Police arrest two in fatal shooting
A 32-year-old New Castle man died Wednesday after being shot outside a residence in the 100 block of Boyles Avenue.
Lawrence County District Attorney Matthew T. Mangino said Torrence Respress was transported to St. Elizabeth Hospital Medical Center in Youngstown after being shot at 10:20 a.m. Respress died three hours later.
Police apprehended Willie Smith, 63, of Butler, at the scene and charged him with homicide. A second man, Michael Malnar, 30, of New York City, is charged with aggravated assault.
"Based on the investigation by the police, there was some scuffle, some altercation that involved the victim and the two men charged in this case," Mangino said.
Smith and Malnar were arraigned last night and are being lodged in the Lawrence County jail.
Fayette County
Woman charged with stabbing man in thigh
A Fayette County man was hospitalized Wednesday after being stabbed in the thigh with a kitchen knife during an argument with a woman in South Huntingdon Township, state police at Belle Vernon reported.
Charles E. Jackson, 38, of West Leisenring, underwent surgery at Frick Hospital in Mt. Pleasant. Police said the 8-inch blade went entirely through the man's upper left thigh.
State police arrested Darla J. Bungard, 36, of Ruffsdale, on charges of aggravated assault in connection with the stabbing at 7 a.m. during an argument along Route 981 in Ruffsdale. Police did not say if the argument occurred at a residence.
Bungard was placed in the Westmoreland County Prison to await an arraignment in the Westmoreland County Night Court.
Region
Court won't intervene in coroner dispute
A state appellate court has refused to overturn Allegheny County's authority to administer its coroner's office despite arguments from the coroner that the law allowing it was unconstitutional.
The Commonwealth Court ruled 4-1 Tuesday not to intervene in the dispute between Coroner Cyril Wecht and the county. An Allegheny County Common Pleas judge had earlier denied Wecht's motion for a judgment in the case.
But President Judge James Gardner Colins dissented, saying the coroner is a "constitutionally established county officer with statutory powers and duties that are fairly uniform throughout the commonwealth."
Wecht has battled the county and Chief Executive Jim Roddey, who has sought to change from an elected coroner to an appointed medical examiner.
Allegheny County's home-rule charter went into effect in January 2000.
Region
Reservists to leave for Fort Dix today
About 35 U.S. Army Reservists headquartered in Edgemont have been mobilized and will leave today for Fort Dix, N.J.
The soldiers belong to the 978th Quartermaster Company, part of the 99th Regional Support Command based in Coraopolis. The 978th is charged with operating a military supply facility for fuel, food, clothing and other materiel.
Military officials are not saying where the reservists will be assigned after Fort Dix, the unit's mobilization site. The reservists may serve on active duty for a year or longer.
Butler County
Dealer in custody for parole violation
Jason Snyder, 26, of Brackenridge, who was once described as a mid-level drug dealer, was taken into custody on parole violation charges after state probation officers found him in a Butler County home with suspected heroin and cocaine.
Snyder, who was wanted for a parole violation, was found in the home near Saxonburg with about 10 grams of suspected crack cocaine and 140 stamp bags of suspected heroin, police said. Troopers said they do not believe the homeowner knew about the suspected narcotics.
Troopers said the drugs were stashed in a can with a false bottom, a device commonly used to hide drugs.
Snyder was arrested by Tarentum police in 1999 after a police search turned up almost $10,000 in cocaine, marijuana and LSD. At the time, Tarentum Police Chief Dave Sieber described Snyder as a "mid-level dealer" from whom police had made undercover drug purchases.
Region
Programs offered at Hartwood Acres
The Allegheny County Parks Division is offering two free nature programs Saturday at Hartwood Acres.
From 10 a.m. to noon, naturalist educator David Rohm will teach participants how to read tracks left by wildlife at the 629-acre county park.
From 1 to 2 p.m., expert Chuck Tague will lead birdlovers in a search with binoculars for local and migrant birds.
Participants in both events are advised to dress warmly and to park and meet at the Hartwood Mansion parking lot off Saxonburg Boulevard.
Armstrong County
Police find meth drug-making lab
State police found a methamphetamine drug-making lab Monday in Armstrong County.
The lab was discovered in a shed behind an apartment along Route 56 in Kiski Township. It was only the second such operation uncovered in southwestern Pennsylvania in 2002, but the 35th statewide.
That number is almost double from 2001, in which 19 methamphetamine labs were shut down across Pennsylvania, according to state police Cpl. James Coyle.
Coyle said that he intends to file felony drug manufacturing charges against the 40-year-old man who police said built the lab. Coyle wouldn't release the man's name until charges were filed.
Erie County
Boy gets to keep money found in book
A 12-year-old boy from Erie County learned a valuable lesson when he borrowed a book on religious life from the Corry Public Library.
Steven Pilling found $360 inside the book, a 1968 nonfiction title called "The Vowed Life" about religious vocations.
Rather than keep the money, Steven had his mother bring the book to the Corry police station. Then, in response to a story in the Corry Journal on Christmas Eve, the retired Eastern Orthodox clergyman who had donated the book to the library called police to claim the money.
But the Rev. Raymond Courtney, 86, let Steven keep the money at a meeting arranged by police Chief Fred Corbett.
Erie County
Flock of pigeons break attic window
What an Erie beautician thought was an explosion in the attic of the house where he works turned out to be a rush of panicky pigeons.
Duane Tate called 911 to report an explosion in the house where Sassy's Beauty Salon is located when he saw and heard the glass blown out of the attic windows.
But emergency crews arrived to find nothing but pigeon droppings and feathers.
It turns out a hawk flew into the attic and attacked a flock of pigeons that had been roosting there — and the pigeons flew through the windows in a frantic effort to get away.
Centre County
Attorney general shuts down pyramid scheme
A pyramid scheme based in Centre County that attracted more than 220 participants nationwide has been shut down by state Attorney General Mike Fisher.
Dayton G. Sauerman, a State College man who acts as secretary and treasurer of Club Freedom, and two residents of New York City, also will pay some $49,000 in restitution and another $5,000 in civil penalties and investigative costs, Fisher said.
Club Freedom attracted thousands of dollars from unsuspecting consumers who were lured through direct mail promotions to invest in what they believed to be a legitimate enterprise, Fisher said.
"Pyramids are illegal in Pennsylvania because the pool of recruits almost always evaporates long before the lower level participants get their promised returns," Fisher said. "In fact, the majority of participants never make money and end up losing what they paid to join."
Somerset County
Task force to probe mine drainage sought
A conservation group is urging Gov.-elect Ed Rendell to form an independent task force made up of representatives from the steel industry, state government and environmental groups to investigate drainage from abandoned mines.
Members of the Stonycreek-Conemaugh River Improvement Project in Somerset and Cambria counties are concerned that financially troubled steel companies will not continue to clean up contaminated water that seeps from abandoned mines.
It also is possible that small coal companies that go out of business will not be forced to clean up acid mine drainage, said Len Lichvar, a member of the river improvement project.
The coalition of sportsmens groups, mining companies, government agencies and environmental groups is circulating a petition via e-mail that urges Rendell to direct his environmental secretary to make acid mine drainage a priority.
Indiana County
Commissioners plan to evict biomedical firm
Indiana County has served notice it plans to evict a cash-strapped firm that makes biomedical products because the company has failed to pay more than $200,000 in rent.
County commissioners approved filing a lawsuit against Pittsburgh-based Bico Inc. for failing to pay $204,166 in rent for space it leases at Indiana County Commerce Park, a county-operated industrial park near Indiana.
In the lawsuit, filed by Solicitor James Carmella, the company, formerly known as Biocontrol Technology Inc., has not made regular payments to the county for more than a year, dating to Nov. 1, 2001.
Westmoreland County
City officials to get paid more this year
The new year brings with it higher pay for Greensburg city officials.
Greensburg police Chief Richard Baric will be the city's highest-paid employee in 2003, with a salary of $73,335. Police Capt. George Seranko is the second-highest paid city employee with a salary of $65,106.
The contracts for the police department's top two officers give them the same percentage raise as the officers represented by the General Greene Lodge No. 56 Fraternal Order of Police. Under the FOP contract with the city, the officers will get a 3.75 percent salary increase in 2003.
City administrator Thomas Sphon will receive a salary of $57,183, a $2,723 increase, the equivalent of a 5 percent raise. Fiscal director Mary Perez will receive a 15 percent salary hike, the highest percentage increase of any city department head. Perez, who was hired as the fiscal director in December 2001, will have her pay increased from $38,000 to $44,000 this year.
Fayette County
Landfill's application to expand approved
A Fayette County landfill has completed a step in its expansion efforts.
The state Department of Environmental Protection has approved a first-phase application associated with the proposed expansion of the CBF Inc.'s J&J Landfill in German Township.
CBF also must gain approval on a second-phase review before it may receive final approval, DEP spokeswoman Betsy Mallison said.
CBF wants to increase the landfill by 15.5 acres, according to its 2000 application to DEP. The expansion site is adjacent to the current facility of almost 47 acres.
