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Thursday, October 29, 2009

    New York Gov. David Paterson has declared a state of emergency because of the rise in swine flu cases.
    The executive order means that far more health care professionals — including dentists — will be permitted to administer vaccines with only brief training. The order is needed to suspend provisions of state law.
    State officials say the number of vaccine doses is also being increased. The federal government is ramping up availability of the vaccine, allowing the state to order twice as many doses as a week ago, a trend that’s expected to continue.
    The executive order obtained by The Associated Press says at least 75 deaths in the state have been attributed to the
swine flu.

Posted by Inquirer Online Desk @ 12:20 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Thursday, October 29, 2009

W. Pa. casino project seeks bankruptcy protection

The Associated Press reports...

The Indianapolis-based company that is hoping to open a casino and racetrack in western
Pennsylvania says its two subsidiaries in the state have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
    Centaur LLC said Thursday it will continue to pursue the launch of Valley View Downs & Casino in Pennsylvania.
    Chief Financial Officer Kurt Wilson says the company hopes that restructuring its debt will hasten progress on the Valley View property. The company says it submitted the filing Wednesday.
    Centaur has a license to operate a harness racing license at the site, 45 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.
    But its financing for the $400 million-plus project fell through last year, and the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board
doesn’t want to issue a slot-machine gambling license unless Centaur has the money to build it.

Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.

Posted by Inquirer Online Desk @ 10:04 AM Permalink | Post a comment

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Reward at $15,000 in slaying of Chesco dogs

Kathleen Brady Shea reports....

The reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever shot two pet short-haired pointers in Chester County has increased this morning from $500 to $15,000.

The dogs - a 1 1/2-year-old German shorthaired pointer named Emma and a 2-year-old mix of the same breed called Luna - had been reported missing Sunday morning from a farm in Pocopson Township. They were found that afternoon, shot "between the eyes at close range" and placed tail to tail, about six miles away in Pennsbury Township.

Anyone interested in contributing to the reward fund may call the Chester County SPCA at 610-692-6113, Ext. 215. Checks made out to CCSPCA can be mailed to the agency at 1212 Phoenixville Pike, West Chester, Pa. 19380. -

Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.

Posted by Inquirer Online Desk @ 8:02 AM Permalink | Post a comment

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Death row inmate asks to die

    LANCASTER — A death row inmate is once again asking to be executed.
    Orlando Baez told a Lancaster County judge on Wednesday “Leave me alone, execute me and let me go in
peace.”
    Baez was convicted of raping, stabbing, beating and strangling 22-year-old Janice “Sissy” Williams, a mother of two young children, in January 1987. He has maintained that another man was responsible. But now 48 and in ill health, he told the court that he is tired of the legal process and prison.
    Defense attorneys suggested that his decisions may be affected by the autoimmune disorder lupus and pain medication, but Baez said he was of sound mind and didn’t want to fight the case any more, according to the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal.
    Judge Howard Knisely said he would decide later if another hearing should be held to allow defense attorneys to present evidence about their client’s psychological state. A year ago, Baez asked to be executed but later changed his mind. --AP

Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.

Posted by Inquirer Online Desk @ 7:47 AM Permalink | 3 comments

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Chesco teen gets jail in fatal hotel robbery attempt

A Coatesville teenager has been sentenced to eight to 18 years in the attempted robbery of a West Chester area hotel last year that resulted in another suspect being shot to death by police.
    Sixteen-year-old Calvin Haines Jr. pleaded guilty Wednesday in the August 2008 robbery of the Microtel Inn & Suites in West Chester. Authorities said two suspects tied up and beat a night clerk at the hotel and then broke through a window into the outside parking lot to flee arriving police.
    Authorities said the other suspect, 24-year-old Dashan White of Coatesville, fired at police and officers returned fire, killing him.
    As part of a plea agreement, Haines also pleaded guilty to an earlier break-in at a high school, according to the West Chester Daily Local. Haines’ attorney, Assistant Public Defender Susanna DeWese, said her client was sorry for the trauma he had caused police.

Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.

Posted by Inquirer Online Desk @ 7:15 AM Permalink | Post a comment

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Sickness closes private school in S. Jersey

    GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP. — Officials have closed a private school in southern New Jersey after 20
percent of the students got sick.
    Teachers at Pilgrim Academy will post assignments online until classes resume at the school in Galloway
Township on Monday.
    School officials say coughs and upper respiratory infections have sidelined 70 of the school’s 350 students.
    Headmaster Christopher Storr told the Atlantic City Press he doesn’t believe the school has a swine flu breakout.
    The Christian school offers classes from pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade. --AP

Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.

Posted by Inquirer Online Desk @ 7:04 AM Permalink | Post a comment

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Sweet victory

Inquirer staff writer Kristen A. Graham reports from Yankee Stadium:

Buddies Ray Dunn and Nick Amorates walked out of Yankee Stadium to the strains of Frank Sinatra's New York, New York.

They laughed as the song came over the loudspeaker: "if I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere..."

Phils, 6; Yankees, 1. A stellar performance by Cliff Lee. Two homers by Chase Utley.

"It feels good," said Dunn, 31, of Mantua. "We basically shut them down."

Amorates, 32, nodded.

"Just like Jimmy said, my prediction is Phillies in 5," Amorates said. "Great game."

Even though they wore their Phillies jerseys and hats, the two had no trouble with the Yankees fans, they said.

"I think Philly fans scare people more than New York fans scare people," Amorates said.

Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.

Posted by Inquirer Online Desk @ 11:52 PM Permalink | 1 comment

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Quiet in the stands

Inquirer staff writer Kristen A. Graham reports from Yankee Stadium:

As the Phillies tacked on runs late in the game, the already quiet Yankee Stadium bleachers got even quieter.

By the seventh inning, some fans in navy blue had started heading for the subway and parking lots.

In Section 226, though, it was loud. There, a number of Phillies fans sat, waving rally towels, pumping fists, and screaming with joy when Raul Ibanez knocked in two runs with a single.

"You don't hear anything anymore from the Yankees fans," said John Carvalho of Rhode Island, Phils' coach Davy Lopes' nephew.

"Silent, but deadly," added Anthony Haig, another Lopes nephew.

The small crowd started chanting: "Let's go, Phillies!"

From across the way, a dejected Yankees fan answered back.

"Shut the f--- up," he shouted.

Don Mills chuckled. Mills, 66, is backup catcher Paul Bako's father-in-law, and has been following the team since they began their playoff run earlier this month.

"I'm getting kind of old for this, and my heart can't take it," said Mills, of Lafayette, La. "But my, I love it."

Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.

Posted by Inquirer Online Desk @ 11:22 PM Permalink | 11 comments

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Letting the score do the talking

Inquirer staff writer Kristen A. Graham reports from Yankee Stadium:

Shannon Moore grew up in Fox Chase, a die-hard Phillies fan. Now she lives in Barnegat, N.J., with her Yankees-loving husband, Michael, but that didn't deter her from wearing her Phils jersey and cap in the Yankee Stadium stands.

"There's been a couple hecklers, but I don't care," said Moore, 33. "They boo, but I just wave. It doesn't matter. I'm in their territory, but we're winning."

She would have preferred to see a game in Philadelphia, but the Moores are leaving for a cruise this weekend. So she took to eBay determined to buy a pair of tickets for New York.

"I paid $700, but I did not care," she said. "I had to be here."

A few rows away, Bobby Migner waxed philosophical about his role as a Yankees fan. His job is to boo, but good-naturedly, he said.

"I'm having fun with it," said Migner, 50, of West Caldwell, N.J. "If you can't have fun at the ballgame, stay home. It's good to go back and forth with the opponents."

As the game wore on, Yankee Stadium grew quieter and quieter.

Rick Blum traveled up with a friend from Bucks County. By the seventh inning, he was smiling big.

"They're treating us very, very well," said Blum, 59, of Holland. "But I don't think they were too happy after Utley hit those home runs."

Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.

Posted by Inquirer Online Desk @ 10:22 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

The Phils' lucky charm

Inquirer staff writer Kristen A. Graham reports from Yankee Stadium:

He calls himself the Phillies' good luck charm.

Outside the main Yankee Stadium gate, Sonny Forriest Jr. of Northeast Philadelphia closed his eyes and began to sing.

"Go Phillies, go! The Yanks are out, without a doubt. We're going to win tonight," crooned Forriest, 51. He normally sings his song, which he calls The New Phillies Anthem, in parking lots outside Citizens Bank Park.

But today, Forriest took a bus to New York, hoping to find an affordable ticket outside the stadium. He couldn't track one down, so he sat in the electric blue scooter he uses to get around, playing for the Phillies fans who gathered to hear him.

After he finished his song once, Forriest, who said he has played guitar with groups such as Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, looked around.

"The New York Post had the audacity to put Shane Victorino in a tutu on the cover," said Forriest. "That peturbed me so much, I had to go ahead and sing my song twice."

Forriest gripped his low-powered microphone and launched into the song again, cranking up the volume on the speaker he carries in the basket of his scooter. He was all decked out in a Ryan Howard jersey, and he even wore red socks - one, on his leg, another, on his prosthetic leg.

Phillies fan Zac Papa, 33, of Hamilton, N.J., ran up to Forriest, dancing, waving a rally towel, and grinning in a way that said he knew this man's rich voice, knew his song that lauded Happ and Moyer and Utley and Harry.

After Forriest finished his song, Papa shook his hand.

"I run into this guy all the time - at Eagles games, at Phillies games," said Papa, who grew up in Collingswood. "See you at Game 3, buddy."

Read more breaking news in our From The Source blog.

Posted by Inquirer Online Desk @ 7:57 PM Permalink | 2 comments