WASHINGTON — No further sale agreements on properties needed for the Flight 93 National Memorial had been made as of Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. Department of the Interior said.
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has set a Friday deadline for deals to be struck before the federal government resumes a push to take the lands through condemnation proceedings.
“Our grateful nation will never forget the heroism of the men and women of Flight 93 who died in the fields of western Pennsylvania, and we have a moral obligation to complete the memorial by Sept. 11, 2011,” he said in a release.
The National Park Service and the landowners have been working to find agreement for several years.
Lilly mayor seeks to dump appeal
EBENSBURG – Lilly Mayor John Gides has asked the state Superior Court to throw out the appeal filed by Cambria County prosecutors, who are seeking to have the court reinstate charges against the mayor.
Judge Gerard Long in October threw out criminal charges in which Gides was accused of forging a police officer’s name when illegally writing three parking tickets. The judge ruled that the charges were “de minimis” – Latin for the legal principle that “the law is not concerned with trifles.”
District Attorney Patrick Kiniry, who filed the appeal, has maintained that the issue is not about parking tickets but about a police officer’s name and badge number allegedly being forged by a public official.
In the meantime, Gides’ civil action continues in county court. Gides is suing the borough for $7,500 that he has paid attorney Thomas Dickey for legal representation.
Dickey originally filed what is known as a mandamus action in civil court seeking to force the borough to pay the legal fees. Judge David Tulowitzki ruled that step was not the proper procedure, and Dickey has refiled the civil action.
Man heads to prison for grabbing money
EBENSBURG – A Johnstown man who stole money from two women while reaching into their car was sentenced Tuesday to 14 months to
five years in state prison.
Joseph A. Schuller, 26, of the 400 block of Coleman Avenue, was ordered to serve 12 months on probation in addition to the prison sentence imposed by Judge Norman Krumenacker in the theft case.
Schuller had pleaded guilty to two counts of theft in the Jan. 3 incident in the city’s Oakhurst section. City police alleged that he stole $380 from one woman’s purse and a $20 bill from the pocket of the other woman’s sweater.
Krumenacker also gave Schuller another one-year consecutive probation on a guilty plea to giving false identification to law enforcement.
He was accused of giving a fake name when the police were called to a domestic disturbance March 1 at a Virginia Avenue residence.
Burglars hit four Somerset businesses
SOMERSET – State police in Somerset are asking for the public’s help in finding burglars who broke into four Somerset Township businesses.
The break-ins happened between 6 p.m. Monday and 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at Backwoods Country Store on North Center Avenue, Somerset Milling Co. on Stoystown Road, Papa John's pizzeria on North Center Avenue and Rhoads Mini Mart on Glades Pike.
About $400 and a GPS unit were stolen from Backwoods, about $115 was taken at Papa John’s and some change was stolen at the mini mart. The burglars opened filing cabinets and ate a few cookies at the milling company, police said.
Local News
In brief: Secretary sets Flight 93 deadline
- Local News
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$27.1B budget proposed
Gov. Tom Corbett on Tuesday proposed a budget of $27.1 billion, with no tax increases, deep cuts to higher education assistance and a range of cost-cutting in services for the poor, elderly and disabled.
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Highlights of Gov. Corbett's state spending plan
Read on to see a bulleted list of Gov. Tom Corbett’s $27.1 billion state spending plan for the year that starts July 1.
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Universities face steep cuts
State universities still trying to recover from deep cuts last year would have their public funding slashed even further under a budget plan unveiled Tuesday, leading some institutions to warn of a choice between maintaining buildings and offering academic programs students need to graduate.
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Plan hurts middle class, local Democrats contend
While members of his own party praised Gov. Tom Corbett’s fiscal restraint, some local Democratic lawmakers said the Republican’s proposed budget panders to corporate interests while inflicting pain on the middle class.
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Senate approves proposed fee on shale drilling
The state Senate voted today to impose a fee on natural-gas drilling in Pennsylvania and expand regulations for the booming industry, a milestone in a debate that has raged in the Capitol for several years.
Senators voted 31-19 to approve the 174-page bill that would fund road work and environmental clean-ups and give local governments the power to decide if the fee would be imposed on their local wells.
“Could we have done better? Supposedly, but it has taken three years to get this far,” said supporter Sen. John Wozniak, D-Johnstown, among a handful who crossed party lines. “It is time to turn the page.” -
Blogging with heart
I've got so much stuff for this Sunday's American Heart Month package, that some of the stories will spill over onto Monday. But I don't know what to leave out, or hold for the next week, so it looks like a double hit this week.
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Pa. gas drilling fee bill debate ends without vote
Pennsylvania, the only major gas-producing state that does not tax the taking of natural gas from its soil, moved closer Tuesday to imposing a fee on the drilling in the vast Marcellus Shale reserves that have transformed the state in recent years.
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Detour hurting some Portage businesses
Craig Mazzarese’s business depends heavily on drive-by customers, but since last week fewer drive-bys have been stopping
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Local airport funding intact
Airport leaders here are breathing sighs of relief after Congress approved funding to support local commercial air service through 2015.
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With state revenue tight, Westmont seeks school budget input
The Westmont Hilltop school board on Tuesday night held a public forum at the middle school to explain why the district, already one of the most efficient in the state, must raise taxes each year.
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