91.3 Lewisburg - 90.7 & 107.1 Williamsport - 90.9 Lewistown - 91.9 Kulpmont - 101.7 State College -104.7 Pottsville - 107.7 Bloomsburg
May 22, 2013
STATE COLLEGE - A man wanted for a killing in Washington, D.C., and featured on the TV show “America’s Most Wanted” has been arrested in Centre County. Patton Township police said Tuesday that Reynard Cook was arrested last week on charges of providing false identification to law enforcement and disorderly conduct. Cook was found to be wanted by the U.S. Marshals Service Arlington Office on homicide charges. Authorities in Washington, D.C., say Cook shot and killed a woman there in 2012. The Centre Daily Times reports, Cook was placed in Centre County Prison.
(WGRC)
May 21, 2013
MOORE, OKLAHOMA - A monstrous tornado at least a half-mile wide roared through Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds up to 200 mph. At least 51 people were killed, including at least 20 children, and officials said the death toll was expected to rise. The storm laid waste to scores of buildings in Moore, a community of 41,000 people about 10 miles south of the city. Block after block lay in ruins. Homes were crushed into piles of broken wood. Cars and trucks were left crumpled on the roadside. The National Weather Service issued an initial finding that the tornado was an EF-4, the second most-powerful type of twister. More than 120 people were being treated at hospitals, including about 50 children. Search-and-rescue efforts were to continue throughout the night.
(WGRC)
May 20, 2013
MADISON TOWNSHIP — A smoke bomb to ward off ground hogs probably set a log house ablaze Saturday, in Madison Township, Columbia County. The Press Enterprise reports, Dale Neufer said he used the smoke bomb before leaving for a luncheon at the Baptist church in White Hall about 1 p.m. When he returned to his 276 Katy’s Church Road home about 2:45 p.m., the house was in flames. Firefighters said flames were shooting up the side of the house when they arrived, and the fire definitely started on the exterior. The fire tore through the roof and basically gutted the log home. The Neufer’s will be staying with family until they find another place to live.
(WGRC)
May 17, 2013
SCHUYLKILL HAVEN – A crash on Route 61 in Schuylkill County yesterday claims the life of an East Stroudsburg woman. The crash happened around 8:30 a.m. on Route 61 and North Manheim Road near Schuylkill Haven. State Police say 59-year-old Diane Conners was a passenger in a car driven by 57-year-old Vistilla Bayton also of East Stroudsburg. Police say Bayton was following a tractor trailer that had made a turn at the intersection when the light changed. An oncoming vehicle driven by 50-year-old Katherine Roth of Auburn did not see Bayton’s car and slammed into the passenger’s side. Conners died from her injuries. Police did not say whether anyone else was injured in the crash.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)
May 15, 2013
BERWICK – In Columbia County, the Berwick Fire Company’s rescue boat rushed to the scene of two brothers and a young girl from a swamped boat near the base of the Berwick-Nescopeck Bridge on the Susquehanna River, Wednesday evening. Rick and Robert Dement, plus Robert’s 8-year-old daughter Emily, were fishing in a motorized boat around 7:30 p.m. under the Berwick-Nescopeck Bridge when their motor struck a rock and the boat was disabled. The boat then hit another rock that submerged its front end and caused it to get stuck taking on water. The Press Enterprise reports, within 15 minutes, the Berwick Fire Department had a boat in the water heading to rescue them. A crowd of about 20 people on the bridge broke out in applause when the three were rescued without injury.
(WGRC)
May 14, 2013
SOUTH CENTRE TOWNSHIP - A Danville man was killed early Tuesday when his car veered off Route 11 and slammed into trees. The Press Enterprise reports, 34-year-old Jason Snyder, died in the 3 a.m. crash just east of the Interstate 80 interchange at Lime Ridge. The Columbia County Coroner’s office says Snyder died at the scene.
(WGRC)
HOWARD – The Centre County Coroner’s office has concluded that a 17-year-old boy who died at a friend’s home in March died of a drug overdose. Centre County Coroner Scott Sayers reports Central Mountain High School senior, Devin Stacey died March 14 of an accidental drug overdose. Sayers says Suboxone and Xanax were found in his system. State Police are continuing their investigation into the case and no charges have yet been filed with Stacey’s death.
(WGRC)
May 14, 2013
STATE COLLEGE - After temperatures fell below freezing in just a few spots across the East Monday morning, a more widespread frost and freeze was expected overnight into Tuesday morning. As high pressure settles into the East and winds turned calm last night, temperatures plummeted to near freezing in the Central Susquehanna Valley. At four this morning temperatures were at 30 degrees in Williamsport and 32 degrees in Selinsgrove. At five a.m. the temperature in Selinsgrove dropped to 30 degrees.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)
NEWPORT – Fire crews in Perry County were called out this morning to battle a fire in Newport. The fire was reported around 4:30 a.m. at a home at 425 Mulberry Street in Newport. Perry County 9-1-1 officials tell us one person was taken to a hospital. Fire was reported coming from the home when crews arrived on the scene.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)
May 13, 2013
POTTSVILLE - Six people, four of them children, were killed in a deadly blaze in Schuylkill County. Fire crews said flames started at a home in the 200 block of Pierce Street in Pottsville late last night. Seven people lived in the home. Firefighters said the floors and roof of the home collapsed making it difficult to fight the blaze. The Schuylkill County Coroner’s office reports, two-year-old Elijah Brown, three-year-old Emily Brown, seven-year-old Jeremiah Brown, and eight-year-old Joy Brown, their father, 30-year-old Eric Brown was also killed. Flames also claimed the life of the family’s sister-in-law, 26-year-old Kristina Thomas. Authorities said the mother, Kelly Brown, was not home at the time. The fire chief said that five firefighters were injured battling the flames. The injuries were minor. A state police fire marshal is investigating the cause.
(WNEP)
May 10, 2013
MIDDLEBURG – A Snyder County jury deliberated for three hours Thursday before finding 37-year-old Robert Reich, and 39-year-old Christopher Aucker, both of Beavertown and 37-year-old Ryan Sprenkel, of Middleburg, not guilty on all charges in the 1997 beating death of 22-year-old Donald Seebold of New Berlin. Seebold was found dead after a party in July 1997 in Port Ann. Snyder County District Attorney Mike Piecuch alleged Seebold was beaten by the three after he flirted with Aucker’s then girlfriend, now wife, Sheila Liddington Aucker. During the trial forensic pathologist Dr. Samuel Land testified that Seebold died of blunt-force trauma from at least three blows to the head. But intense testimony by nearly a dozen witnesses at the party said they never saw the three men beat Seebold. In a release sent to WGRC, District Attorney Piecuch says, “While we respect the jury’s verdict, we consider the Seebold case closed.”
Jim Diehl (WGRC)
May 9, 2013
UNDATED – The skies opened up and did it pour. The region was under a flash flood warning yesterday but with the down-pours no major flooding was reported. Some area roadways had pounding water and two underpasses in Sunbury prone to flooding were closed until the water receded. The gushers of rain sent 240 students of the Central Pennsylvania Envirothon home early. The competition, held at the Shikellamy State Park overlook, hosted 46 teams from 17 schools throughout Columbia, Montour, Northumberland, Snyder and Union counties. Anywhere from about an inch of rain in Williamsport to over two-and-a-half inches in Beaver Springs was reported. The heavy rain soaked the ground causing a rock slide along Route 11 in Point Township last night which closed the southbound lane for about 45 minutes until crews could clean-up the mess. And fire crews were called out to fight a fire in an attic of a home after a lightning strike in Shamokin Dam.