provide more than a ride, though. They are there to provide moral support and a sympathetic ear for the patient. These volunteer drivers use their own car to accompany patients to treatment appointments Monday through Friday mornings and afternoons. Volunteers can come from any age group, and training will be provided. If you are interested in being a volunteer driver, please contact Judy Hoppes at 888-227-5445, option 3.

NATIONWIDE EMERGENCY TEST COMING WEDNESDAY

There has never been a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency is ready to do just that. The alert will go out on Wednesday at 2:00 P.M. on every broadcast radio and television station, cable television, satellite radio and television services, and wireline video provider in the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa. The test will last thirty seconds, and will allow the federal government to determine how well the Emergency Alert System works, should there ever be a need to broadcast an alert to a large part of the country. There will be no disruption of service for cellular phone systems or the internet, though a plan is in the works to allow alerts to be sent to cell phone users.

Donations for Stephen's family

A local family of five is now homeless after their Minersville home was destroyed by fire Sunday. The Miners bank is now accepting donations for the Stephen's family who also lost their stepdaughter just 7-weeks ago. You can stop in their Minersville location anytime to donate to this family in need.

Preliminary hearing for son on charges of killing dad

A West Penn Township man testified Monday at a preliminary hearing for alleged murderer 39-year-old Franklin Stumhofer. David Osenbach, a neighbor to the victim 61-year-old Franklin Stumhofer Sr., said he heard "popping" on the afternoon of September 7. Prosecutors believe that "popping" was none other than the sound of his neighbor being fatally shot by his own son. At the end of the hearing Magisterial District Judge James Ferrier ruled that prosecutors had produced enough evidence to support each of the charges including three counts of criminal homicide. Stumhofer Jr. returned to prison and is being held without bail. He faces the possibility of a first-degree murder conviction.

State News:

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A spokesman for a Penn State satellite campus outside Erie says a former assistant football coach accused of molesting boys ran camps there for six years after being banned from taking children onto the main campus. Penn State Behrend spokesman Bill Gonda says Jerry Sandusky held summer camps for children there after the 2002 main campus ban.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania's state police commissioner says football coach Joe Paterno and other Penn State officials didn't do enough to try to stop suspected child sexual abuse. Commissioner Frank Noonan says Paterno may have fulfilled his legal requirement to report suspected abuse by former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. But Noonan says he questions "the moral requirements for a human being that knows of sexual things that are taking place with a child."

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania voters will elect two new appellate judges today and settle contests for thousands of local offices and judgeships. The statewide judicial contests pit Democratic Allegheny County Judge David Wecht against Republican Harrisburg lawyer Vic Stabile for a seat on Superior Court. Democrat Kathryn Boockvar and Republican Anne Covey are vying to fill an open seat on the Commonwealth Court. They're both lawyers from Bucks County.

National News:


ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's two main political parties are working on a power-sharing agreement as European leaders withhold a vitally needed loan until there's a deal. In Italy, a usually routine parliamentary vote on state accounts is being seen as a measure of confidence in Premier Silvio Berlusconi (behr-loos-KOH'-nee).

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Joe Frazier's legendary left hook couldn't help him against liver cancer. The man who beat Muhammad Ali 40 years ago in the so-called Fight of the Century died last night in Philadelphia at age 67. Ali once said that the last of their three fights, in 1975, was the closest thing to dying that he knows of.

ATLANTA (AP) — Herman Cain is planning a news conference in Phoenix this afternoon to confront the latest sexual allegations against him. They come from a woman who held a news conference yesterday — the first accuser to publicly reveal her identity. Cain says all the allegations are "totally fabricated."

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — A religious ceremony in northern India has turned tragic after some Hindu pilgrims converging on the Ganges River tripped and were trampled. An official says 16 people are dead and about 50 others injured. Indian authorities often have trouble controlling the crowds at pilgrimage sites.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court hears arguments today on police use of GPS devices to track suspects. The government argues that people have no expectation of privacy concerning their travel on public streets. A drug conspiracy conviction was thrown out because police planted a GPS device on a suspect's car