Harrisburg Heat Player In Fair Condition At Paoli Hospital After West Chester Shooting

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Chester County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What started as a very minor dispute Sunday morning left a Harrisburg Heat soccer player recovering multiple gunshot wounds in a Chester County hospital, according to police.

Jason Hotchkin, 35, was gradually recovering in the Paoli Memorial Hospital as of Tuesday after suffering at least three gunshot wounds following an altercation in the area of 50 North Church Street at about 2:15 a.m. Sunday.

Hotchkin played his first season with the Heat last year and was in tryouts to rejoin the team when he was shot during a trip to the West Chester area to attend a soccer event.

The retired Harrisburg City Islanders star was admitted to the hospital in critical condition and was listed as in critical but stable condition until Tuesday afternoon when his condition was upgraded, said Bridget Therriault, a hospital spokeswoman.

Read more: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/08/harrisburg_heat_player_in_fair.html#incart_river_default

Officials Break Ground On McGowan Center In Luzerne County

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Luzerne County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

JENKINS TOWNSHIP, PA – Officials from the Commission on Economic Opportunity broke ground Monday for a $6.4 million center in CenterPoint Commerce and Trade Park East named after the late Monsignor Andrew J. McGowan and aimed at providing healthy food for the needy.

When completed next spring, the Monsignor Andrew J. McGowan Center for Healthy Living will store and distribute healthy food products for about 80,000 low-income residents of Luzerne, Lackawanna, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties, with an emphasis on children and the elderly.

The center also will provide nutritional information, said principal speaker Sue Gin McGowan, sister-in-law of the late Monsignor McGowan and wife of the late William McGowan, an Ashley native and business leader.

Sue Gin McGowan, president of the board of the William G. McGowan Charitable Fund, a major benefactor of the new center, said the new facility will dramatically expand the reach of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Food Bank, which already serves Northeastern Pennsylvania’s neediest.

Read more: http://citizensvoice.com/news/officials-break-ground-on-mcgowan-center-1.1538590

Residents Riled Over Private Party At Perkasie Borough Pool That Descended Into ‘Total Chaos’

Map of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A throng of angry residents packed Perkasie‘s borough hall Monday night, the crowd spilling into the hall beyond. Most of the nearly 100 present were there with concerns about an unruly, overcrowded party of more than 700 “out-of-towners” at the Menlo pool Aug. 11 that involved alcohol and suspected illegal drug use.

Perkasie officials have said they were duped into booking the private party, led to believe it would be a birthday party attended by about 100 people.

Instead, it was a club-style event said to be hosted by a professional basketball player identified in an advertisement as the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ Dion Waiters, and featuring a DJ as well as a 15-person security contingent.

The borough discovered later that the party was originally to be held at a New Jersey swim club, with an open bar, but that pool canceled the event after discovering it wasn’t consistent with its policies.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-perkasie-pool-party-20130820,0,1395891.story#ixzz2cXR09Baz
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Slain Australian Baseball Player Mourned On 2 Continents

Map of Oklahoma showing major roads and thoroughfares (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

DUNCAN, OK. (AP) – It is a chillingly simple motive: Police say three bored teens killed an Australian collegiate baseball player attending school in the U.S. for “the fun of it.”

As authorities prepared to charge the teens Tuesday with first-degree murder, family and friends on two continents mourned 22-year-old Christopher Lane, who was being remembered as a wonderful young man whose life ended too soon.  His girlfriend tearfully laid a cross at a streetside memorial in Oklahoma, while half a world away, his team in Australia placed flowers at home plate.

Lane, who was visiting the town of Duncan, where his girlfriend and her family live, had passed a home where the boys were staying and that apparently led to him being gunned down at random, Police Chief Danny Ford said Monday.  A 17-year-old in the group has given a detailed confession to police, and charges were expected Tuesday afternoon.

“They saw Christopher go by, and one of them said: ‘There’s our target,'” Ford said.  “The boy who has talked to us said, ‘We were bored and didn’t have anything to do, so we decided to kill somebody.'”

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20130820_ap_bc76a2acbd01490e80a48789195d06e8.html#4h0ojdyDWk4Q11YX.99

Automatic Tips May Be Off The Table

If you’ve dined out in a big group, chances are you had an automatic tip tacked on to your bill.

That practice might soon go away.

Orlando, Fla.-based Darden Restaurants may drop automatic gratuities for tables of eight or more at its chains including Olive Garden, Red Lobster and LongHorn Steakhouse.

Experts predict others will follow suit.  An Internal Revenue Service ruling will treat automatic gratuities as wages. That could lead to higher payroll taxes for restaurants and make record-keeping more complicated.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/consumer_news/Automatic_tips_may_be_off_the_table.html#0ZM1lP8QkvHAEumM.99

Notice Announces Auction Of Coventry Mall Property

NORTH COVENTRY TOWNSHIP — A notice posted to the doors of the Coventry Mall Monday announced a pending receiver’s sale of the mall property.

According to the notice, U.S. Bank National Association sought and received approval of the sale in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  The property will be sold to the highest bidder at auction on Sept. 19.

The notice states that the plaintiff, U.S. Bank National Association, is owed $62,406,171.09 plus “continuing interests and costs” as of June 26.

Read more:  http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130820/NEWS01/130829973/notice-announces-auction-of-coventry-mall-property

Vick Named Eagles’ Starting Quarterback

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick after the Eagles’ training camp in Lehigh, Pennsylvania. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

PHILADELPHIA,PA – Michael Vick is the Philadelphia Eagles starting quarterback.

Head coach Chip Kelly said today before training camp practice that the 12-year veteran had won the competition with Nick Foles and will start the Sept. 9 season opener at Washington.

“I think Mike is ahead right now, and I think Nick made it very difficult there,”  Kelly said of the decision, which came after 20 training camp practices and two preseason games. “It wasn’t where one guy went north and the other guy went south. I think both of them upped their games, but at this point in time, Mike’s ahead, and we want to move forward.”

Each quarterback started one game and both led two touchdown drives during their preseason work.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=503488

Corbett Brings In Fresh Advisers

HARRISBURG – Gov. Tom Corbett may not be changing his message as he shifts into re-election mode, but for the first time in his nearly three-year tenure he’s bringing in new messengers.

The Republican has appointed a new chief of staff and a new communications director – both seasoned political operatives who worked for Gov. Tom Ridge – and plans to name a press secretary in an apparent effort to bolster his relationship with the news media.

The shake-up comes on the heels of a legislative session that failed to yield a single victory among Corbett’s top three initiatives – transportation funding, liquor privatization and changes to the public pension system – and polls that show his public support sagging.

Among the outsiders watching all of this closely are the former press secretaries to the governors who preceded Corbett.  And they have some strong opinions about how the incumbent deals with the media and the public.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=503453

Reading City Council Disagrees On Land-Value Tax Option

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mayor Vaughn D. Spencer’s push to switch the current property tax to a land-value tax over the next five years ran into a traffic jam with City Council on Monday.

Some members flat out rejected it, and Council President Francis G. Acosta said he’d prevent any vote until he hears public support for the move.

The argument began when Gordon Mann, senior consultant with Public Financial Management Inc., the city’s Act 47 adviser, said it expects to have a recommendation on the proposal in 30 days.

“On the other hand, we have had a lot of conversations about it, and I need to have some feedback from council,” said Eron Lloyd, Spencer’s special assistant and point man for the land-value tax, which he says will encourage economic development.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=503411

Corbett Signs Bill Creating City Revitalization Zones

Gov. Tom Corbett on Monday signed into law the bill that will give Reading and other Pennsylvania cities a chance to create so-called City Revitalization and Improvement Zones to attract new businesses.

The 130-acre zones will be funded with public bonds issued by a local municipal authority running the zone.  The bonds will be repaid by local and state tax revenue raised within the zone.

The law resulted in large part from the work of state Sen. Judy Schwank, a Ruscombmanor Township Democrat, who noted that the original bill sponsored by Sen. Lloyd Smucker, a Lancaster Republican, would have frozen out Reading.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=503396

Chiefs Fire Andy Reid After 0-2 Preseason Start

Andy Reid, Philadelphia Eagles’ coach, after the Eagles’ training camp in Lehigh, Pennsylvania. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Kansas City Chiefs parted ways with Andy Reid today.  The firing comes just more than seven months after he was hired to be the team’s head coach and after just two exhibition games.

“Andy was hired to make us a winner,” said Chiefs president Mark Donovan.  “We weren’t looking to rebuild here for a few years.  We feel we have the talent to win now.  We made that very clear to Andy and he understood that an 0-2 record simply wasn’t in line with our goals.”

Read more:  http://www.sportspickle.com/2013/08/chiefs-fire-andy-reid-after-0-2-preseason-start