Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

We're back!

Check out this cool video from W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery that I found at the National Assocation of Manufacturer's blog :

Northumberland County authorities say a man had 17 pit bull terriers in his apartment. Milton Police Chief Craig Lutcher says police found the third-floor apartment filled with dog excrement Thursday night. He says a 37-year-old man was taken into custody. Lutcher says he's not sure why the man had so many dogs. Northumberland County Animal Rescue officials took them to Sunbury Animal Hospital. The man's name wasn't immediately released.

The Pittsburgh Zoo's oldest resident has died. A yellow-footed tortoise named Big Mo died on Saturday. He had been suffering from a respiratory infection and other health problems. Big Mo was estimated to be more than 70 years old. The tortoise was acquired by the zoo in 1972 after being caught in the wild as an adult. He weighed 86pounds and was 29 inches long and 21 inches wide.

A 24-year-old rookie state trooper is dead from injuries sustained in a car crash. The governor's office says Trooper Kenton Iwaniec of Lancaster was driving home Thursday night when another vehicle crossed the center line and crashed into him. No one else was injured. Iwaniec died Friday, about three months after graduating from the state police academy. He was assigned to the Avondale station in Chester County.

An Indiana County man has been charged with causing more than $34,000 in damage to a church cemetery. State police say 19-year-old David Christian Williams was arrested for the Feb. 21 desecration and destruction of headstones, statues and light fixtures at the St. Bernard Catholic Church Cemetery in White Township, Pa. They say Williams is the first of a number of suspects to be arrested. Court documents show two informants directed police to Williams, who confessed when investigators questioned him. He is being held at the county jail on $25,000 bail.

Hillary Clinton's campaign headquarters in Erie says a college-age worker for Barack Obama represented himself as a Hillary Clinton supporter when he visited the local campaign office. The Clinton campaign identified him as Sam Glenzer of Wisconsin, and said he tried to get information at Clinton's office. The volunteer chairman of the Obama campaign in Erie, said he wasn’t aware of any Obama workers going to the Clinton headquarters, and if he did it, he did it on his own because Obama's campaign does not tolerate such tactics.

The half brother of Buffalo Police Commissioner H. McCarthy Gipson will spend the next 5 to 10 years in a Pennsylvania state prison. Donald Gipson was sentenced today in Warren County Court following his guilty plea to voluntary manslaughter in the killing of 81-year-old Louis Jones 12 years ago. Gipson was arrested on Jan. 17 in Buffalo for the Sept. 16, 1996 fatal stabbing of Jones, who was found dead in a wrecked car on Route 62 in Warren County. At the time, Gipson told investigators he and Jones were carjacked and Jones died in the accident. State police cold case investigators reopened the case in October.

State House Republican Leader Sam Smith says State Senator Joe Scarnati is wrong to engage himself in a contested primary involving an incumbent House member. Smith says Scarnati is out of line by endorsing Kerry Gern over Representative Kathy Rapp in the race for the 65th District seat. Smith says Rapp has been a consistent advocate to fiscal responsibility and government reform and was among a select group of 8 Pennsylvania lawmakers to earn an "A" grade on the 2006 Liberty Index. He says she has also been a powerful influence in fighting Governor Ed Rendell's plan to privatize Warren State Hospital. He adds that Rapp "has served all her constituents very well as a strong and independent voice in Harrisburg." US Congressman John Peterson is endorsing Rapp, but says Scarnati should not endorse anyone.

News 4 Meteorologist Mike Cejka says March will be going out like a lamb, with sunny skies and temperatures in the 50s by Monday. But Mother Nature got one more shot of winter in at Cattaraugus County on Friday. (Thanks, Scott!)

PORT ORCHARD, Wash. (AP) — A fast-food cook and Seattle Seahawks fan has been accused of spitting on a hamburger ordered by a man wearing Pittsburgh Steelers attire. Kittitas County sheriff's deputies say the 37-year-old customer was with his daughters at the Port Orchard-area eatery last Saturday. He reportedly traded remarks with an employee about Super Bowl XL in which the Seahawks lost to the Steelers. When the customer opened his food container, he says there was spittle on the burger. He demanded a refund and called the fast-foot outlet's district manager. The manager told deputies a 24-year-old man might be responsible. The next day, deputies went to his house and smelled marijuana. The man was released after being booked for investigation of fourth-degree assault and possession of marijuana.

A former Coudersport State Police corporal is accused of lying during an arbitrator's hearing into his firing. Laurence Fisher of Potter County is facing charges of perjury and false swearing following his arrest and bail arraignment Thursday in Galeton. The 44-year-old was fired in October 2006 for violating the department's code of conduct. The criminal charges relate to a January 2007 arbitration hearing at which he allegedly denied under oath that he had been read his Miranda rights during an internal affairs interview in 2004. Police say Fisher insisted he hadn't been read his rights even after a tape recording of the interview was played. The department says Fisher claimed the audiotape was a fake.

Senator Bob Casey has endorsed Senator Barack Obama for president. The senators appeared together today in Pitsburgh, the first stop on Obama's six-day "Road to Change" bus tour through Pennsylvania. Governor Ed Rendell has endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton.

Two men have been arrested in connection with a string of pharmacy burglaries dating back to August of last year. Police say 24-year-old Jeremy Anderson of Warren is in jail for 3 pharmacy burglaries in Youngsville, 3 in Sheffield and 2 in Marienville. He's in jail on a state parole detainer. 25-year-old Ryan Groves of Clarendon is charged in connection with 1 of the Youngsville burglaries, 2 in Sheffield and 2 in Marienville. Police say he conspired with Anderson and served as the driver to and from the scenes. Groves is in jail in lieu of 50 thousand dollars bail.

An Eldred man died in a one vehicle accident early Thursday morning on Route 446 in Eldred. State Police say 46 year-old Robert Sisson was traveling north on 446 at around midnight when he lost control of his car and rolled it several times. Sisson was pronounced dead at the scene. Police say he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt

An eastern Pennsylvania judge is ordering three men to learn English, or go to jail. Luzerne County Judge Peter Paul Olszewski says three men facing prison for criminal conspiracy to commit robbery can be paroled, but only if they learn to read and write English, earn their GED and get a full-time job. Olszewski notes that Luis Reyes, Ricardo Dominguez and Kelvin Reyes-Rosario, who range in age from 17 to 22, all needed translators Tuesday when they pleaded guilty. The judge is ordering them to return with their parole officers in one year and take an English test. Attorneys for the men say they are studying the legality of the ruling and haven't decided whether to appeal.

State Senator Joe Scarnati is endorsing Kerry Gern for State Representative in the 65th District. Gern is running against incumbent State Representative Kathy Rapp. Scarnati says Rapp has not worked with business groups and civic leaders throughout the state, which has placed this area at a competitive disadvantage. Rapp tells WESB and The HERO she's not surprised by Scarnati's endorsement of Gern because she has voted against the senator on many key issues including the pay raise and tolling of Interstate 80. She adds that she never had Scarnati's support before, so she doesn't need it now.