HARRISBURG — The trial is scheduled begin early next year for two former Penn State officials accused of lying to a grand jury and burying an allegation of a child's sexual abuse in the Jerry Sandusky scandal.
A judge on Friday ordered jury selection in the trial for Tim Curley and Gary Schultz to begin Jan. 7.
Dauphin County Judge Todd Hoover is still considering motions by the men's lawyers to throw out the charges. Curley is on leave from the athletic director's post and Schultz is retired from a senior vice president's post.
Prosecutors say Curley and Schultz lied when asked what a graduate assistant told them about a 2001 assault he witnessed in a locker room shower. Sandusky was convicted in June of abusing 10 boys.
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Strip club plans to pay for new streetlights
HARRISBURG — A Harrisburg gentleman's club is paying to repair streetlights in a high-crime neighborhood in hopes of encouraging other businesses to keep the cash-strapped city's residents safe.
Savannah's manager Jonas Hair says broken streetlights are a problem for any business, even ones like his that keep their own security staff. So the club has offered to foot the $1,320 bill to fix a light outside the South Harrisburg establishment and five more in the crime-ridden Allison Hill neighborhood.
The Patriot News of Harrisburg reports a local historic association is also raising money for streetlight repair after paying for new lighting on a Susquehanna River foot bridge.
Harrisburg spokesman Robert Philbin says the Savannah's donation is a welcome addition to the streetlight budget.
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2 men found shot dead in Pocono Mountains park
TOBYHANNA — Police say they're investigating the fatal shootings of two men whose bodies were discovered in a township park in northeastern Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains.
Pocono Mountain Regional Police say an officer discovered the bodies early Friday morning in a park in Coolbaugh Township, Monroe County. One body was found beside a car that was parked off a road in the park.
The bodies were found around 2 a.m. while the officer was on patrol.
One man's body was inside a car in a parking lot. The other body was found just outside the vehicle. Coroner Bob Allen says the men had likely been shot at the scene sometime Thursday night.
Autopsies are scheduled for Saturday.
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Man gets life for fatal bludgeoning of furrier
PITTSBURGH — A western Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to life in prison for bludgeoning the elderly grandfather of his estranged wife with a tire iron while robbing the man of silver and gold coins that the defendant pawned.
Thirty-six-year-old Jason Kuhns, of Brentwood, was sentenced Thursday in the April 2011 death of 90-year-old Pittsburgh furrier Cuddy Briskin.
Allegheny County prosecutors say Kuhns was getting divorced from Briskin's granddaughter at the time of the murder, and that his crimes were fueled by his drug habit.
Kuhns and his mother claim he's innocent and say he'll appeal his May conviction.
Allegheny County Judge Anthony Mariani tells Kuhns he was "like an atom bomb that went off in the middle of your family and Mr. Briskin's family" saying "You've devastated everyone around you."
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Man extradited, jailed in cabin shootings
PINE BANK — A suspect arrested after he fled to West Virginia has been returned to southwestern Pennsylvania and jailed on charges he fatally shot a man and wounded his wife in a remote cabin.
State police haven't commented on a motive except to say they don't believe 32-year-old Jason Roe, of Daisytown, shot the others as part of a love triangle.
Police say Roe shot 38-year-old Cordele Patterson several times, and also wounded 40-year-old Lana Roe, about 2 p.m. Tuesday before fleeing to West Virginia, where he was arrested.
Court records show Lana Roe was getting a protection-from-abuse order against her husband earlier this month and that Patterson and Jason Roe were robbed in a housing project known for rampant drug activity in neighboring Fayette County last month. Patterson had an extensive drug record in Fayette County.
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Rally to support wounded officer after verdict
PITTSBURGH — A rally is planned at the Allegheny County Courthouse in Pittsburgh for a suburban police officer left paralyzed in a shooting a day after two men were acquitted of shooting him.
Jurors on Thursday threw out the attempted homicide charge against 27-year-old Emilio Rivera, of McKees Rocks, and 19-year-old Marcus Andrejco of Rankin.
That meant the jury found reasonable doubt that either man shot Clairton Officer James Kuzak, even though Rivera was convicted of burglary and other charges in the home invasion during which Kuzak was wounded in April 2011.
Andrejco was cleared of all charges.
Kuzak's efforts to walk again after being shot five times has been supported by various police- and community-related events.
The district attorney has vowed to push for a maximum sentence of 69 to 138 years in prison for Rivera.
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Retired fire chief waives assault hearing
PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh fire battalion chief who retired after he was suspended without pay has waived his right to a preliminary hearing on charges that he threw his ex-girlfriend to the floor during a drunken rage.
Fifty-four-year-old James Washabaugh filed for retirement a few days after he was charged in the Aug. 6 incident at the apartment he used to share with the woman.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports Washabaugh was put on paid leave in 2008 when he was twice charged with simple assault — once by city police and then by Sewickley police three weeks later — for at least one altercation involving the same woman. Those charges were later dropped.
By retiring, Washabaugh has avoided a disciplinary hearing and may remain eligible for his pension even if he's found guilty of the latest charge.
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