Sunday, February 21, 2010

Driver says steering problem contributed to crash

TURBOTVILLE – A motorist who claimed her car had a steering problem was injured in a Friday crash near Turbotville.  State troopers say the vehicle of 35-year-old Misty Gray of Turbotville spun, hit an embankment and ended up on its roof along Route 44.  Gray said the steering problem contributed to her losing control of the car.  Gray was taken to Geisinger Medical Center for treatment of what were described as moderate injuries.

Warrior Run fire and ambulance personnel responded to the crash shortly before noon Friday.  (Matt Farrand)

Crash near Aristes claims two lives

ARISTES – A man from Ringtown and a woman from Hegins were killed in an early Sunday morning crash north of the Columbia County village of Aristes.  Troopers say 43-year-old Brian Foley of Ringtown crossed into the opposite lane of Route 42 and collided head on with a car driven by 58-year-old Gertrude Troup of Hegins.  Both were pronounced dead at the scene by a Columbia County deputy coroner.  Neither driver in the crash reported at 1:13 a.m. was wearing a seat belt.  (Matt Farrand)

Road Progress I: Carney disses Rendell on I-80 tolls

LEWISBURG – An official decision awaits on whether I-80 will be tolled—but U.S. Congressman Chris Carney (D-10th, Dimock) says he has been fighting very hard to make sure that does not happen. He adds that he is confused by a recent budget decision made by Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. Rendell included revenues from I-80 tolls in the 2010-2011 budget.

Carney says it’s premature to expect money from something that doesn’t exist yet. Carney says we are at a point in our region where we’re poised to take off economically and if I-80 is tolled it would be a job killer. He says one more ‘no’ to the proposal would put the issue to rest, because the state has already denied it twice.

Carney says news will come fairly soon, likely in the next month, on the decision to toll I-80. This was one of Carney’s topics as he spoke at meeting in Lewisburg sponsored by the Central Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Susquehanna Valley Chamber of Commerce. (Sara Bartlett)

Road Progress II: More stimulus funded project coming to The Valley

HARRISBURG – About half the statewide highway projects funded by the $787 billion dollar American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 are now complete. However, the stimulus bill signed into law a little more than one year ago will fund some of the work you’ll likely see this summer. More than eight miles of Sunbury Street and Snydertown Road from Snydertown to Paxinos will be resurfaced.

PennDOT says the $2.6 million dollar project should start in the spring and continue through late August. $3.1 million dollars worth of rehab is also planned for bridges on I-180 near McEwensville. Those bridges cross Route 44; the work is scheduled to start in April and will likely continue into November.

In Union County, expect to see work on a Route 15 bridge over Cross Road Drive in West Milton. The 1.3 million dollar project is planned for April to September. Elsewhere, Snyder County’s Paxton Street Bridge over Middle Creek near Paxtonville is still slated for replacement. The $1.8 million dollar project is planned for June to November. Likewise, three other bridge rehab projects in the area could extend through November.

They include a structure on Route 35 over a tributary to Middle Creek near Kantz, and two in Locust Township, Columbia County. A Route 42 bridge over Roaring Creek and a Mill Road crossing of a tributary to Roaring Creek. PennDOT notes they’d awarded bids on all but one of the 326 stimulus bill projects by the end of January, two months before the federal deadline to have funds reserved for all projects. (Matt Farrand)

Road Progress III: Carney…key to CSVT is ‘toll credits’

SUNBURY – Congressman Chris Carney (D-10th, Dimock) says toll credits could be the answer to getting more funding for the Central Susquehanna Valley Thruway Project. Toll credits are the projected revenue the state estimates it would make on the toll roads. They use the estimate to determine the federal match. Carney was a guest on WKOK’s On The Mark program Friday talking about the latest on the bypass.

Carney says as of 2005, Congress has not allowed Appalachian Regional Commission states, like Pennsylvania, to use toll credits for highway projects. Carney says along with Congressman Bill Schuster, he has been working change that. If it were changed, toll credits would be used for transportation projects, including the CSVT.

Carney says the bypass will get done eventually and says he continues to explore all funding options. Carney talked about another of other topics as he prepares for a big election in November. You can hear more from Chris Carney from our Friday On The Mark program online at www.wkok.com. (Ali Stevens)

Neighbors cry ‘fowl’ when man shoots their birds

MIFFLINBURG – A Union County woman has been charged with disorderly conduct after several chickens were shot on her property. State troopers say, 36-year-old Jodi Delp of Mifflinburg allegedly told her teenage sun to shoot the birds, which had wandered onto their property. The Daily Item reports—the neighbor had been warned to keep its fowl to themselves. The incident happened in the Mifflinburg area recently.

Developing our sense of place—the topic of a symposium next month

SUNBURY – The ‘sense of place’ that a community exhibits might not be a phrase that lots of folks think about every day, but it is critical to tourism and other forms of economic development. Dan Shilling, the Project Director at the Arizona State University tells us, the ‘sense of place’ is the intelligence that residents learn about their own community, and their knowledge that they are the key to its bright future.

Shilling said the tourism agencies and others were already been urging tourism for years, but it wasn’t until entire communities bought into the idea—that their home was a destination, and that their home towns were ‘sacred ground’ that they bought into the destination idea and began bring in friends and visitors.

On our Roundtable program this weekend, we talk to Shilling, along with two others involved in the upcoming Susquehanna Greenway Symposium. The symposium is set for March 18th at Bucknell’s Langone Center. More information at www.susquehannagreenway.org.

You can hear Roundtable (Sunday) on, Eagle 107 (107.3FM) at 6a.m., 100.9 (100.9FM), The Valley, at 6a.m., Newsradio 1070 WKOK (1070AM) at 9a.m., Talkradio 1380 WMLP (1380AM), 11a.m., 94KX WQKX (94.1FM) at 11p.m. and anytime, at www.wkok.com.

Steroid abuse educator at Susquehanna University

SELINSGROVE – A NCAA-sanctioned speaker will talk about athletes, steroids and steroid abuse at a free event Sunday on the campus of Susquehanna University. John Willis will make the presentation about the dangers of the drugs.

Willis is formerly of the Chicago Police Department and the FBI, and is a leading expert on steroids education. SU’s football team and the university’s football alumni association organized the event. It is free and open to the public Sunday at 6:30p.m. in the Degenstein Center Theater on campus.

Police warn of phone and mail scams

MIFFLINBURG – Mifflinburg Police are warning people of a money scam that is circulating in Union County. Police say the scam is targeting senior citizens by sending them information that looks like it is from the Publishers Clearing House.

It instructs them to call a number, which turns out to be an answering machine and asks for personal information. Police are reminding people to never give any personal information unless they have knowledge of who they are releasing it to.

Fifth Republican enters race

RIVERSIDE – Another Republican is in the race for the 108th district seat currently held by State Representative Merle Phillips (R-108th, Sunbury). Ken Snyder of Riverside says he is gathering signatures. Snyder calls himself a working man, who never had intentions of entering politics, but feels that now is a good time. He says the government is sticking too far in people’s pockets, and he wants to stop that. He says one issue he has is the proposed tolling of Interstate 80.

Snyder is the fifth Republican to enter the race, behind Phillips’ legislative aide Lynda Schlegel-Culver, former Northumberland County Commissioner Sam Deitrick, Northumberland County Controller Chuck Erdman and Wood-Mode employee Stanley Geiswhite. The only Democratic candidate is local attorney Antonio Michetti.

Man with smoked pot plants turns himself in

SHAMOKIN – A Shamokin man who was charged with growing marijuana plants in his home has turned himself in to police. The News Item reports 37-year-old Christopher Elliott was arraigned Thursday morning on charges of manufacturing and possessing marijuana and was released on bail. Police discovered the marijuana in Elliot’s home after a fire broke out last Friday night.

47 pot plants were confiscated along with a large amount of marijuana, a gun and ammunition. Fire caused damage to the home at 449 South Harrison Street in Shamokin. No injuries were reported, but a neighboring home was also damaged in the fire, which was ruled accidental and electrical in nature. (Ali Stevens)

Danville cops: Danville man is prowler

DANVILLE – A Danville man is behind bars, accused of prowling near home on Laurel Lane in Danville. 19-year-old Medhat Ammar is charged with theft and disorderly conduct for the incident February 10th. Police say Ammar was trying to break into a parked vehicle near the home around 11:00p.m. and they were able to follow tracks in the snow to locate him. He was taken into custody and arraigned and sent to the Montour County Prison on $20,000 bail. (Ali Stevens)

Jury: Turbotville man was stalker

SUNBURY – A Turbotville man has been convicted of stalking. Northumberland County District Attorney Tony Rosini tells us 26-year-old Lance Yarish is facing 5 years in prison for leaving various items in the mailbox of a female neighbor.

He also left some items on her porch and is accused of ringing her doorbell and calling her late at night. Yarish will be sentenced in early May and the D.A.’s office will seek a mental health evaluation and treatment also. (Ali Stevens)

Latest Pennsylvania news, sports, lottery, business and entertainment

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) - The Obama administration has developed a five-year blueprint for rescuing the Great Lakes after more than a century of environmental damage.  The Associated Press obtained a copy of the document, which Lisa Jackson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, will release at a news conference Sunday in Washington.  It pledges a "zero tolerance policy" toward future invasions by foreign species such as the Asian carp, a huge fish threatening to enter Lake Michigan.  Other goals include cleanup of heavily polluted sites and restoring wetlands and other wildlife habitat, and improving water quality in shallow waters where runoff pollution has led to beach closings.  The $2.2 billion plan also promises to measure progress toward restoring the lakes and hold the government accountable for getting results.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - A western Pennsylvania man has waived his right to a preliminary hearing on charges that he ordered the killing of a man outside an after-hours club after he was allegedly sold flour instead of cocaine.   Forty-one-year-old Steven Scales of Tarentum is charged with homicide in the July 2000 shootings of 23-year-old Timothy Raines of Atlanta and another man as they left the Traveler's Club in the Homewood section of Pittsburgh. Raines was found dead in the parking lot.  Police allege that the shooting was done by Sean Greene, who is awaiting trial on a criminal homicide charge. He was convicted of third-degree murder in October in an unrelated July 2006 slaying.  Scales has been ordered held in Allegheny County Jail without bail pending trial.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - First Lady Michelle Obama says too many people across the country don't have a grocery store nearby where they can get fresh food. Mrs. Obama visited the Fairhill Elementary School in North Philadelphia on Friday afternoon as part of her campaign to curb childhood obesity. She announced plans for more than $400 million in funding to help bring healthy food retailers to underserved communities. She says Philadelphia and the state of Pennsylvania have done great work to increase access to fresh foods and combat obesity. She observed that six years ago the state invested $30 million in fresh food initiatives that helped fund 83 supermarkets statewide. She also stopped by a North Philadelphia grocery store.

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) - Former Lt. Gov. Mark Singel says he'll run for the 12th District Congressional seat vacated by the death of fellow Democrat John Murtha. Singel was a state senator from 1981 to 1987 before becoming lieutenant governor under Gov. Robert Casey. Singel is a Johnstown native and announced his candidacy there. That was Murtha's hometown. The special election to fill the rest of Murtha's term will be held as part of Pennsylvania's May 18 primary. Also decided that day will be the Democrat and Republican nominees for November's general election to decide who will serve a full two-year term in the seat. Former Pennsylvania treasurer and auditor general Barbara Hafer has also said she will run for Murtha's seat.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A law-enforcement official with knowledge of the case says the FBI has opened a criminal investigation into a Pennsylvania school district accused of activating webcams on school-issued laptops inside students' homes without their knowledge. The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity and said the FBI will explore whether Lower Merion School District officials broke any federal wiretap or computer-intrusion laws. Lower Merion officials say they remotely activated webcams 42 times to find missing student laptops in the past 14 months, but never did so to spy on students, as a recent lawsuit claims. The Montgomery County district attorney also is gathering information to determine whether to open an investigation.

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) - Federal marshals have captured a Centre County man wanted on charges of sexual assault of a child. The U.S. Marshals Service said 22-year-old Michael Gregory Martinez, of State College, was apprehended in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Friday after being on the run since December. Marshals say he was taken into custody without incident. Martinez is accused of sexually assaulting a child beginning in October 2006, when the victim was 6, until May 2009. He is charged with two counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, three counts of indecent assault, and related counts. There was no phone listing for Michael Martinez in State College and it couldn't be immediately determined if he had an attorney.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A witness in the corruption trial of the former No. 2 state House Democrat says he continued doing political fundraising on state time after he got a new boss. Patrick Lavelle said under cross-examination Friday that he continued fundraising after joining the staff of now-House Speaker Keith McCall. Lavelle testified in the trial of former House Democratic whip Mike Veon. McCall became whip after Veon lost his 2006 election. McCall hasn't been charged with wrongdoing. A top McCall aide says Lavelle was instructed to do fundraising only after hours. He says the office is unaware of any such political work on state time. Lavelle indicated that the vast majority of his work for McCall was legitimate. He says he spent 80 percent of his time under Veon doing fundraising.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell says the state's Department of Transportation will release fuel payments to local municipalities a month early to help with the costs of cleaning up after a pair of strong winter storms. Rendell on Friday directed PennDOT to release $308 million in liquid fuel payments to local governments starting March 1. PennDOT usually issues the payments to 2,556 local governments on April 1 to help cover the costs of transportation expenses including snow removal. Rendell says getting the funds out early will help communities pay off expenses related to the back-to-back storms that dumped more than three feet of snow in parts of southern Pennsylvania earlier this month.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Update on the latest in business:

Live From Washington! It's Obama health care drama

WASHINGTON (AP) - Coming soon to daytime television: America's long-running civic drama over how to provide better health care to more of its people without breaking the bank.  President Barack Obama has summoned Democrats and Republicans to a White House summit Thursday - live on C-SPAN and perhaps cable. It's a gamble that he can save his health care overhaul by the power of persuasion.  Ahead of the meeting, the White House will post on its Web site a health care plan that brings together major elements of the bills passed by House and Senate Democrats last year.  Obama wants to show that the Democrats' health care plan is reasonable. He also wants to make the case that GOP opposition could spoil an opportunity on health care.

Feds want leniency for Madoff's former chief aide

NEW YORK (AP) - A man who helped Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff steal billions of dollars has earned himself friends in the Justice Department.  In a letter made public Friday, federal prosecutors said Madoff’s former chief aide Frank DiPascali had provided "substantial assistance" to investigators.  They said they anticipated writing an "extraordinary" letter recommending leniency when he is sentenced for crimes including securities fraud and money laundering.  The memo to the judge was initially written in December but remained sealed until Friday.  Sections of the letter describing DiPascali's cooperation are still secret.  DiPascali pleaded guilty in August to helping Madoff implement his massive Ponzi scheme. DiPascali's bail had been set at $10 million.

Getting back lost jobs will take years

WASHINGTON (AP) - So many jobs have been lost that the U.S. must run hard just to keep from losing more ground.  Despite the election-year emphasis on job creation by both parties, the short-term outlook is bleak.  There are nearly 15 million Americans out of work - six million for more than half a year.  President Barack Obama is asking for almost $300 billion more for recession relief and job formation. The House last December passed a $154 billion spending bill focused on jobs. The Senate is due to debate a far more modest version on Monday, but appears bogged down in partisan bickering.  Reducing a jobless rate that's now just fewer than 10 percent to prerecessionary rates of about half that won't happen soon. In fact, it could take up to five years or more just to get back to even.

Pennsylvania Lottery numbers:

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - These Pennsylvania lotteries were drawn Saturday:

Big 4

     5-0-3-4

Cash 5

     09-17-30-34-37

Daily Number

     5-5-2

Evening Quinto

     4-0-2-1-3

Megaplier

     4

Midday Big 4

     9-1-1-2

Midday Number

     4-1-4

Midday Quinto

     5-0-1-8-6

Powerball

     13-27-37-41-54, Powerball: 32, Power Play: 2

Treasure Hunt

     03-10-24-26-29

     (Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

'Hurt Locker,' Up in the Air,' win WGA top honors

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The war story "The Hurt Locker" and the recession tale "Up in the Air" have won top honors at the Writers Guild of America Awards.  "The Hurt Locker" won Saturday for best original screenplay for writer Mark Boal. "Up in the Air," based on Walter Kirn's novel, earned the adapted-screenplay award for writer-director Jason Reitman and co-writer Sheldon Turner.  "The Hurt Locker" and "Up in the Air" are up for the same screenplay honors at the Academy Awards, which will be handed out March 7.  Winning the guild's documentary screenplay award was Mark Monroe for "The Cove," a study of Japanese fishing operations that slaughter dolphins.

Polanski best director at Berlin festival