Pennsylvania hunters killed record 4,653 black bears in 2019

HARRISBURG, PA. >> Wildlife authorities say Pennsylvania hunters killed 4,653 black bears last year, setting a new record.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission said Monday the total is far above last year’s total of 3,153, which was the 11th highest total recorded but was also the lowest in almost a dozen years.

Game commission officials had sought an increase given the statewide bear population of about 20,000. Agency biologist Mark Ternent said there were 30 days of bear hunting across all bear seasons last year, the first time that has happened since 1931.

Pennsylvania’s previous top bear seasons occurred in 2011, when 4,350 bears were killed, and in 2005, when the total was 4,164, the commission said. Officials said the total has been smaller in recent years due to bad weather, especially on opening days when hunter participation is usually at its highest.

Officials said hunters killed 1,629 bears in last year’s general season, 1,340 in the muzzleloader and special firearms seasons, 1,117 in extended firearms seasons and 561 in the bear archery season.

The largest animal was an 813-pound male killed in Monroe County. The heaviest bear on record was an 875-pound animal killed in Pike County. Lycoming County recorded 284 bears killed followed by Clinton and Tioga counties, both with 267.

Officials said the commission “is comfortable” with the size of the harvest, and the board of game commissioners had added a week to the 2020 bear archery season.

HARRISBURG, PA. >> A woman sentenced to jail for 10 months for a $109.63 theft, despite needing surgery to treat what her family says is advanced uterine and cervical cancer, is being transferred to a Pennsylvania state prison, her lawyer said Monday.

However, her family is asking the sentencing judge to release her to home confinement so that she can continue to see her doctors at Hershey Medical Center, her lawyer Scott Feeman said.

Feeman said he knows Menser will be provided health care in a state prison, but her family wants Menser to see the doctors who know her condition best.

Menser was sentenced and sent to jail Jan. 22.

The 36-year-old Menser had a history of theft convictions before pleaded guilty last year to stealing $109.63 worth of merchandise from a grocery store, according to court records.

PA Post reported last week that had been hours before Menser had an oncology appointment where she expected to be scheduled for surgery to remove her uterus.

Feeman said that, to his knowledge, Menser has not seen an oncologist since going to jail.

Woman pleads guilty to soliciting stepfather’s murder

WILKES- BARRE, PA. >> A woman has pleaded guilty to soliciting the homicide of her stepfather nearly five years ago in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Twenty-five-year-old Kendra Dias entered the plea Monday as her trial was about to open. Under a plea agreement, Luzerne County prosecutors withdrew a conspiracy count and are to recommend a sentence of six to 12 years in prison.

Dias was charged in the May 2015 homicide of 49-year-old Donald Bachman, who was shot in front of his Wilkes-Barre residence after arriving home following an overnight shift as a mechanic.

Prosecutors alleged that she paid $1,500 to arrange the killing, which they called an “executionstyle hit.” She was the only person charged, but prosecutors said Monday that the investigation remains open.

INDIANA, PA. >> State police say they believe the father of a 4-month-old boy fired a shot that wounded the child in a western Pennsylvania apartment over the weekend, but they have no reason to believe he meant to do so.

Police in Indiana County said officers were sent to the White Township unit shortly before 6:30 a.m. Saturday and found the boy with a single gunshot wound to the upper body. He was rushed to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and reported in stable condition.

Police said Monday they believe the 21-yearold father fired a single round from a 9mm handgun that struck the child, but troopers “do not have any reason to believe that this was an intentional discharge of the firearm.”

No arrests have been made. Police say the investigation will be sent to Indiana County prosecutors for review after it is completed.