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.
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