Local News Briefs

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Third Avenue

block closed

On Saturday, June 27, ICM (the city’s sewer repair contractor) will be working on Third Avenue W. between Market and East streets.

Due to the nature of the repair of the storm sewer, the street must be closed to traffic. Third Avenue should be re-opened to traffic around 4 p.m. Saturday, according to a press release from the city.

PennDOT sets

road projects

PennDOT crews will be working on the following road projects next week, according to Warren County Maintenance Manager Adam Elms.

Route 6, Conewango Township, crack sealing

Route 62, Conewango Township, street sweeping

Route 62, Limestone Township, patching

Jackson Run Road, Sugar Grove Township, widen roadway

Yankee Bush Road, Farmington Township, bridge replacement

Old Route 77, Spring Creek Township, pipe replacement

Various roads in Warren County, sign upgrading

All activities are weather permitting and subject to change.

Closed for holiday

Youngsville Borough offices and services will be closed Friday, July 3, in observance of Independence Day.

Habitat accepting items for ReStore

Habitat for Humanity of Warren County will accept donations to its ReStore on Saturday, July 25, from noon to 4 p.m. at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue E. and Canton Street, formerly Cobb’s Wallpaper and Paint. Habitat is accepting appliances, tools, windows, doors, and furniture in working condition only.

Donors are encouraged to line up facing southwest on Canton Street (facing Pennsylvania Avenue East from Madison Avenue) and to be available to help move their item(s) into the building. All donations are tax-deductible based on the fair market value of the item(s) donated. Habitat reserves the right to not accept an item based on its condition and/or value to the ReStore. Questions can be emailed to info@habitatwarrenpa.org.

County honors

Purple Hearts

SMETHPORT, Pa. (AP) – Road signs honoring a northern Pennsylvania county’s past and present Purple Heart recipients will soon be placed along major routes and highways in the area.

The Bradford Era reports American Legion Riders member Cheryl Razey presented the idea for the purple signs at a meeting of the McKean County Commissioners on Tuesday.

Razey says she wants McKean County to be one of the most decorated Purple Heart counties.

The Purple Heart medal is given to members of the U.S. Armed Forces who have been wounded or died while in combat.

Razey estimates the signs will cost about $100 each, with residents having already committed to funding three signs.

Razey’s goal is to have 10 signs in place by Aug. 7 for National Purple Heart Day.

Stolen bronze

pieces recovered

BANGOR, Pa. (AP) – Police have recovered 137 pieces of bronze that were stolen from graves at three cemeteries in Monroe County.

The receptacles hold flowers.

Prospect Cemetery in East Stroudsburg, St. John’s in Bangor and Fairview Cemetery in Plainfield Township, where actress Jayne Mansfield is buried, have been targeted.

Police arrested two men after they say they tried selling 75 urns, weighing more than 300 pounds, to a salvage company. The company had alerted authorities after the pair sold 62 pieces in May.

Wolf applauds

marriage ruling

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is applauding the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, but says state lawmakers should follow up by passing a law to protect people against discrimination based on their sexual or gender preference.

Wolf said in a Friday statement that the high court’s 5-4 decision makes clear that “gay marriage” is now simply marriage and same-sex couples cannot be denied the pursuit of happiness.

The Democrat says the Pennsylvania Legislature should now approve a law to protect people from discrimination in education, employment, housing and public accommodation on the basis of their sexual or gender orientation.

Same-sex marriage became legal in Pennsylvania in May 2014, after then-Gov. Tom Corbett decided not to appeal a federal judge’s decision upholding it.

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PSP seeks

cadet applicants

The Pennsylvania State Police is looking for cadets.

Applications for the written examination that is a first step to becoming a cadet will be accepted through Tuesday, June 30.

“The state police is encouraging more people, particularly women and minorities, to join their ranks,” a press release from press secretary Maria Finn said.

Information about careers, eligibility requirements, and applications can be found and submitted online at www.patrooper.com.

Applicants must be between the ages of 20 and 40 and must be or become Pennsylvania residents. A high school diploma or GED and some post-secondary education is required.

WAHS office

moved to WCCC

Due to the renovations at Warren Area High School, the principal’s office is at the Warren County Career Center for the summer. The school contact number is 726-1260.

The office will be closed the week of June 29- July 6 for vacation.

Closed for holiday

PennDOT announced Thursday that all driver license and photo centers, including the one on Hatch Run Road, will be closed Saturday, July 4, in observance of Independence Day.

Customers may still obtain a variety of driver and vehicle products and services online through PennDOT’s Driver and Vehicle Services website, www.dmv.pa.gov. Driver and vehicle online services are available 24-hours-a-day, seven days a week and include driver’s license, photo ID and vehicle registration renewals; driver-history services; changes of address; driver license and vehicle registration restoration letters; ability to pay driver license or vehicle insurance restoration fee; driver license and photo ID duplicates; and driver exam scheduling. There are no additional fees for using online services.

Bill targets

powdered alcohol

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A proposal to ban powdered alcohol is advancing in the Pennsylvania Legislature.

A bill to prohibit the possession, sale or use of the substance passed the state House on Thursday and was sent to the Senate.

Supporters of the ban say alcohol in powdered form would be dangerous in the hands of children and could too easily lead to overconsumption.

Earlier this year, the Wolf administration backed a decision by state liquor regulators that prohibits the sale of powdered alcohol in the state.

University wants

to buy back dorms

CALIFORNIA, Pa. (AP) – A state-owned university wants to buy back its on-campus housing in an effort to reduce room costs.

Officials said Wednesday that the California University of Pennsylvania, in southwestern Pennsylvania, has asked the State System of Higher Education to issue up to $76 million in bonds to cover outstanding debt against six dorms that hold 1,497 students, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

The dorm buildings are on land leased by the university to a university-affiliated organization that built them and pays the debt through variable-rate bank financing.

The system’s board of governors will start voting on it Tuesday, and if it’s approved the university would pay them back with student housing income.

Robert Thorn, Cal U’s vice president for business and finance, said the university’s education and general budget would not be affected.

Cal U is one of 14 state-owned universities in the state. System spokesman Kenn Marshall said he can’t say if others will ask to buy back their dorms.

Thorn said that if the university can lower operational costs it can lower room rates. It cost a student $6,592 in 2014-15 for a standard room.

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Closed for holiday

Warren Public Library will be closed Friday and Saturday, July 3-4, in observance of Independence Day.

Normal business hours will resume Monday, July 6.

Rare coin funds

fireworks display

ZELIENOPLE, Pa. (AP) – Officials in a community north of Pittsburgh are “oohing” and “ahhing” in advance of their Fourth of July fireworks display.

That’s because an anonymous donor has once again donated a valuable gold coin to help fund the display in Zelienople .

The Butler Eagle reports a $20 Liberty coin, which dates back to 1898, was found in one of the donation jars last weekend.

The donor has usually given one gold coin each year since 2009, and it’s always different. A $20 Canadian one-ounce gold coin was cashed in for $1,225 to help fund last year’s display.

Parks director Alecia Flood says the goal for this year’s fireworks celebration is $7,500. The donations have totaled $6,000 so far, including the new coin.

Father’s Day gift

worth $1 million

JEANNETTE, Pa. (AP) – A scratch-off lottery ticket bought as a last-minute Father’s Day gift has turned a truck driver into an instant millionaire.

Joseph Morrah, 61, was given the winning $1 Million Payout ticket on Sunday, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported.

His daughter, Christina Morrah, put the ticket in a card she gave to him. But his wife, Debbie Morrah, said it was her idea to buy the $20 ticket.

“I said, ‘Buy a lottery ticket for him,’ because I didn’t get him anything, and I felt bad,” she said.

Morrah, a supermarket truck driver for 31 years, had fewer than 200 days to retirement but is taking an early exit, thanks to his winnings.

The Morrahs, who live in Jeannette, were waiting for the lottery to confirm the ticket was a winner when they spoke to the newspaper on Tuesday.

But the ticket was confirmed as a winner by officials in Harrisburg on Wednesday, Pennsylvania Lottery spokeswoman Lauren Bottaro told The Associated Press. Four other scratch-off tickets with the same game also have the $1 million top prize.

Morrah, who has a 1960s-era Chevrolet Bel-Air, said he plans to buy “another muscle car” and a new pickup truck and give his current one to another daughter, Kimberly Morrah.

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Branding

Warren County

Terri Dennison, Rt. 6 Heritage Corridor, will present the Roger Brooks video, “The Art of Branding Community, Part 1,” at the Allegheny Community Center on Clark Street, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 24.

The public is invited.

How effective does tourism, downtown and marketing draw an outside visitor? These DVDs can help. Participants will learn what they need to do to successfully brand a community. This series demystifies and explains the process of branding for umbrella organizations (multiple communities), cities, downtowns, and marketing professionals. Through case histories, video clips, dozens of photos, and stories, attendees will learn what it takes to create a successful brand, how to make it obvious, and how that translates to cash.

Winterfest

seeks volunteers

The Winterfest Event Committee has been meeting monthly since the last event and has established a tentative budget for the event – set for Jan. 15-17, 2016 at Chapman State Park -and revamped the donor sponsorship levels for next year’s Winterfest fundraising campaign, which will begin Sept. 1, 2015, with donor benefits expiring on Sept. 1, 2016.

The Winterfest Executive Committee also expressed a need and desire to recruit additional members of the community to volunteer to serve on one the event committees to help plan and carry out the event.

“As the Winterfest Event has grown over the years and new activities and events have been added to the schedule, we have been stretched thinner and thinner trying to keep up with all the details that need to be paid attention to”, said Sharon Miller, chairperson of the Winterfest Executive Committee. “We would like to recruit some additional community-minded individuals who are interested in helping to organize, plan, and carry out activities related to the Winterfest event, which is a great family winter event for both young and old, that gives a lot back to the community in so many ways.”

Wolf forms

new PAC

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Gov. Tom Wolf has formed a new political action committee to advance his agenda and raise money for candidates.

Mike Mikus (MIK’-us), who heads the Democratic governor’s “Rebuild Pennsylvania” committee, says it launched its website on Monday.

Mikus says Wolf contributed some of his own money to form the committee but declines to say how much. He says the committee will promote the governor’s agenda on social media websites and contribute money to candidates who support his programs.

Wolf’s original political committee, The Campaign for a Fresh Start, has been dormant since the November election. Mikus says the new organization was formed to make a clean break from that committee.

Shotgun shooting

injures 5 in Philly

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – The second shotgun shooting of a group of people in Philadelphia in a matter of days has injured at least five people.

A police spokeswoman says the more recent gunfire occurred Monday afternoon on a street in the Kensington neighborhood.

Police say the injured have been taken to hospitals for treatment. An 11-year-old girl has graze wounds.

Police say the shooter is being sought. A shotgun was recovered at the scene.

Authorities are still searching for two suspects following a shooting Saturday night in west Philadelphia. A toddler and nine other people were hit by birdshot from a shotgun while they were at a cookout.

Strippers registry

bill pulled

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A bill to put more restrictions on Pennsylvania strip clubs and institute a state registry for strippers and others in the adult entertainment industry won’t move through a legislative committee this week after all.

The sponsor, Rep. Matt Baker, said Monday the bill that aims to combat sex trafficking has been put on hold to give the Judiciary Committee time to gather input from stakeholders.

Baker’s bill would require the businesses and their employees to register with the Department of State and pay a fee.

It would also remove alcohol from clubs that feature nudity.

The bill had been on the schedule for consideration by the Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.

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PennDOT sets

road work

PennDOT crews will be performing the following road work next week, according to Warren County Maintenance Manager Adam Elms.

Yankee Bush Road, Farmington Township, bridge replacement

Route 6, Conewango Township, crack sealing

Route 62, Conewango Township, street sweeping

Route 62, Limestone Township, patching

Jackson Run Road, Sugar Grove Township widen roadway

Dutch Hill Road, Conewango Township, paving

Old Route 77, Spring Creek Township, pipe replacement

Various Roads in Warren County, sign upgrading

All activities are weather permitting, and subject to change.

Ex-sheriff enters

guilty plea

SMETHPORT, Pa. (AP) – A northwestern Pennsylvania county sheriff who resigned last year has pleaded guilty to corruption of minors after state police say he had sex with a 17-year-old girl who was renting a home from him while he was still sheriff.

The 53-year-old former McKean County Sheriff Bradley Mason from Bradford must return for sentencing on July 9. He pleaded guilty Thursday.

State police say Mason gave the girl alcohol and had consensual sex with her weekly from December 2013 until May 2014, two months before he resigned.

Police say text messages show Mason initially thought the girl was 18 and that he asked her to delete the texts, but kept having sex with her after he learned otherwise.

Input sought

on bridge colors

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Officials in Allegheny County want to know whether Pittsburgh’s three “sister bridges” across the Allegheny River look better in another color.

County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto began asking residents Friday to cast online votes on whether the identical spans should remain Pittsburgh yellow or be painted in a different color or colors.

The county says it will be begin repainting all three bridges later this year, starting with the Andy Warhol Bridge. Citizens wishing to express their opinion can choose among several options at the county’s website.

The county says it’s been suggested that the Andy Warhol Bridge be painted silver, the Rachel Carson Bridge be painted green and the Roberto Clemente Bridge be repainted Pittsburgh yellow.

Family fighting

to keep treehouse

PITTSBURGH (AP) – A western Pennsylvania family may have to remove its treehouse due to zoning codes that ban such structures.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the family received a notice in March asking them to remove the treehouse in their front yard in the next 15 days. Leet Township officials told the family that the local zoning code prohibits accessory structures in front yards.

The family has now filed for a variance with the town’s zoning board in an attempt to keep it.

Jonathan Truchan says his family had reached an agreement with the township to keep the treehouse until Oct. 1, but still received a notice.

Hershey cuts jobs

HERSHEY, Pa. (AP) – Hershey is expected to cut about 300 jobs by the end of the year as it looks to simplify its operations. The candy maker also cut its revenue outlook for the year.

Its shares fell more than 3 percent in afternoon trading Friday.

The company has approximately 22,000 employees globally.

The company did not specify where the job cuts would come from, but said manufacturing operations are not included in the plans.

“Removing cost and complexity from our business will make us more flexible to quickly react to changing consumer and competitive marketplace trends,” Chairman, President and CEO John Bilbrey said in a written statement.

The chocolate and candy maker – whose brands include Reese’s, Twizzlers and its namesake – said that it will face an estimated $100 million to $120 million in pretax charges related to the job cuts. It anticipates $65 million to $75 million in savings, mostly in 2016, and plans to reinvest part of the funds back into the business.

Hershey also announced Friday that it is lowering its full-year revenue outlook. The Hershey, Pennsylvania-based company said that it now foresees revenue rising around 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent. It previously predicted a 4.5 percent to 5.5 percent increase.

Excluding foreign currency fluctuations, Hershey now anticipates full-year revenue climbing about 4 percent to 5 percent. Its prior guidance was for a 6 percent to 7 percent rise.

Hershey said that its chocolate sales growth in China was below expectations in April and May. In the first quarter, sales in China slid 47 percent excluding sales of Golden Monkey products, a Chinese food company that Hershey bought a controlling stake in late last year.

Hershey maintains that a slowdown in China’s economy is keeping people from buying its goods.

Hershey expects 2015 adjusted earnings in a range of $4.10 to $4.18 per share. Analysts polled by FactSet had predicted $4.31 per share.

Shares of Hershey Co. fell $3.24, or 3.5 percent, to $89.01 in afternoon trading Friday. Its shares are down almost 11 percent over the past year.

—

This story has been corrected to show it has about 22,000 employees globally, not 13,000.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.

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Kinzua Dam

outflow up

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has announced that “significant increases in outflow from Kinzua Dam” took place Tuesday that may cause substantial rises in river levels downstream.

“Boaters and anglers are advised to exercise caution during the next few days,” according to a press release.

World’s Largest

Swimming Lesson

The Brokenstraw Valley Swimming Pool will be one hundreds or even thousands of facilities participating in the sixth annual World’s Largest Swimming Lesson at 10 a.m. Thursday.

Registration will begin at 9 a.m. and all participants must be registered prior to the start of the 30-minute lesson. The world record stands at 36,564 participants in 22 countries. All participants will receive an official World Record Certificate upon completion.

41 indicted

in heroin ring

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. (AP) – More than three dozen people have been indicted on charges stemming from a multistate heroin trafficking operation.

The 163-count indictment was unsealed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Martinsburg.

U.S. Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld II says the operation was extensive. Heroin was distributed in West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

The indictment charges that 27-year-old Brian Alexander Hall of Maryland orchestrated the operation. Forty other defendants from West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland are accused of obtaining heroin from Hall in Baltimore and the surrounding region and then redistributing the drug.

Ihlenfeld says in a news release that the investigation was conducted by federal and local law enforcement from multiple jurisdictions.

Thirty-five defendants, including Hall, have been arrested. Two were already in state custody and two others haven’t been located.

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Hospice

receives donations

Hospice of Warren County, a non-profit affiliate of Warren General Hospital received contributions during May in memory of the following: Barbara Allen, Thomas Allison, Sr. C. William Anderson, Carol Anderson, Susan Auflick, Donald Bailey, Rev. Richard Baker, Shirley Bashor, Carl and Evelyn Berglund, Jane Betts, Carol Halaby Baneryle, Alan Buerkle, MaryAnn Buerkle, Lynette Callan, Theresa Carlson, Richard Case, Chuck Cataldo, Ned Chase, Jerry Clayton, Bonnie Cook, Marcia Cosmano, James Cowan III, Peggy Cree, Alan Crone, George Crozier, Marie Cullen, Larry Duke, Fred Falvo, Catherine “Kay” Freeborough, Duane Fry, Joseph Gabriel, Jean Gibb, Thomas Graziano, Bertha Green, Guiffre family deceased members, Denny Hahn, Clyde Harman, Wilma Hutley, Phyllis Jordan, Norman Kenney, Winnifred Kenney, Dr. Hannah King, Nancy Kitelinger, Donald Lewis, Irma Mackey, Judy Madigan, Ann McDonald, David Merenick, Corky Merrill, Jim Morrison, Tom Nelson, Tom O’Brien, Marcella Olson, Gail Onink, Lloyd Paul, Adam Piccirillo, Harold and Eileen Reinhard, Theresa Ressler, Harmony Robinson, Rachel Hitchcock Rogerson, Joyce Rohlin, Nan Rossiter, Anne Sears, MacBain Sears, Doris See, Joe Siliano, John and Lucille Simmons, Beverly Sisson, Jim Smith, Judy Southwell, Violet Thomas, Glen Valentine, Edna Wagner, William Westover, Florence Wightman, Irene Williams, Ruth Williams, Alice Yurick, Steve Yurick, Janet Zandi, Edwin Zevotek, Marian Ziki and Walter Zolner.

Donations were also received in honor of Elsa Redding.

Donations can be sent to Hospice of Warren County at P.O. Box 68, Warren, PA 16365 or online at www.hospiceofwarrencounty.com/donations.

PSU president

tops colleges list

WASHINGTON (AP) – A new survey says former Penn State President Rodney Erickson was the highest-paid public college president in fiscal year 2014, with nearly $1.5 million in total compensation.

The Chronicle of Higher Education says a significant portion of Erickson’s pay was because he took ownership of his balance in a university-sponsored life insurance plan valued at $586,000.

Erickson took over as president of Penn State in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal in November 2011. He retired in May 2014 after 37 years at Penn State as a faculty member and administrator.

The Chronicle calculates total compensation for public college presidents as base salary, plus bonus, severance and deferred compensation that was paid out.

Two convicted

of murder

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Two western Pennsylvania men have been convicted of murder in a shooting death in Pittsburgh’s Hill District a year ago.

Twenty-four-year-old Keith Watson was convicted of first-degree murder and 26-year-old Maurice Palmer of third-degree murder in the June 2014 homicide of Frankie Trammell.

Watson was also convicted of a firearms count Monday in Allegheny County, and both Pittsburgh residents were acquitted of conspiracy following a non-jury trial last week.

Trammell was shot in the chest in the Bedford Dwellings housing complex.

Mike Manko of the district attorney’s office said this was the first homicide case to go to trial from the county’s indicting grand jury. That process allows charges to be secured by witness testimony in closed hearings rather than by the usual public testimony in a preliminary hearing.

‘The Voice’

performer dies

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A Philadelphia street performer who gained national attention for his performance on “The Voice” has died. Anthony Riley was 28.

The medical examiner’s office in Philadelphia said Monday that the death was a suicide by hanging.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Riley was found dead Friday in the basement of an apartment where he had been staying.

The contestant on the eighth season of NBC’s “The Voice” wowed the judges and became a fan favorite after belting out James Brown’s “I Got You (I Feel Good).”

Suspended priest

pleads guilty

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A suspended suburban Philadelphia priest has pleaded guilty to federal charges in a child pornography case.

The Rev. Mark Haynes pleaded guilty Monday to using the Internet to entice a minor to engage in sexual contact, possession and distribution of child pornography and destroying or concealing evidence.

Prosecutors alleged that around 2010 the 56-year-old West Chester resident posed as a 16-year-old girl named “Katie” on a teenage dating website, met minor girls online and requested that they take and send sexually explicit pictures.

Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 10.

Rape suspect

waives hearing

INDIANA, Pa. (AP) – A western Pennsylvania university student has waived his right to a preliminary hearing on charges that he raped two female students in one weekend last month.

The Indiana Gazette reports that 22-year-old Jose Aponte Jr. of Philadelphia waived the hearing last week in Indiana District Court.

Prosecutors allege that he assaulted one student in May after she blacked out from having consumed alcohol, and she found out in a text message exchange the following morning that they had had sex.

Prosecutors allege that the second woman was also drunk but tried to fight Aponte off as he removed her clothes, choked her and sexually assaulted her.

Indiana University, one of 14 state-owned schools, is located in the borough of the same name about 45 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

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PennDOT sets

work schedule

PennDOT has announced that the following work will be completed during the week of June 8: Crack sealing on Route 6 in Conewango Township; ditching on Route 6 in Sheffield Township; patching on Route 62 in Limestone Township; shoulder cutting in Southwest Township on Enterprise and Selkirk roads; pipe replacement on Blue Eye Road in Columbus and Spring Creek townships; and sign upgrading on various roads throughout Warren County.

LCB stats

released

District Enforcement Office 8 Erie, part of the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, performed the following activities during May: 38 complaints received, 167 visits to licensed establishments, 10 age compliance checks were conducted with six selling to an underage buyer, nine violation letters were issued, 28 warning letters were issued and seven citations were issues for underage consumption, etc.

State police

arrest fugitive

CONNEAUTVILLE, Pa. (AP) – State police have arrested a northwestern Pennsylvania man in his ex-girlfriend’s stabbing death.

Police say they received a tip that 52-year-old Steven Altman, of Springfield Township, was a passenger in a car and arrested him during a traffic stop at about 11 p.m. Thursday at the interchange of Interstate 90 and Route 6 in Erie County.

Altman is charged with criminal homicide and reckless endangerment in what police have called a “rolling domestic dispute” Wednesday evening in Conneautville (kaw-nee-AWT’-vil).

Police say Altman was driving alongside 53-year-old Debra Eschweiler’s vehicle when he got out with a baseball bat, smashed her driver’s side window, then stabbed her with a hunting knife.

Altman ran away, prompting a manhunt that included a state police helicopter.

Mom competent

to stand trial

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A woman accused of dumping her quadriplegic son in the woods of a Philadelphia park for five days so she could visit her boyfriend in Maryland has been found competent to stand trial.

The ruling Friday came after a psychiatrist said Nyia Parler nonetheless needs mental health treatment. Parler is being held on $2.5 million bail until an August preliminary hearing.

Authorities say Parler abandoned her 21-year-old son in April before taking a bus to visit her boyfriend.

Police say the son had no food or water during the cold, rainy ordeal. The son was treated at a hospital and has been released.

Parler is charged with attempted murder, neglect of a care-dependent person and other crimes. Her lawyer hasn’t returned a call seeking comment on her case.

Husband shot

after getting PFA

PITTSBURGH (AP) – A western Pennsylvania woman charged with criminal homicide for allegedly shooting her husband hours after he got a protection-from-abuse order has been ordered to stand trial.

Allegheny County police say 55-year-old Patricia Katchur shot her husband May 13. Katchur had been living with her sister since the couple fought four days before, but she had returned to their McKeesport home to get some belongings earlier that day.

McKeesport police allowed her into the home after 52-year-old Christopher Katchur refused. After she left with her belongings, police advised him to get a protection-from-abuse order against her.

Police say Patricia Katchur went back to the house while he was out and fell asleep. Police say she shot her husband shortly after he returned and woke her up.

Relatives declined comment after Friday’s preliminary hearing.

Bank official

sentenced

PITTSBURGH (AP) – A former director of a defunct Pittsburgh bank has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for stealing about $336,000 from the institution – thefts that federal prosecutors say helped the bank to fail in 2007.

That’s one reason why 51-year-old Michael Bernick was also ordered Friday to repay about $9.9 million to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which covered the losses of uninsured depositors at Metropolitan Savings Bank of Lawrenceville.

Bernick was convicted in September of using checks and wire transfers to steal the money. His girlfriend, Donna Shebetich, the bank’s former vice president, is serving a six-year sentence for pleading guilty to filing false reports with regulators to hide the bank’s dire finances.

Shebetich and Bernick are jointly responsible for paying the $9.9 million loss.

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Tea party to meet

The Warren County Tea Party will meet in the Community Room at Thorne’s BiLo at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 4.

94-year-old gets

second DUI arrest

EBENSBURG, Pa. (AP) – A judge sentenced a 94-year-old Pennsylvania man to house arrest for a month and told him not to drive after a second drunken-driving conviction.

The (Johnstown) Tribune-Democrat says Cambria County Judge David Tulowitzki told George Wyar, of Johnstown, “The bottom line is, no one wants you driving anymore.”

Wyar was arrested in October when his car failed to move over as he passed officers making another roadside traffic stop. Police say Wyar narrowly missed an officer and had a blood-alcohol content nearly twice the state’s legal limit.

Wyar’s license is suspended and doesn’t expire until next year, but the judge told him Monday not to expect to get it back.

Defense attorney Caram Abood told the judge Wyar was “one of the nicest young men I’ve ever met.”

Contractor dies

as roof collapses

JAMESTOWN, Pa. (AP) – State police are investigating the death of a western Pennsylvania man after the roof of a pavilion where he was working collapsed.

Mercer County Deputy Coroner Cris Loutzenhiser says Philip Jackson, of Kinsman, was working on the 16-by-16 pavilion at a home in North Shenango Township when it gave way just before 11 a.m. Monday. He was pronounced dead a little more than an hour later at UPMC Horizon hospital in Greenville.

The (Sharon) Herald reports a man working with Jackson on the project was not injured.

Loutzenhiser says the 62-year-old self-employed contractor died from blunt force trauma.

Drunk man ran

fake checkpoint

SOMERSET, Pa. (AP) – Police say a man who set up a drunken-driving checkpoint complete with road flares while pretending to be a Pennsylvania state trooper was drunk.

Troopers say 19-year-old Logan Shaulis, of Somerset, parked his vehicle diagonally across state Route 601 and set up road flares at about 4 a.m. Saturday.

A motorist who stopped says Shaulis claimed he was a trooper and demanded to see a driver’s license, registration and insurance papers.

When real troopers arrived, police say Shaulis tried to hand a BB pistol to the car’s passenger and said, “I can’t get caught with this.”

He faces charges including drunken driving, impersonating a public servant and unlawful restraint. He remained jailed Tuesday.

A preliminary hearing is set for June 9.

Peregrine shot,

left for dead

TUSSEYVILLE, Pa. (AP) – Officials say a male peregrine was shot and left for dead in central Pennsylvania over Memorial Day weekend.

WJAC-TV reports an X-ray shows the bird was wounded with a shotgun in Tusseyville. That’s about 130 miles east of Pittsburgh.

Officials say a citizen found the bird unable to move and called Centre Wildlife Care to see if they could rescue the bird.

Robyn Grabowski, executive director of Centre Wildlife Care, says the bird had to be euthanized because of its injuries.

Grabowski says peregrines are endangered in Pennsylvania even though they’re no longer on the federal endangered species list.

It is illegal in Pennsylvania to shoot any bird of prey including eagles, hawks, owls, vultures and falcons.

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4th of July

meetings set

The Warren County 4th of July organization will meet Tuesday, June 2 and Sunday, June 7 at 6 p.m. at Jefferson DeFrees Pavilion on Fourth Ave. Anyone interested in volunteering is welcome to attend the meetings.

Pine Grove sets

cemetery meeting

Pine Grove Cemetery Association will have a public meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 3, at the Pine Grove Township Building near the fire hall. The public is invited to attend to comment and ask questions.

The cemetery is currently struggling financially, according to association member David Van Orsdale, and is “seeking donations and assistance from families and descendants for continuing maintenance,” he said. “We no longer can afford a paid care taker … equipment is old and in need of replacement.”

Donations can be mailed to the cemetery at P.O. Box 92, Russell, PA 16345, or call Pine Grove Township at 757-8112.

Weather officials

confirm tornado

HERMITAGE, Pa. (AP) – Weather officials say they have confirmed the presence of a tornado in western Pennsylvania over the weekend.

Meteorologist John Darnley of the National Weather Service office in Pittsburgh says the twister touched down at about 4 p.m. Sunday just south of Hermitage in Mercer County.

Officials are trying to determine the twister’s path and strength. It’s unclear how much damage was caused.

The tornado occurred 30 years to the day after a deadly twister tore through the region, killing dozens and injuring hundreds in the northeastern United States and Canada.

Flooding from the weekend storm closed roads in Jamestown, Greenville and Sugar Grove. No injuries were reported.

Allegheny College

starts fundraiser

MEADVILLE, Pa. (AP) – Allegheny College has launched the most ambitious fundraising campaign in the northwestern Pennsylvania private school’s history.

The Titusville Herald reports the “Our Allegheny: Our Third Century Quest” campaign’s goal of $200 million will be used primarily to fund scholarships and endow faculty chairs.

College President James H. Mullen Jr. announced the campaign Saturday at a reunion weekend to celebrate the college’s bicentennial year.

Pitt philanthropist

Peterson dies

PITTSBURGH (AP) – John Petersen, a retired insurance executive whose gifts to the University of Pittsburgh included $10 million for a basketball arena named for himself and his wife, has died. He was 86.

Petersen died Saturday after battling cancer, university officials and his family said. He and his wife, Gertrude, were living with their daughter in Savannah, Georgia, at the time.

Chancellor Emeritus Mark Nordenberg said the gift that helped fund the $119 million John M. and Gertrude E. Petersen Events Center also helped invigorate the campus and was a magnet for other donations. It opened in 2002.

“You can’t really say that there was a cause and effect, but there was a general change in the feeling of the institution that I think did have a role in the generation of that progress,” Nordenberg told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Petersen and his wife also donated money for scholarships, a nanoscience and engineering institute, and an Olympic sports complex at the school.

Petersen graduated from Pitt with a business administration degree in 1951 and worked as an accountant for General Electric Co. before returning to Erie where he grew up. He worked his way up through the ranks of Erie Insurance and retired as president and CEO in 1995 after 33 years.

Interstate crash

leaves two dead

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) – Authorities say the driver and a passenger of a tractor-trailer were killed when the rig struck a bridge support column on an eastern Pennsylvania interstate.

The Lehigh County coroner’s office said the accident happened shortly before 1 a.m. Monday in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 78 in Upper Saucon Township.

The 42-year-old man driving the rig and his 38-year-old female passenger were pronounced dead at the scene at about 2 a.m. Monday.

State police said a second tractor-trailer struck the wreck, but its driver was uninjured.

Autopsies are scheduled Tuesday. The coroner said “extensive forensic testing will be needed for identification purposes” for both victims.

Woman sentenced

in old murder case

STROUDSBURG, Pa. (AP) – An eastern Pennsylvania woman has seen sentenced to seven to 20 years after pleading guilty as an accomplice in the murder of a man who disappeared a decade ago.

Lisa Marie Stavish, 32, of Stroudsburg entered the plea Monday in Monroe County Court to third-degree murder in the death of 42-year-old David McEntire of Kunkletown, The Pocono Record (http://bit.ly/1FPDNcB ) reported.

Stavish, who will be credited with time served since she was incarcerated in June 2013, acknowledged having injected McEntire with a mixture of bleach and cocaine during the attack on him with three other men. Police said they believed that the victim had stolen money from them.

Stavish said she had long been in denial but wanted to put the case behind her.

“I’ve come to terms with my life,” said Stavish, adding that she hoped to take classes and obtain a degree in prison. “I hope to come out a better person.”

Assistant District Attorney Michael Mancuso called the plea appropriate given her limited role in the killing as well as some evidence of abuse against her as well.

Edwin Kelly, 50, of Scotrun pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in 2012 and was also sentenced to seven to 20 years. Another man is awaiting trial.