TITUSVILLE —
Eating Chinese takeout in front of a glowing fireplace is a pleasant enough way to spend an evening:.
But state police in northwestern Pennsylvania say there was just one problem with those plans: The person or persons who made the fire and ate the food didn't live in the residence.
Instead, troopers from Franklin say it appears someone kicked in the door of a home in Oil Creek Township before making themselves at home.
Police haven't identified or arrested any suspects, but say the incident took place sometime between Oct.17 and 24.
The scene of the comfortable crime is about 85 miles north of Pittsburgh.
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Police: Man, 86, fatally shoots son
ALLENTOWN — Police say an 86-year-old man is behind bars after fatally shooting his son at the eastern Pennsylvania home they shared.
Allentown police say Roy Tarboro shot and killed 54-year-old Rickey Tarboro on Monday evening in the midst of the megastorm that slammed the region.
Roy Tarboro was arraigned on homicide charges and held without bail.
Police did not discuss the circumstances of the shooting but Rickey Tarboro's live-in girlfriend tells The Morning Call of Allentown the older man had dementia.
It was not immediately clear if Roy Tarboro had an attorney.
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Police: Teen baby sitter killed by gunfire
PHILADELPHIA — Police in Philadelphia say a teenager was fatally wounded by gunfire when a man fleeing two gunmen apparently tried to get into the house where she was baby-sitting.
Investigators say the 19-year-old woman was pronounced dead just after 9 p.m. in the city's Wynnefield Heights neighborhood.
Lt. John Walker tells the Philadelphia Daily News two armed men were shooting at a man who ran onto the porch of the home and tried to get inside. The woman was shot in the head when she opened the door.
Walker says the man who was running from the shooters is in custody. Police are still searching for the shooters.
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Storm-related landslides hamper highway
WEST MIFFLIN — A busy highway near Pittsburgh has been hampered by overnight landslides being blamed on hillsides softened by rains from superstorm Sandy.
Route 837 was closed by a landslide late Tuesday, and again when a smaller slide blocked part of the highway in West Mifflin about 4 a.m. Wednesday.
Driver Daniel Bodner says he was driving his pickup when the dirt slid about 10 feet across the road in front of him. Bodner couldn't stop in time and hit the slide with his truck, which popped up into the air and blew a tire.
Bodner wasn't hurt and no other injuries have been reported. Crews have cleared the debris and the stretch of highway about 5 miles east of Pittsburgh has reopened.
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Man on trial in ex-fiancee's 2008 killing
LEWISBURG — Closing arguments are set in the trial of a Pennsylvania man accused of killing the mother of his three young children following their breakup.
Prosecutors are seeking a second-degree murder conviction for 50-year-old Roderick Sims in the September 2008 killing of his estranged fiancée, Charity Spickler. They say he stalked her and gunned her down inside a friend's Lewisburg apartment.
Sims argued with his defense attorneys Tuesday during a recess in Union County Court over how they're handling his case. They're seeking a lesser charge saying he shot Spickler in a fit of rage after finding her in bed with another man.
The Daily Item of Sunbury reports Sims testified he accidentally killed Spickler while under the influence of alcohol and prescription drugs.
Closing arguments are scheduled for Wednesday.
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Judge extends ballot deadline due to storm
PITTSBURGH — A western Pennsylvania judge has extended the deadline for absentee ballots to be submitted in the Pittsburgh-area.
Attorneys for Allegheny County elections officials and the Democratic Party argued Tuesday that Friday's 5 p.m. deadline might prevent some votes from counting because of mail delays and other problems people may have had getting their ballots to the county offices in Pittsburgh.
An attorney for the county's Republican party argued against an extension, saying absentee ballots are more prone to being used fraudulently.
Allegheny County Judge Joseph James ruled the ballots can be turned in until the polls close at 8 p.m. on election day. County officials say they typically let people do that anyway during presidential election years.
Ballots accepted after the normal, state-mandated Friday deadline will be sequestered so their validity can be challenged, however.
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