1 killed, 1 seriously injured after buggy hit by car
HUNTINGDON, PA. » Authorities say one person was killed and another seriously injured after a car struck a horse and buggy on a Pennsylvania highway.
State police in Huntingdon County said a vehicle heading west on William Penn Highway in Henderson Township hit the rear of the buggy shortly before 5 p.m. Saturday. The vehicle then hit a parked vehicle outside a Kwik Fill and plowed into the building, coming to a stop with its front end inside the store.
Police said one occupant of the buggy was pronounced dead at the scene and another was flown to UPMC Altoona for treatment of injuries that police called serious. The name of the person killed wasn’t immediately released. The driver of the parked car was taken a hospital for treatment of moderate injuries.
This story has been corrected to show the accident happened on a Pennsylvania highway, not a Philadelphia highway.
Wildlife center: 3rd bald eagle dies of lead poisoning
A Pennsylvania wildlife center says a 30-year-old bald eagle that was being treated for lead poisoning has died less than two weeks after two other eagles died of the same cause.
The Tamarack Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center in Saegertown announced the bird’s death on Facebook on Sunday.
The bird was captured Aug. 13 after it allowed people to get unusually close. Blood tests confirmed lead poisoning.
The center says the eagle had been brought to Pennsylvania decades ago to help repopulation efforts.
The organization previously said that two other adult bald eagles in their care had recently died of lead toxicity despite treatment efforts. They say the birds can be poisoned by lead picked up while scavenging animals that were shot or from a fishing sinker.
Pennsylvania attorney general issues eclipse glasses warning
Pennsylvania’s top prosecutor wants to make sure people don’t get burned by glassed they’ve bought to view Monday’s solar eclipse.
Attorney General Josh Shapiro says folks should check to make sure their glasses have filters recommended by NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which runs the nation’s space exploration program.
Shapiro says the fake glasses don’t have the NASA-recommended filters and people who try to view the eclipse using them could hurt their eyes.
The eclipse will be total in some parts of the country, on a path running from Oregon in the Northwest to the southeastern part of the country. Pennsylvanians will only see the Moon blocking about 75 percent to 80 percent of the Sun in the early afternoon.
Crash, trapped driver closes I-283 lanes near Harrisburg
Some lanes of a secondary interstate highway near Pennsylvania’s state capital have been closed by a crash that has left crews scrambling to save a driver trapped in a vehicle.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation says the crash happened early Monday in the southbound lanes of Interstate 283 near Harrisburg.
The highways southbound lanes are shut down from Exit 2 at state Route 441 to Exits 1A and 1B, which lead to state Route 283.
The cause of the crash and the driver’s condition weren’t immediately available.
Pennsylvania lumber fire took 1.5 million gallons to douse
LEBANON, PA. » A fire chief says a Pennsylvania lumber mill fire took 1.5 million gallons of water to douse, though no workers were hurt in the blaze and only one firefighter suffered a minor injury.
Lawn Volunteer Fire Chief Daniel Braden says the blaze at Weaber Lumber in South Annville Township depleted most of the yard’s 1.2-million gallon (4.54-million liter) emergency pond. Water was drawn from other sites when firefighters from 36 different companies used about 60 vehicles to fight the blaze which began shortly before midnight Saturday and was out by Sunday morning.
The fire started in a kiln that was packed with lumber. The kiln measures about 50 feet (15.2 meters) by 150 feet (45.7 meters).
The family owned company is one of the country’s leading hardwood lumber suppliers. Officials there didn’t immediately comment Monday.
Police call about sex act in Jeep leads to ID theft busts
BETHLETHEM, PA. » Police say a call reporting two people engaged in a sex act in a vehicle outside a Pennsylvania Wal-Mart led them to jail the New York couple on identity theft charges.
Colonial Regional police say they found several forged credit cards in the Jeep Wrangler when they responded to the initial call Thursday about 4:30 p.m. in Lower Nazareth Township.
Police say they smelled marijuana coming from the vehicle so the driver, 22-yearold Ceon Gordon, was also charged with drug possession.
He and 21-year-old Ashley Thompson, both of Brooklyn, remained in the Northampton County jail unable to post bond Monday.
Police say they found a device used to create the forged cards under the driver’s seat.
Online court records don’t list an attorney for the couple who face a preliminary hearing Aug. 31.
Trial date set for atheist’s suit against transit agency
SCRANTON, PA. » A federal lawsuit filed by an atheist group whose ads were rejected by a Pennsylvania transit agency is set to be heard by a jury Nov. 13.
The Northeastern Pennsylvania Freethought Society sued the County of Lackawanna Transit System more than two years ago. The agency, based in Scranton, says it has a policy banning any ads that promote or attack religion, saying such ads could cause disputes on its buses and, therefore, are a safety hazard.
A federal judge in Scranton agreed in April that the agency has a right to limit ads, but says a jury must decide whether it was reasonable in this instance.
The atheist group says the policy is unconstitutional because it censors the discussion of religion but not other topics.
It seeks only a court order allowing its ads to run.
SWAT team, police facing man on home’s roof with handgun
WEXFORD, PA. » A SWAT team and other police have surrounded a home in a Pittsburgh suburb where an armed man who has climbed onto the roof and won’t surrender.
Northern Regional Chief Bob Amann says police were called to the Pine Township home when the 33-year-old man got into an argument with his mother about 10 p.m. Sunday.
When police arrived, the man hid out in a room then moved about inside the home and onto its roof at various times. Police entered the home and secured its top floor, forcing the man to remain on the roof.
Amann says the man was armed with a handgun and continued threatening to harm only himself late Monday morning.
Nearby residents have been evacuated. The chief says police are “trying to end this without anyone getting hurt.”
Cosby hires Michael Jackson’s lawyer for sex assault retrial
PHILADELPHIA » Bill Cosby has hired Michael Jackson’s former lawyer to represent him at his November retrial on sexual assault charges in Pennsylvania.
Cosby’s spokesman announced Monday that the 80-year-old comedian is bringing in Tom Mesereau to lead a retooled defense team. Lawyers from the first trial in June had said they wanted off the case.
Mesereau won an acquittal in Jackson’s 2004 child molestation trial. He has also represented boxer Mike Tyson, rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight and a Playboy bunny.
Mesereau will be joined by former federal prosecutor Kathleen Bliss, as well as Sam Silver, who represented now-imprisoned former U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah of Pennsylvania in a corruption case.
Cosby’s first trial on charges he drugged and molested a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004 ended in a hung jury.