Running red lights and other aggressive driving maneuvers will be the focus for state and local police participating in PennDOT’s Smooth Operator aggressive driving enforcement program.  The final statewide Smooth Operator wave runs from September 7-21 and includes police departments in Bradford, county.  Smooth Operator began over 10 years ago in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.  Pennsylvania piloted Smooth Operator in 2006 and enforcement began statewide in 2007.  Please visit www.pasmoothoperator.org for more information. 

 

 

A burglary at a home in Cherry Township, Sullivan County is being investigated by State Police at Laporte. 49-year-old Steve Butella of Glen Mills Pennsylvania told troopers that sometime between August 29th and the 30th someone forced entry to his garage on the Overton Road and made off with several items including some hand tools. Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call State Police at 946-4610.

 

 

A child caseworker was assaulted by a 13-year-old Wellsboro male. State police at Mansfield say the incident occurred Saturday afternoon in Charleston Township. The 45-year-old Female caseworker was treated and released from the Soldiers & Sailors hospital after being kicked and punched by the youth during the course of an investigation. The youth could be petitioned into court.

 

 

State Police at Towanda expect to make an arrest on a motorcyclist who failed to stop for State Police Friday evening just before 9 pm. Troopers say the biker passed several vehicles on State Route 6 in West Burlington. The police vehicle activated its lights and siren but the biker refused to stop. State Police say the biker is facing several charges in district court.

 

 

Mansfield and Big Elm Fire Departments responded to the scene of a one vehicle accident in Rutland Township on Saturday. Troopers say that 22-year-old Christopher Demarco of Monroeton was northbound on State Route 549 when he drove off the right side of the road, lost control of the vehicle and struck an embankment. The vehicle rolled onto its roof. Demarco was cited by the Troopers.

 

 

49-year-old William Engelke of the Mud Creek Road in Troy Township filed a criminal mischief complaint with State Police recently. Engelke told troopers that someone smashed out the headlights and damaged the fuel injection pump on a tractor he had parked along Mud Creek Road.

 

 

A criminal mischief complaint is being investigated by State Police in North Towanda. The owner of Sanford and Son Antiques located on State Route 6 in Wyalusing Boro told troopers someone recently came into his store during business hours and cut multiple items within the business. The incident is under investigation.

 

 

A Honda big red ATV and a bicycle were among the items recently stolen from two seasonal residences in Fox Township, Sullivan County. 44 year old Raymond Hargraves told troopers someone also removed a garage door and numerous hand tools from his property.

 

 

 

Road crews will be Paving and there will be lane restrictions starting today on Route 6, from the blinking light at Meshoppen to the intersection with Route 87: Crews are expected to be working on Joint and base repair thru Saturday between 6:30am and 8pm. Motorists are advised to pay close attention to the sign persons and possibly make alternate route plans.

 

 

A Canisteo man is in jail for a deadly car crash in Steuben County.  Sheriff's deputies say 22-year old Kevin McPherson was driving on County Route 64 in the town of Hornellsville around 1:00 Sunday morning.  They say he lost control and hit an embankment, before slamming into a NYSEG pole.  His car then rolled over.  His passenger, 29-year old Darwin Davis of Hornell was thrown from the car and was pronounced dead at the scene.  McPherson is now charged with vehicular manslaughter.

 

Pennsylvania State Police are investigating a motor vehicle accident that they say occurred in Ridgebury Township around 1:00 Saturday morning.  They say 27-year old Ryan Smith of East Smithfield lost control of his car, causing him to crash into the tree.  Smith was pronounced dead at Saint Joseph's Hospital.  There is no word on what may have caused the crash.

 

IKE COMES ON STRONG… Hurricane Ike slammed into Haiti and Cuba yesterday, tearing apart houses and flooding islands that still haven’t recovered from Gustav and Hannah.  At least 48 people were killed in Haiti where the death toll is over 600 from storms in the last month. Residents in the Florida Keys already began evacuating in anticipation of the storm hitting tomorrow.  New Orleans officials are tracking the storm to determine if they will call for another evacuation.

 

 

U.S. TAKES OVER MORTGAGE GIANTS… The U.S. government seized mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac yesterday on the theory that bailing them out would be cheaper than the damage done to the economy if they failed.  The two companies own or guarantee about half of the nation’s $10 trillion in outstanding mortgages.  They have lost a combined $14 billion in the last 12 months and will likely rack up billions more as the housing crisis continues.  The government takeover will eliminate nearly $2 billion in stockholder dividends, causing S&P to downgrade Fannie and Freddie stock to junk status.

 

 

DOES PALIN MEAN CHANGE?… John McCain and Barack Obama took their cases for change to the Sunday morning news shows yesterday. McCain defended his selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate during an appearance on CBS’s Face the Nation. McCain said Palin has “a clear record of doing what America wants.” In an appearance on ABC’s This Week, Obama said that Palin is “even more aligned with the policies of George W. Bush than McCain” so her selection undermines McCain’s claim that he will change things in Washington. Obama stayed away from the question of whether Palin is qualified to be president, saying the “resume contest” is not what the American people are looking for.

 

 

GIBSON GETS PALIN… ABC’s Charles Gibson has landed the first interview with Alaska Gov Sarah Palin since she was named to the Republican presidential ticket 10 days ago. Palin will sit down with Gibson for multiple interviews this Thursday and Friday in Alaska. Gibson also landed the only interview with John McCain during the Republican National Convention. Gibson did not ask any questions about Palin’s personal life during the McCain interview, which might have helped land the Palin interview.

 

 

MCCAIN PASSES OBAMA… John McCain has gotten a significant bounce from the Republican National Convention and has overtaken Barack Obama in the Gallup daily tracking poll.  McCain leads Obama 48% to 45%, earning his highest support in the poll since early May.  McCain earned the same 5% convention bounce that Obama received after the Democratic National Convention.

 

 

JET BLUE AUCTIONS FLIGHTS… JetBlue Airlines is auctioning off more than 300 roundtrip flights and 6 vacation packages on eBay this week.  Opening bids on the flights start at between 5 and 10 cents. There are also 4 “mystery” vacations up for bid.  The vacations include 4-night accommodations at a Marriott hotel.  Two of the mystery getaways require a passport.  JetBlue expects the auctions to bring 85 to 90% of the normal ticket price, but is treating the auctions like a guerilla marketing campaign.

 

 

MUSIC DEFINES PERSONALITY… A new study finds that a person’s musical taste defines their personality.  In general, Classical and Jazz fans are creative, pop lovers are hardworking and heavy metal listeners are gentle and at ease with themselves.  The survey asked 36,518 people worldwide to rate 104 different pieces of music before taking a personality test.  Other results showed that country music fans are hardworking and shy and indie-rock lovers lack self-esteem and are not very gentle.  The study organizers are looking for more volunteers for the study at www.peopleintomusic.com.

 

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE… The new Nicholas Cage thriller Bangkok Dangerous earned a paltry $7.8 million in its debut, but that was enough to earn the top spot on the slowest box office weekend in 7 years.  Lionsgate Studio executives summed up the box office totals by saying they would make a profit on Bangkok Dangerous, but only because they lucked out that no other movies opened against it.  Tropic Thunder fell to #2 with $7.5 million, pushing its total to $96.8 million.  The House Bunny was third with $5.9 million.  The low-budget comedy has already earned $37 million, making a huge profit.  The Dark Knight and Traitor rounded out the top 5 with $5.7 and $4.7 million, respectively.

 

 

STAND UP BRINGS IN $100 MILLION… Friday night’s three-network telethon Stand Up to Cancer raised $100 million for cancer research.  The show featured more than 100 stars from music, sports, television and film, including cancer survivors Sheryl Crow, Christina Applegate and Lance Armstrong.  The telethon was co-hosted by network news anchors Charles Gibson, Brian Williams and Katie Couric.

 

 

BRITNEY OPENS VMAS… Britney Spears received a standing ovation from the star-studded crowd after opening the MTV Video Music Awards last night.  But to be fair, she didn’t actually sing or dance; she just opened the show by introducing the first performance by Rihanna.  Spears thanked the crowd for “all the love.”  Her stumbling performance last year has been called the worst in VMA history.

 

 

MADONNA TWEAKS THE POPE… Madonna took another swipe at the Catholic Church during her concert in Rome over the weekend.  She dedicated the song Like a Virgin to the Pope Benedict the 16^th.  Madonna told the crowd, “I dedicate this song to the Pope because I’m a child of God. We are all children of God.”  At her last show in Rome Madonna drew the ire of Catholic officials by staging a mocking crucifixion and accused the Vatican of hypocrisy in the wake of the priest sex abuse scandal.

 

 

COLEMAN IN HIT-AND-RUN… It appears that former child star Gary Coleman still has some issues to deal with despite several trips to anger management classes.  Coleman apparently hit an overzealous fan and a parked car outside a Utah bowling alley on Saturday night. According to Coleman’s version of events, 24-year-old Colt Rushton harassed him and followed him to the parking lot after he refused to pose for a picture.  As he was backing out of a parking spot, Rushton ran behind Coleman’s truck and was knocked to the ground.  According to Rushton’s version, He was merely trying to get his cell phone back from Coleman’s wife who snatched it out of his hand when he tried to take a picture of the couple.  Police are investigating and they say alcohol may have been a factor in the incident.

 

 

NO MONEY FROM NO COUNTRY… Tommy Lee Jones has filed a $10 million lawsuit against Paramount Pictures over unpaid bonuses for the 2007 Academy Award-winning movie No Country for Old Men.  Jones is seeking at least $10 million.  The lawsuit claims that he was promised “significant box office bonuses” and accepted a reduced up-front fee to appear in the film based on those promises.  The suit also says Paramount knew about errors in Jones’ contract, but failed to correct them.  No Country for Old Men grossed $160 million at the box office and earned 4 Academy Awards.

 

Nascar News………

 

Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards have been proud owners of Sprint Cup Series momentum for much of the 2008 season, with fourteen wins between them in twenty-six races.  But reigning two-time champion Jimmie Johnson has stolen much of their thunder in recent days, with the series now primed for its ten-race title run.  Johnson posted his second consecutive victory and fourth of the season Sunday at Richmond International Raceway, becoming the first Cup driver since Rusty Wallace (1992-93) to win that track’s fall race in consecutive years.  Johnson thus starts the Chase for the Sprint Cup as the Number-3 seed, forty points behind Busch and just ten back of Edwards.  Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt Junior and Denny Hamlin will start the “Chase” seventy points off the pace.  Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart are each eighty points behind with the standings now reset.  Johnson survived a late side-by-side battle for the lead with Stewart, inching ahead less than nine laps from the finish and leading the rest of the way.  David Reutimann started twenty-seventh but steadily moved to the front and led a race-high 104 laps before finishing ninth.  Tropical Storm Hanna had forced the race to be postponed from Saturday.

 

 

 

Clint Bowyer’s race-long domination ended with a slight wiggle less than twenty-eight laps from the finish of Sunday night’s Nationwide Series race.  Carl Edwards was in the right place at the right time to take advantage of the bobble, moving past Bowyer and leading the rest of the way to post his fourth win of the season.  Bowyer led a race-high 195 of the 250 laps and finished third behind Richard Childress Racing teammate Scott Wimmer.  The day was not a total loss for Bowyer.  Earlier, he became one of the twelve Sprint Cup Series drivers to secure a spot in the ten-race title chase that begins next week.  Joey Logano had started on the pole by virtue of his Joe Gibbs Racing team leading the owner points, with Friday’s rainout of qualifying.  He finished seventh.  Like the Cup Series race, this one (originally set for Friday) also had been postponed by rain.

 

ON THIS DAY

In 1974, President Gerald Ford granted Richard Nixon a "full, free and absolute pardon" for crimes related to Watergate...

 

 

In 1968, 19-year-old Saundra Williams became the first Miss Black America…

 

 

In 1966, Star Trek debuted on NBC...

 

 

In 1952, Ernest Hemingway’s classic novel The Old Man and the Sea was published…

 

 

In 1949, Mr. Magoo made his debut in a Ragtime Bear cartoon…

 

 

In 1941, German forces began the 900-day Siege of Leningrad in World War II…

 

 

In 1935, Senator Huey Long was fatally shot in the Louisiana capitol building…

 

 

In 1934, 135 people were killed off the New Jersey coast in a fire aboard the SS Morro Castle…

 

 

 

TONIGHT ON PRIMETIME TELEVISION

 

ABC... High School Musical: Get in the Picture… CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rock

 

NBC... Deal or No Deal… America’s Toughest Jobs… Dateline NBC

 

CBS... The Big Bang Theory… How I Met Your Mother… Two and a Half Men… The New Adventures of Old Christine… CSI: Miami

 

FOX: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles… Prison Break

 

CW: Gossip Girl… One Tree Hill