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ATLAS - Crews rushed out to battle a house fire this morning
in Northumberland County. The fire was reported just after four
a.m. at a home in the 100 Block of Saylor Street in Atlas.
Northumberland County 911 tells us there were multiple calls
that came into the dispatch center from passerS-by in Atlas.
Officials say the three-story building had been vacant for year.
The fire was so hot it melted the siding on neighboring homes.
No one was hurt. No word, as yet, on what may have sparked the
blaze.
Jim Diehl/John Callahan (WGRC w/WNEP)
MANDAN, N.D. (AP) - Authorities say a Mandan, North Dakota
man is accused of making a telephone threat to Sen. Arlen
Specter of Pennsylvania. Mandan Deputy Chief Paul Leingang
says the man was interviewed on Tuesday, at the request of the
U.S. Capitol Police. Leingang says the man's telephone
message indicated that he would travel to Washington, D.C., and
assassinate the senator. Leingang says the man told police
that he was intoxicated when he made the call and said it was
"stupid." Leingang says the man gave no motive for the call.
Leingang says Mandan police have finished their assistance in
the case. Leingang says he's unsure how it will be handled by
the Capitol Police.
ATLAS - Crews rushed out to battle a house fire this morning
in Northumberland County. The fire was reported just after four
a.m. at a home in the 100 Block of Saylor Street in Atlas.
Northumberland County 911 tells us there were multiple calls
that came into the dispatch center from passer-bys in Atlas.
There has been no word of any injuries to Northumberland County
911 officials.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)
FRACKVILLE - Firefighters from several communities battled a
fire that damaged a double home in the Englewood section of
Butler Township Schuylkill County, Thursday afternoon. The fire
started just beofre four p.m. at the home of Joseph and Sue
Picklo at 112 North Sixth Street, that left six people homeless.
Fire was shooting from a second floor window and roof of the
home when crews arrived. The double home the Picklos share with
their two children and the adjoining home, at 110 North Sixth
Street, occupied by Jack and Anna Barnhart sustained heavy fire,
smoke and water damage. The cause of the blaze is under
investigation and a Pennsylvania State Police fire marshal was
called to help find the cause. No one was hurt.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)
PORT TREVORTON - Police have made some arrests in a case of
spray painting vandalism in Snyder County. Police say they've
caught two 14-year-old boys and 18-year-old Kurtis Smith, all of
Port Trevorton, and have charged them with criminal mischief.
Police say during the overnight hours of June 18th and June
19th, the three used gray spray paint and painted buildings at
Silver Creek Supply Company, roadsigns, a surveillance camera
and mailbox at the Snyder County Produce stand, Suburban
Propane, Heller's gas and Merle Ulsh were all hit with graffiti.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)
SHAMOKIN DAM - A roadside stand robbed in Snyder County.
Troopers say someone took money and berries from a roadside
stand in Monroe Township owned by Scott's Berry Farm of Winfield
sometime between last Thursday and yesterday afternoon. Police
say the suspects vehicle is black with Pennsylvania registration
of G-X-K 955. No word on how much money and merchandise was
taken. Anyone who may have information about this theft is
asked to call State Police at Selinsgrove.
John Callahan (WGRC)
LEWISTOWN - In Mifflin County, the Granville Township
Police Department arrested a Yeagertown man on Wednesday after
an investigation into several incidents of sexting. Police
say 22-year-old Craig Sipe Jr. was arrested and charged with
sending obscene sexual photographs via cell phone to a
14-year-old girl. Sipe also has been charged with corruption of
a minor. The Sentinel reports, the photos were sent to the
girl's cell phone three times in December 2008. Sipe is jailed
on $10-thousand dollars bail.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)
WILLIAMSPORT - A Williamsport man who pleaded guilty in April
to attempted indecent assault of a boy under the age of 13 was
sentenced Thursday in County Court to 12 to 24 months in
Lycoming County Prison. The Sun Gazette reports, 34-year-old
Matthew Koch, Was handed the sentence Thursday by Judge Kenneth
Brown. Koch pleaded guilty to the charges for the incident in
November.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)
STATE COLLEGE - In Centre County a Coatesville man found
wandering the halls of the Radio Park Elementary School in State
College on Thursday, is in jail, charged with felony criminal
trespass. State College police tell the Centre Daily Times
23-year-old Stephen Fletcher, was walking around inside the
school in nothing but his underwear, carrying scissors and
pencils. A maintenance worker found Fletcher and called police.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)
WILLIAMSPORT - A man who just moved to Lycoming County from
Virginia has been charged with trashing an Old Lycoming Township
home. Just two weeks after moving here from Virginia
27-year-old David Edwards allegedly destroyed the inside
of the home at 88 Hazelbrook Lane causing $100-thosuand dollars
in damages. He also heavily damaged a car parked at the home
beloning to another man. The Sun Gazette reports, Edwards turned
on gas stove burners, which caused the house to fill with
natural gas. He also flooded the home on all floors, threw paint
on the walls, and broke furniture and other property. He's
charged with attempted arson, causing or risking a catastrophe,
and related counts. Edwards is jailed on $75,000 bail.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)
BEAVER SPRINGS - A Snyder County woman is being charged with
aggravated assault and criminal mischief for an incident
Wednesday evening in Snyder County. Police say 44-year-old
Bonnie Correy rammed her Jeep, twice into the rear of a car
operated by 40-year-old Scott Dutrow of Beaver Springs and his
passenger 40-year-old Jo Ann Woodring of Sunbury while they
drove along Route 522 near Royers Bridge Road. That happened
Just after six p.m. Police say Correy then rammed her jeep into
Woodring's car while it was parked along Route 522 around 7:30
p.m. No one was hurt in the rampage.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)
POTTSVILLE - Two Shenandoah-area teenagers convicted in
connection with the beating death of an illegal Mexican
immigrant in July 2008 will not be able to work while in prison.
The republican Herald reports, Schuylkill County Judge William
Baldwin ruled Thursday, 17-year-old Brandon Piekarsky, of
Shenandoah Heights, and 19-year-old Derrick Donchak, of
Shenandoah, will not be able to go to work while behind bars.
Both are scheduled to report to county prison at 9 a.m. July
19th. On June 17th, Baldwin sentenced Piekarsky to six months
and seven days to 23 months and Donchak to seven to 23 months
for simple assault and alcohol-related offenses in the beating
that resulted in the death of 25-year-old Luis Ramirez.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)
BELLEFONTE - In Centre County a Philipsburg doctor serving
seven years of probation for his role in overprescribing drugs
to patients is asking a court to let him withdraw his guilty but
mentally ill plea. The Centre Daily Times reports, 56-year-old
Michael Fuentes, had pleaded guilty but mentally ill June 3 and
was sentenced to seven years of probation instead of any jail
time after a psychologist told a Judge Fuentes suffered
from years of mental illness. Now Fuentes' attorney, Joe
Amendola, has filed a motion saying Fuentes insists on
withdrawing that plea to 25 counts - even though Amendola
believes it is not in his best interest. If the judge
complies, Fuentes could be looking at a sentence similar to the
seven-year prison term that his medical partner, Larry Adams, is
serving after being convicted of similar charges. Fuentes'
license to practice medicine has been revoked because of his
mental status, and he is now living in Connecticut.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)
SCHUYLKILL HAVEN - A 13-year-old Schuylkill County boy killed
in 1985 has been laid to rest with his killer in prison.
David Reed was reburied Thursday at a cemetery near his hometown
of Schuylkill Haven. Joseph Paul Geiger was 20 when he
punched Reed because he suspected the boy was stealing his
marijuana plants. He didn't get help when the boy hit his head
on a metal wall but instead hid the body in the woods.
When the body was found months later, authorities initially
thought the boy might have succumbed to an undiagnosed case of
diabetes. State police exhumed the body in January 2008 after
turning up new evidence and arrested Geiger last August.
Geiger is now 44 and serving a 1- to 2-year sentence after
pleading guilty in February to involuntary manslaughter and
three lesser charges.
MILLVILLE - A pair of accused arsonists in Columbia County
apeared in District Court Thursday on recent charges. Charges
continue to stack up for accused arsonists 19-year-old Colton
Barrett and 31-year-old Kristen Strausser. The Press Enterprise
reports the two appeared Thursday, before District Judge Ola
Stackhouse and sent their charges on to court. The latest set of
accusations against Barrett adds six counts each of attempted
criminal homicide and attempted aggravated assault, 11 counts of
various kinds of arson, burglary, reckless endangerment,
criminal mischief and three counts of conspiracy. The newer
charges add counts for the fires police had already charged
Barrett with setting, including those at the homes of Raymond
Belles in Orange Township, Reuben and Pauline Albertson in
Fishing Creek Township and Max and Anna Robbins in Orange
Township. And he's now accused of setting a fire at the home of
Rodney Berlin, Orange Township, and with shooting a gun at the
window of a Jeep owned by the president of the Orangeville Fire
Company. The charges against Strausser that were sent on to
county court are two charges of arson conspiracy and two charges
of soliciting arson.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)
LEWISBURG - Three women hoping to turn the Tuscan Villa, a
19th-century mansion in Lewisburg's historic district, into a
halfway house for women making the transition from prison to
society met with a mostly hostile crowd of potential neighbors
Thursday night. Valley residents Betsy Snook, Susan Herrold and
MaryAnn Huber hoped to use the session to discuss the need for
the project, called Rita's House Transitional Home, and to
listen to the objections they knew neighbors would have. A
meeting was held last night to discuss the potential of a
half-way house. The three women tell the Daily Item their group
did not yet have the money to buy the 60 South Second Street
property, which soon may be offered at sheriff's sale. Funds
have to be raised through county and state Department of
Corrections and donations. The group estimated it would take up
to $500,000 to restore the house, which is in disrepair. The
group has hopes of placing at least 20 women in the home if it
becomes a half-way house.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)
BLOOMSBURG - Columbia County commissioners and the tax and
voter service departments will begin moving their offices
Wednesday from the courthouse to the former bank building next
door. County officials are still discussing how they will
reconfigure office space in the courthouse with the departure of
those offices. And it has not been decided which department will
move into the space currently used by the commissioners, chief
clerk and business administrator. The Press Enterprise reports,
the county purchased the former First Columbia Bank building
last year for $925,000 to make space at teh courthouse.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)
MOUNT CARMEL - A black bear caused some excitement in
downtown Mount Carmel in Northumberland County yesterday
evening. The bear wandered through the borough for about a
half hour, just after seven p.m. Mount Carmel Police say
the bear went from Sixth and Locust streets to Fourth and Peach
streets where it was seen eating something. The animal then
jaunted to Fifth and Peach streets, where it wandered through
residents' yards, and climbed several fences on its way out of
town.
Jim Diehl (WGRC)
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania's school districts are
starting July with new budgets in place and local property tax
rates set. But until the governor and Legislature agree on a
state budget, districts won't know how much state money they'll
receive. Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell wants to provide $418
million more in basic education funding than a rival Republican
budget proposal. The state's fiscal year ended Tuesday
with no sign that a deal was imminent. Some school
districts assumed they'll receive what Rendell's spending plan
calls for. Others used the lower figures from the Senate GOP
budget and still others calculated their own estimates.
When a budget does pass, districts will be allowed to reopen
their budgets to adjust spending upward or downward. That isn't
expected to apply to property tax rates.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Former Pennsylvania state Sen. Vincent
Fumo is seeking a new trial on corruption charges, alleging the
jury was tainted. In March, a jury found that the
Philadelphia Democrat defrauded the state Senate, a charity and
a museum of $3.5 million. In court papers filed Thursday,
defense lawyer Dennis Cogan says he discussed the case with a
magazine reporter after the trial. He says reporter Ralph
Cipriano told him he'd interviewed jurors and they knew during
the trial about Fumo's previous prosecutions on corruption
charges. He says one juror was getting updates from a co-worker
on news coverage of the trial. Cipriano's article is to
appear in Philadelphia Magazine on Aug. 1. Editor in Chief Larry
Platt declined to comment. Fumo is free on bail until his
sentencing, which is scheduled for July 14.
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A former Pennsylvania judge who has
pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges has denied that he
accepted money to send youth offenders to private detention
centers. Former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella says
he did not extort any money from Robert Powell, a lawyer who
co-owned the detention centers. Powell pleaded guilty Wednesday
to paying kickbacks to Ciavarella and former Luzerne County
Judge Michael Conahan. He has said he was extorted by the
judges. Ciavarella and Conahan have pleaded guilty to
taking more than $2.6 million in kickbacks from Powell and a
builder in exchange for rulings that benefitted the detention
centers. The judges await sentencing. Ciavarella spoke to
reporters Thursday after testifying at a hearing in Allentown in
an unrelated case.
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