Associated Press
LEMOYNE — Police say someone broke into a central Pennsylvania church and made off with $1,000 in gift cards that were supposed to go to the needy for help buying groceries.
Investigators say the gift cards were taken from Calvary United Methodist Church in Lemoyne, Cumberland County on Thursday or Friday.
Pastor Curt Dotson says the church gives gift cards to those in need to help buy food. He says whoever stole the cards knew what they were after.
Cash and more gift cards were left in the cabinet.
Dotson is asking the burglar to return the cards, no questions asked.
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Police: Couple smoked crack near boy, 6
DILLINER — A southwestern Pennsylvania couple has been jailed on charges they were smoking crack with a 6-year-old boy nearby when police went to arrest the man on unrelated charges at their home.
State police have charged 46-year-old Duane Roy Hughes and 32-year-old Jennifer Lynn Hughes, after the incident at their home in Dunkard Township, Greene County.
That's where troopers from the Waynesburg barracks say they found the couple smoking the drug when they went to arrest Duane Hughes on the other felony charges about 9 p.m. Friday.
Online court records don't list an attorney for the couple, who are charged with drug possession and child endangerment charges.
Police haven't said whether the boy was related to the couple, or where he is staying now.
The couple face a preliminary hearing July 16.
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Toddler dies in dirt bike crash
POINT MARION — Officials say a southwestern Pennsylvania toddler is dead after a dirt bike he was riding on crashed into another vehicle over the weekend.
The Fayette County coroner's office says 2-year-old Ryan Metz was wearing no protective equipment at the time of the crash Friday night in Point Marion. Metz was riding on the lap of a 17-year-old when the dirt bike crashed into the side of a sport utility vehicle.
The dirt bike's driver was treated for head injuries. Police say he'd failed to stop at an intersection immediately before the crash.
Metz would have turned 3 on Tuesday.
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Violent western storm microburst not tornado
SYKESVILLE — The National Weather Service says a violent storm that downed trees, damaged homes and left 1,200 residents without power in west-central Pennsylvania on Saturday was a microburst, not a tornado.
The Punxsutawney Spirit reports the areas hardest hit were Sykesville and Henderson Township, both about 75 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
No injuries were reported in the storm, which contained violent winds and quarter-sized hail. Several homes were damaged either by wind or by trees that fell onto them.
The storm hit about 5:30 p.m. Saturday and lasted only about 15 minutes.
Power had been restored to the area by late Sunday.
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4th state death attributed to heat
ALLENTOWN — Officials say the scorching heat wave that pushed temperatures into triple digits claimed the life of 86-year-old Pennsylvania man.
The Lehigh County coroner's office says Llan Gacel died Saturday of hyperthermia. He is at least the fourth Pennsylvania resident whose death has been attributed to the heat.
The coroner says temperatures inside Gacel's Allentown home were over 90 degrees on Saturday. The National Weather Service says the high temperature in Allentown on Saturday was 99 degrees.
The deaths of three Philadelphia men have also been blamed on the heat wave.
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Volunteer fire chief jailed in $13,000 thefts
ALLENPORT — A southwestern Pennsylvania volunteer fire chief has been jailed on charges he stole about $13,000 from the department since 2010.
Police say 42-year-old Victor Anthony Fedrick, of Allenport, withdrew $9,210 from the Allenport Volunteer Fire Department's bank account where he's chief and his wife is president. Fedrick's wife hasn't been charged.
Fedrick is also charged with using a department charge card to purchase about $4,000 worth of gasoline for personal use. The company's vehicles run on diesel.
Online court records don't list an attorney for Fedrick, who was arrested Friday. He remained in the Washington County Jail unable to post $75,000 on Monday.
The money was allegedly stolen in 2010, while the gas card was allegedly used last year.
Allenport is about 25 miles south of Pittsburgh.
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Police: Ex attacks women at son's pizza party
MONROEVILLE — A Pittsburgh woman has been jailed on charges she attacked her ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend and other women with a knife and a brick at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant during a party for her son.
Monroeville police say 20-year-old Lynaa Eva Dobbins attacked four female guests at the restaurant about 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Investigators say Dobbins was apparently upset that her son's father had a new girlfriend at the party. Police say Dobbins cut one woman's ear with a knife and hit another with a brick. She's also accused of hitting two other women in the brawl that ensued.
Online court records don't list an attorney for Dobbins, who remained jailed Monday.
She faces a July 17 preliminary hearing on aggravated assault and other charges, including stalking her ex-boyfriend.
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Ohio man in Pittsburgh to face YouTube charges
PITTSBURGH — An Ohio man is scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate in Pittsburgh for a preliminary hearing on charges that he threatened administrators at the University of Pittsburgh in a YouTube video.
Twenty-four-year-old Alexander Waterland, of Loveland, Ohio, has denied any wrongdoing.
But federal prosecutors say he posted a YouTube video threatening to release stolen computer records unless administrators apologized for not "protecting" students after the campus was targeted by dozens of bomb threats earlier this year. It turns out the computer records were never hacked.
Waterland isn't charged in connection with the bomb threats themselves which prompted classes to be canceled and dormitories and other buildings to be evacuated on several occasions from February to May.
If the magistrate finds probable cause that Waterland committed the crimes on Monday, prosecutors will have 30 days to indict him.
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Ex-Sen. John Pippy to head coal advocacy group
PITTSBURGH — Former Pittsburgh-area state Sen. John Pippy's new job will be heading a group that advocates for the coal industry.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports Monday that Pippy has confirmed he'll be the chief executive officer of the Pennsylvania Coal Alliance. The group is scheduled to make an announcement later Monday in Pittsburgh.
The 41-year-old former lawmaker says his job will be "telling the positive story of coal."
The coal group was formed when the Pennsylvania Coal Association merged with FORCE, Families Organizes to Represent the Coal Economy.
Pippy was a Republican state senator from Moon Township from 2003 until he resigned June 30, shortly after he voted for the new state budget.
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Historical marker planned for state's ice cream role
SEVEN VALLEYS — A historical marker is planned to commemorate one cool moment in Pennsylvania's history.
A dedication ceremony is scheduled for Sunday to mark the role York County played in the start of commercial ice cream production in the mid-19th century.
Baltimore milk dealer Jacob Fussell set up the first large-scale ice cream production facility in Seven Valleys in in the early 1850s. The factory moved to Baltimore in 1854, but Fussell continued to use York County milk and cream for his production.
The York Dispatch reports the marker will be placed on the York County Heritage Rail Trail in Seven Valleys.
