Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

A Johnsonburg teenager is accused of stealing a chemical solvent from the St. Marys Wal-Mart this morning, then going into the parking lot and sniffing the solvent. Police say the 16-year-old boy was overcome by the chemical and blacked out, injuring the back of his head. He was taken to Elk Regional Health Center for treatment. Police say charges are pending.

Stephanie Pierce has pleaded not guilty to murder and homicide charges in connection with the death of 3-year-old Ianna Maybee. An indictment against Pierce charges that between March 20 and 21 in Salamanca, she and Guy Maybee caused the death of Ianna Maybee. The matter has been adjourned for motions. Pierce is free on bail. Maybee has also pleaded not guilty and is in Cattaraugus County Jail on 300 thousand dollars bail.

The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford has created a new award to recognize alumni for outstanding professional achievement and/or exemplary service to the community. Nominations are currently being accepted for the first Pitt-Bradford Alumni Association Alumni Award of Distinction. “This new award is a way for us to honor our alumni who are doing great things outside of their service to the university,” said Lindsay Hilton Retchless ’98, director of alumni relations. “There are so many deserving candidates who have made significant advancements in their careers and contributed their time and talents to their communities.” The award will be presented during commencement exercises next April by Dr. Livingston Alexander, university president, and Stacey Sorokes Wallace ’00, who will become president of the PBAA in October. “The fact that we will present this award during commencement is very important,” said Tim Fannin ’78, current president of the PBAA. “To our current graduates, it w...

An ex-police officer in Renovo says he was fired unjustly after making two separate drunken driving arrests, one involving the son of a borough councilman. Adam Leiter says in a federal lawsuit that Councilman Richard Thompson pressured him to drop the charge against his son following the arrest in October 2006. Leiter says then-police Chief G. Jeffrey Bealer later directed a hospital to discard a blood sample from the younger Thompson, who was never charged. Leiter alleges he was fired a month later after another drunken driving arrest, this time the son of a borough employee. Leiter is suing borough council members and Bealer for unspecified damages. Thompson declined to comment. Bealer left the department in February and could not be reached for comment.

HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe today welcomed the opportunity for the agency to present its case to Commonwealth Court to resolve, once and for all, the scientific foundation of its deer management program. "We recognize that the Commonwealth's deer management program is viewed differently by many people, and there are those who do not support some of the current outcomes," Roe said. "However, as the Game Commission manages all wild birds and mammals and their habitats for current and future generations, we must do what is right for all based on the best science available. "We look forward to a speedy trial with few continuances, and the opportunity to have our many expert witnesses expound on the scientific basis and soundness of our management plan. Likewise, as part of the process, those who filed this lawsuit will have to validate their claims by presenting their scientific evidence and expert witnesses." Roe ...

HOUSTON, June 16 (Reuters) - Rex Energy Corp (REXX.O: Quote, Profile, Research) on Monday said it was encouraged by initial production tests of a second well in the Marcellus shale in western Pennsylvania. Rex also said its leasing efforts in the Marcellus showed positive results. As of June 16, Rex said its prospective acreage in the areas had grown to about 57,000 net acres. "With the addition of approximately 10,000 acres since May 2008, we are getting closer to reaching our previously announced goal of expanding our Marcellus Shale prospective acreage to between 60,000 and 80,000 net acres by the end of 2008," Benjamin Hulburt, Rex Energy's chief executive officer, said. A number of exploration and production companies are focusing efforts on developing "unconventional" fields in North America where oil and natural gas are locked in substances like shale. The fields were once considered too costly to develop, but recent advances in technology and sky-high en...

WASHINGTON, DC– At a time when Pennsylvanians are faced with skyrocketing gas prices, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) today sent a letter to William Kovacic, Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding the potential of price gouging and price manipulation. “I hope that you and I can work together to give the FTC the tools it needs to investigate and help prosecute companies that are adopting questionable business strategies,” Senator Casey wrote. “The Unites States Congress and the FTC have an obligation to provide consumers with the assurance that whatever price they are paying at the pump, they can be certain they aren't being taken for a ride.” In the letter, Senator Casey strongly urged the FTC to continue to audit and monitor activity on all aspects of the oil and gas market. Senator Casey also expressed his concerns that the ambiguity of the meaning of price gouging along with a very strict definition for what constitutes collusion on the market may be tying the ...

Erie County Coroner Lyell Cook has identified the 6-year-old Corry boy killed in a one-car crash Saturday as Sam Carpenter. He was the son of the car’s driver, 26-year-old Erin Howard, who remains hospitalized at Hamot Medical Center. Cook says Sam was not wearing a seat belt and died of multiple blunt force trauma after the car left the road, traveled down an embankment and into a creek bed.

Thanks to the McKean Potter Counties Chapter of the American Red Cross for the strawberry shortcakes! Does this not look irresistible? The Red Cross will be selling strawberry shortcakes at Lunch in the Square Wednesday, and they're also taking orders from businesses now for delivery on Thursday. You can call 814-368-6197 or fax your order to 814-368-8197. All the proceeds benefit Meals on Wheels.

Storm clouds roll in over part of Foster Township at about 1:15 Monday afternoon, although most of the township was mostly sunny. However, the National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for McKean, Cameron, Elk, Potter and Warren counties until 6 o'clock tonight and for Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties until 7 p.m. News 4 Meteorologist Mike Cejka says the watch will be upgraded to a warning in the event of severe thunderstorm development.

Four people are hospitalized after a car crash on the runway at Olean Airport Sunday night. Cattaraugus County Sheriff's Deputeis say 20-year-old Casey Comes of Cuba was racing his car on the runway when he misjudged the distance to the end of the runway, drove off the end and down an embankment, where the car flipped over. Comes and his three passengers, all from Cuba, were taken to Olean General Hospital. The investigation is continuing and charges are pending.

HARRISBURG – Governor Edward G. Rendell expressed sorrow upon learning of the death of veteran NBC Newsman Tim Russert. “Tim was the epitome of political journalists; someone who was very personable and could conduct very informative and sometimes riveting interviews,” Governor Rendell said. “Over the past few decades, Tim’s keen grasp of political issues in Washington and across the nation made him must see TV. “As a newsmaker, I knew I had to be prepared when I was interviewed by him, because I knew he was very prepared. As moderator of ‘Meet the Press,’ he extracted information the general public needed to be better informed. “Midge and I are shocked and saddened to hear of his untimely death and we express our condolences to Tim’s family and close friends.”

CONGRESS' PUMP TAX By JOHN E. PETERSON June 16, 2008 -- AMERICA is in an energy crisis - not because of OPEC, but thanks to the policies of Congress and the last three presidents. Since 1982, Congress has passed laws banning the production of oil and natural gas on our Outer Continental Shelf; the last three presidents went along. But the US Minerals Management Service estimates (conservatively) that the OCS holds 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas - the equivalent of 35 years of imported oil from OPEC and an 18-year supply of natural gas. The United States is the only country in the world that prohibits exploitation of such offshore resources. A recent Gallup poll found that nearly 60 percent of Americans support increased production of offshore oil and natural gas - but Congress has yet to get that message. Access to our own energy shouldn't be a partisan issue. Yet last week, when I tried in a House committee to start opening up our vast off...

Robert Dodsworth, the Erie man sentenced to more than six years in prison for his part in a widespread mortgage-fraud scam, starts serving his federal prison sentence today. Dodsworth had asked if he could serve his time at FCI-McKean, but he was sent to Lewisburg instead. Dodsworth's business partner, former Bradford landlord Frank Kartesz, has pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges for his part in the scam. Kartesz will be sentenced on July 23. He faces up to 35 years in prison, but will likely receive a lesser sentence, in large part because of his guilty plea. Three other people are also charged. The government claims the victims suffered losses exceeding $1 million.

City Electrician Terry Kornacki puts up a "HOPE" sign in Veterans Square ... ...while two city workers "paint" a purple stripe down the middle of Main Street in recognition of the American Cancer Society's 14th Annual Relay for Life. The relay starts at 3 p.m. Friday at Callahan Park and includes a Survivor's Ceremony and lighting of luminaria in honor of and in memory of people who have battled cancer. A food court, including a chicken barbecue, will be run by teams to raise even more money for the cancer society. Frank Williams will be broadcasting live from the relay on 100.1 The HERO. Games and other events are also planned. The public is encouraged to attend this community event.

We usually don't tell people to watch TV (because radio is so much better -- the theater of the mind, and all), but we're making an exception. If you get a chance to watch the Tom Brokaw interview with Tim Russert about his book "Wisdom of Our Fathers," you'll hear Russert and Brokaw talk about Pitt-Bradford Director of Marketing and Communications Pat Frantz Cercone and her father Richard. "You can feel Pat's love exploding off the page," Russert says. "Here's a man who was a father and a mother to the fullest extent ... and boy does she love him." Those of us who know her, know how true that is!

WASHINGTON -- Buffalo's federal lawmakers said today that they want to rename a portion of U.S. Route 20 in Orchard Park after the late Tim Russert. Under the proposal, the section of the road that runs near Ralph Wilson Stadium -- home to Russert's beloved Buffalo Bills -- would bear the late television newsman's name. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rep. Brian Higgins said they would introduce a resolution regarding the highway's name on Monday. "Tim Russert was in every way, Mr. Buffalo," said Schumer, D-N.Y. "With his trademark 'Go Bills' sign-off, Tim Russert showed his pride for the city that made him who he was. He always cared about Buffalo, and when I spoke with him just a few weeks ago he said he would do everything he could to keep the Bills in Buffalo." Russert's support for the Bills, plus his stature in Washington, make for a good argument that the road be named after him, said Clinton, D-N.Y. "...

Here's an editorial by Randy Bartley, Editor of the Jeffersonian Democrat in Brookville concerning last weekend's arrests of several alleged militia members by a terrorism task force. Randy Bartley's Editorial .

Regular readers to this blog may be wondering why I'm updating on Sunday -- something I haven't been doing regularly. Well, I'm at the station training the new guy -- James Patrick -- and, lucky for me, he doesn't need much training. He hasn't even been here for 3 whole days yet and I can safely say he's going to be a valuable addition to the 1490 News Team. So, I've been pretty much leaving him on his own while I find things to add to the blog (and catch up on paperwork and update the community calendar and clean my desk and ...).

Prospectors are already paying hundreds of millions of dollars to landowners to stake out access to the Marcellus Shale. Farmers in Tioga County are being offered $1,500 per acre, while the going rate east of Binghamton is $2,500 per acre. For the complete story, go to the Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin newspaper. There's also an interesting story in the Wilkes-Barre Citizens Voice .