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Week in review
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School board OKs contract
The Scranton School Board voted unanimously to approve a three-year teachers contract, though district officials are still unsure how to fund the additional $1.3 million the contract is expected to cost during the first year. The contract calls for salary increases of 2.75 percent, 2.75 percent and 3.25 percent in the next three years and biweekly insurance payments that range from $50 for single coverage to $80 for families. The insurance premiums, which in the old contract were as much as $312 biweekly, will save teachers between $1,500 and $6,000 a year.
Judge: Council can subpoena
Judge Harold Thomson granted a Scranton City Council petition allowing the board to enforce a subpoena on Lackawanna County Controller Ken McDowell, though it is unclear whether the former tax collector will appeal the court decision. Council has been trying to question Mr. McDowell since March, when the Single Tax Office discovered $12.2 million in undistributed funds. After Mr. McDowell declined requests to appear at City Hall, council tried to compel him with a court order, which Mr. McDowell countered with a civil lawsuit.
Theft leaves donations for kids sitting in armory
Hundreds of pounds of school supplies, collected by the Delta Company Family Readiness Group to be sent to Afghanistan, still sit in boxes in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard armory in West Pittston after the group’s leader allegedly pocketed donations. The suspect, Christine Healey, whose fiance is serving in Afghanistan, was president of the support group. The West Wyoming woman allegedly failed to deposit donations and spent the cash for personal use. The lion’s share of the money taken, about $5,000, was donated in memory of 1st Lt. Jeffrey DePrimo of Pittston, a Delta Company officer killed in Afghanistan in May.
Rendell: Cut $200M
Gov. Ed Rendell ordered an immediate hiring freeze, a ban on out-of-state travel and other spending cuts to save $200 million. He said the moves were needed to maintain a balanced budget as the weakening national economy starts to affect Pennsylvania. The hiring freeze will leave about 5,000 vacant state jobs unfilled. The travel ban applies to state employees, board members and commissioners. The governor said he was asking Cabinet secretaries to cut as much as 4.25 percent from their budgets, but stressed he would maintain critical services, such as public safety, health, social services and education.
Universities ban smoking
With virtually no warning, the chancellor of Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities has stepped beyond the state’s new indoor smoking ban and barred students, employees and visitors from lighting up anywhere on campus, even outdoors. The action sparked protests around the state by some of the 110,000 students in the State System of Higher Education, who received word of the ban by e-mail a day before a new state law forbidding smoking in most workplaces and public spaces took effect.
Bush lays out radical financial rescue plan Struggling to stave off financial catastrophe, the Bush administration laid out a radical bailout plan with a jaw-dropping price tag, a takeover of a half-trillion dollars or more in worthless mortgages and other bad debt held by teetering institutions. The far-reaching plan also includes a ban on short-selling of stock and protection, at least temporarily, for money-market mutual funds, Relieved investors sent stocks soaring on Wall Street and around the globe on rumors the federal action was afoot. President Bush acknowledged risks to taxpayers in what would be the most sweeping government intervention to rescue failing financial institutions since the Great Depression. Earlier in the week, venerable Lehman Brothers was forced into bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch was driven into the arms of Bank of America.
Galveston residents still can’t return
Nearly a week after Hurricane Ike thrashed this coastal community, Galveston just “isn’t ready” for residents to return. Not even for a quick look around at their battered homes and businesses, officials said as they pleaded for tens of thousands to wait at least another week before trying to come home. The roughly 45,000 people who fled Galveston Island are among the more than 1 million who evacuated the Texas coast as Ike steamed across the Gulf of Mexico. Gov. Rick Perry said 22,000 people are still living in more than 200 shelters.
Bridge where 13 died rebuilt
Emergency vehicles with lights flashing led twin processions to open the new Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis, less than 14 months after the shocking and deadly collapse of its predecessor. Highway Department trucks followed patrol cars, firetrucks and ambulances in slow northbound and southbound parades that passed each other around the middle of the bridge. The old bridge fell Aug. 1, 2007, killing 13 people and injuring 145 others.
Pakistani troops ordered to fire on U.S. raiders
Pakistan’s army said its forces have orders to open fire if U.S. soldiers launch another raid across the Afghan border, raising the stakes in a dispute over how to tackle militant havens in Pakistan’s unruly border zone. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in Pakistan amid the increased tensions. Adm. Mullen planned to meet with top civilian and military leaders to discuss a range of issues, including ways to improve coordination and cooperation along the Pakistan-Afghan border.
Sixteen killed in attack on U.S. Embassy in Yemen
Militants disguised as soldiers detonated two car bombs outside the U.S. Embassy compound in San’a, Yemen, killing 16 people, including six of the attackers. No American officials or embassy employees were killed or wounded, embassy officials said. Six of the dead were Yemeni guards at the compound entrance and the other four killed were civilians waiting to be allowed in. It was the deadliest attack in years in Yemen, a poor south Arabian country where militants aligned with al-Qaida have carried out a number of recent bombings.
Afghanistan: U.S. killed civilians after false tip
A U.S. airstrike that killed up to 90 Afghan civilians last month was based on false information provided by a rival tribe and did not kill a single Taliban fighter, President Hamid Karzai’s spokesman said. The claim contradicted a U.S. contention that the Aug. 22 raid on the village of Azizabad killed up to 35 Taliban fighters. Afghan police arrested three suspects accused of giving the U.S. military false intelligence that led to the bombardment.
Martial law used in Bolivia
President Evo Morales struggled to assert control over a badly fractured Bolivia as protesters set fire to a town hall and blockaded highways in opposition-controlled provinces, impeding gasoline and food distribution. At least 30 people were killed in the poor Andean nation last week, all in the Pando province where Mr. Morales declared martial law, dispatching troops and accusing government foes of killing his supporters.
Chinese milk contaminated
China’s leaders scrambled to contain public outrage over widespread contamination of milk, dairy products and powdered baby formula with the industrial chemical melamine. In one of the worst consumer safety scandals in years, products from 22 companies were recalled after more than 6,200 children were sickened and four infants died of kidney failure.
The Scranton School Board voted unanimously to approve a three-year teachers contract, though district officials are still unsure how to fund the additional $1.3 million the contract is expected to cost during the first year. The contract calls for salary increases of 2.75 percent, 2.75 percent and 3.25 percent in the next three years and biweekly insurance payments that range from $50 for single coverage to $80 for families. The insurance premiums, which in the old contract were as much as $312 biweekly, will save teachers between $1,500 and $6,000 a year.
Judge: Council can subpoena
Judge Harold Thomson granted a Scranton City Council petition allowing the board to enforce a subpoena on Lackawanna County Controller Ken McDowell, though it is unclear whether the former tax collector will appeal the court decision. Council has been trying to question Mr. McDowell since March, when the Single Tax Office discovered $12.2 million in undistributed funds. After Mr. McDowell declined requests to appear at City Hall, council tried to compel him with a court order, which Mr. McDowell countered with a civil lawsuit.
Theft leaves donations for kids sitting in armory
Hundreds of pounds of school supplies, collected by the Delta Company Family Readiness Group to be sent to Afghanistan, still sit in boxes in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard armory in West Pittston after the group’s leader allegedly pocketed donations. The suspect, Christine Healey, whose fiance is serving in Afghanistan, was president of the support group. The West Wyoming woman allegedly failed to deposit donations and spent the cash for personal use. The lion’s share of the money taken, about $5,000, was donated in memory of 1st Lt. Jeffrey DePrimo of Pittston, a Delta Company officer killed in Afghanistan in May.
Rendell: Cut $200M
Gov. Ed Rendell ordered an immediate hiring freeze, a ban on out-of-state travel and other spending cuts to save $200 million. He said the moves were needed to maintain a balanced budget as the weakening national economy starts to affect Pennsylvania. The hiring freeze will leave about 5,000 vacant state jobs unfilled. The travel ban applies to state employees, board members and commissioners. The governor said he was asking Cabinet secretaries to cut as much as 4.25 percent from their budgets, but stressed he would maintain critical services, such as public safety, health, social services and education.
Universities ban smoking
With virtually no warning, the chancellor of Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities has stepped beyond the state’s new indoor smoking ban and barred students, employees and visitors from lighting up anywhere on campus, even outdoors. The action sparked protests around the state by some of the 110,000 students in the State System of Higher Education, who received word of the ban by e-mail a day before a new state law forbidding smoking in most workplaces and public spaces took effect.
Bush lays out radical financial rescue plan Struggling to stave off financial catastrophe, the Bush administration laid out a radical bailout plan with a jaw-dropping price tag, a takeover of a half-trillion dollars or more in worthless mortgages and other bad debt held by teetering institutions. The far-reaching plan also includes a ban on short-selling of stock and protection, at least temporarily, for money-market mutual funds, Relieved investors sent stocks soaring on Wall Street and around the globe on rumors the federal action was afoot. President Bush acknowledged risks to taxpayers in what would be the most sweeping government intervention to rescue failing financial institutions since the Great Depression. Earlier in the week, venerable Lehman Brothers was forced into bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch was driven into the arms of Bank of America.
Galveston residents still can’t return
Nearly a week after Hurricane Ike thrashed this coastal community, Galveston just “isn’t ready” for residents to return. Not even for a quick look around at their battered homes and businesses, officials said as they pleaded for tens of thousands to wait at least another week before trying to come home. The roughly 45,000 people who fled Galveston Island are among the more than 1 million who evacuated the Texas coast as Ike steamed across the Gulf of Mexico. Gov. Rick Perry said 22,000 people are still living in more than 200 shelters.
Bridge where 13 died rebuilt
Emergency vehicles with lights flashing led twin processions to open the new Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis, less than 14 months after the shocking and deadly collapse of its predecessor. Highway Department trucks followed patrol cars, firetrucks and ambulances in slow northbound and southbound parades that passed each other around the middle of the bridge. The old bridge fell Aug. 1, 2007, killing 13 people and injuring 145 others.
Pakistani troops ordered to fire on U.S. raiders
Pakistan’s army said its forces have orders to open fire if U.S. soldiers launch another raid across the Afghan border, raising the stakes in a dispute over how to tackle militant havens in Pakistan’s unruly border zone. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in Pakistan amid the increased tensions. Adm. Mullen planned to meet with top civilian and military leaders to discuss a range of issues, including ways to improve coordination and cooperation along the Pakistan-Afghan border.
Sixteen killed in attack on U.S. Embassy in Yemen
Militants disguised as soldiers detonated two car bombs outside the U.S. Embassy compound in San’a, Yemen, killing 16 people, including six of the attackers. No American officials or embassy employees were killed or wounded, embassy officials said. Six of the dead were Yemeni guards at the compound entrance and the other four killed were civilians waiting to be allowed in. It was the deadliest attack in years in Yemen, a poor south Arabian country where militants aligned with al-Qaida have carried out a number of recent bombings.
Afghanistan: U.S. killed civilians after false tip
A U.S. airstrike that killed up to 90 Afghan civilians last month was based on false information provided by a rival tribe and did not kill a single Taliban fighter, President Hamid Karzai’s spokesman said. The claim contradicted a U.S. contention that the Aug. 22 raid on the village of Azizabad killed up to 35 Taliban fighters. Afghan police arrested three suspects accused of giving the U.S. military false intelligence that led to the bombardment.
Martial law used in Bolivia
President Evo Morales struggled to assert control over a badly fractured Bolivia as protesters set fire to a town hall and blockaded highways in opposition-controlled provinces, impeding gasoline and food distribution. At least 30 people were killed in the poor Andean nation last week, all in the Pando province where Mr. Morales declared martial law, dispatching troops and accusing government foes of killing his supporters.
Chinese milk contaminated
China’s leaders scrambled to contain public outrage over widespread contamination of milk, dairy products and powdered baby formula with the industrial chemical melamine. In one of the worst consumer safety scandals in years, products from 22 companies were recalled after more than 6,200 children were sickened and four infants died of kidney failure.
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