Today's News-Saturday, January 14th, 2012

SCHUYLKILL CAMPUS HAS NEW LEADER

Pennsylvania State University named a new chancellor for its Schuylkill campus Friday. Kelly M. Austin, vice president of finance and administration at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, will replace R. Keith Hillkirk, who moved to the role of chancellor at Penn State Berks in 2011. Austin currently is the chief business and administration officer of the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown since 2008. His duties included the development and implementation of a strategic plan, collaboration with senior officers to ensure student retention and leading the development and implementation of the campus operating budget, capital budget and auxiliary budget. Austin has also been active in numerous community service organizations, including United Way, Special Olympics, Make-A-Wish, Habitat for Humanity and March of Dimes. Austin will officially take over the reigns as chancellor of June 1st.

YUENGLING TAKES OVER TOP SALES BY U.S. BREWER

D.G. Yuengling and Son, which proudly bills itself as America's oldest brewery, has something new to brag about. The Pottsville company, whose sales surged last year when it entered Ohio, has become the largest American beer-maker by surpassing Boston Beer in 2011 sales. That's right. A beer launched by a German immigrant in 1829 to quench the thirst of Pennsylvania coal miners can claim a distinction once held by Anheuser-Busch, maker of the iconic Budweiser brand, which got gobbled up by a Belgian company a few years ago. Boston Beer, which makes Samuel Adams and has a plant in Fogelsville, became the country's largest domestic-owned brewery in 2008. And Yuengling was a close second. The two companies have since been neck-and-neck in sales until the end of 2011, when Yuengling started selling beer in its 14th state, Ohio. Yuengling sold 2.5 million barrels of beer in 2011, up 17 percent from the previous year, according to Beer Marketer's Insights in Suffern, N.Y., a magazine that tracks the beer industry. Boston Beer sold 2.4 million barrels in 2011, the magazine estimated. Yuengling is expected to retain the distinction for the foreseeable future. Its 2012 sales will likely increase since this will be its first full year in Ohio.

ALLENTOWN MAN PLEADS TO DRUG CHARGE

Hector Rivera helped his brother distribute methamphetamine in Schuylkill County for five years, and will forfeit several more years than that of his freedom for doing so. As reported by the Republican Herald, Rivera of Allentown, pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Scranton to one charge of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute in excess of 500 grams of methamphetamine. Senior U.S. District Judge Edwin M. Kosik accepted the plea, ordered the U.S. Probation Office to prepare a presentence report and said he would schedule sentencing at a later date. However, U.S. Attorney Peter J. Smith said that under a plea agreement between Rivera and prosecutors, the defendant will be sentenced to spend 144 months in a federal correctional institution.

PORTO SANTO STEFANO, Italy (AP) - One passenger calls it a scene
from the Titanic. Others say the evacuation was chaotic. A luxury
cruise ship ran aground off the coast of Tuscany last night,
gashing open the hull and forcing some 4,200 people to evacuate.
Officials say at least three are dead and 69 unaccounted for.

ZUBAIR, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi officials say at least 53 Shiite
pilgrims have been killed in a bomb attack near the southern port
city of Basra. It's the latest in a series of attacks during Shiite
religious commemorations that threaten to further increase
sectarian tensions just weeks after the U.S. withdrawal.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Officials in Nome, Alaska, are deciding
where to moor a Russian tanker to safely pump much needed fuel into
city tanks but still be able to free the ship with the help of an
ice-breaker. The tanker can't dock because the port is iced in and
the ice-breaker can't operate too close to shore. A November storm
prevented Nome's final barge delivery of fuel for the winter.

UNDATED (AP) - Five Republican presidential candidates will meet
at a South Carolina forum today hosted by former Arkansas Gov. Mike
Huckabee, who ran for the nomination in 2008. Ron Paul is the only
one not participating. Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich
also have other South Carolina events, a week ahead of that state's
primary.

LISBON, Portugal (AP) - A Department of Justice official says
the United States has asked Portugal's Supreme Court to review its
refusal to extradite American fugitive George Wright. Portuguese
police captured Wright in September last year, 41 years after he
escaped from a U.S. prison where he was serving a sentence for
murder. He had been living in Portugal since 1993.