Prosecutors in Hunterdon, Northampton and Warren counties are looking for these fugitives.
Hunterdon County authorities seek Ricardo M. Cipriano.
Northampton County authorities seek Santiago Serrano.
Warren County authorities seek Sergio Uspango.
Also, a Reading man allegedly stole ambulance while the crew was responding to a call.
FEMA 'blessed' Christie's decision to award no-bid contract, AshBritt head says [nj.com]
Reading man allegedly stole ambulance while crew responded to call [readingeagle.com]
Trenton's largest private employer may be forced to lay off nearly 200 employees [nj.com]
Lance bill ignores big picture on mental health funding: Editorial [nj.com]
Central Pennsylvania police arrest two teens for 'galloning' prank in local supermarkets [pennlive.com]
Ever wonder how the PIAA picks venues for state-playoff basketball games? Here's how [pennlive.com]
The devices will not only stop electronic eavesdropping on the secret proceedings, but will stop cardinals from communicating via telephones or computers with the outside world.
The secrecy and security measures that surround a papal election are designed to "make the conclave safe for the Holy Spirit," as the saying goes.
But the high-tech defenses the Vatican is deploying for next week's conclave are so impressive that it will be a miracle if even the Holy Spirit can slip in to the Sistine Chapel.
On Friday the Vatican's chief spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, confirmed that special jamming devices will be surround the Sistine Chapel and the Santa Marta guest residence where cardinals will be sequestered during the conclave.
This will not only prevent electronic eavesdropping on the secret proceedings, but will also stop cardinals from communicating via telephones or computers with the outside world.
Church law regulating the conclave forbids cardinals from communicating, "whether by writing, by telephone or by any other means" during a papal election. The conclave is scheduled to open on Tuesday, and is expected to last for several days.
During the 2005 Conclave, a German cardinal informed a German television channel of the election of Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI well ahead of the official announcement from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, according to the Italian daily La Repubblica.
All of the staff that will assist the cardinals during the conclave -- from priests standing by ready to hear confessions to the sisters serving meals in the Santa Marta -- will take an oath of secrecy, Lombardi said.
Should they breach it, they will incur automatic excommunication, the harshest penalty for Catholics.
Cars equipped with special jamming devices will also follow the vans that ferry cardinals from their residence to the Sistine Chapel, according to La Repubblica.
Benedict's pontificate was plagued by Vatican infighting and resultant leaks, culminating with the so-called Vatileaks affair that saw the pope's personal butler convicted of stealing confidential documents and leaking them to the press.
After Benedict's surprise Feb. 11 announcement of his resignation, the Italian weekly Panorama claimed the Vatican had embarked on a large-scale surveillance and wiretapping operation as part of the Vatican police investigation into the leaks.
The Vatican denied that a large amount of data on the personal habits of cardinals and other officials had been amassed but admitted to wiretapping some of its internal phone lines during the investigation.
The urgency of security risks was highlighted by repeated breaches of the confidentiality of the cardinals' daily General Congregation meetings that have preceded next week's conclave. In recent days, Italian newspapers have published detailed accounts of the cardinals' addresses and discussions during the daily meetings.
Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokesperson for the U.S. bishops, said the secrecy of the upcoming conclave may challenge some bishops.
"Even who said 'pass the salt' is a secret," Walsh wrote on the bishops' blog. "In this electronic age, I worry some cardinals may go into iPad and Twitter withdrawal."
He was an auto mechanic for many years at dealerships in Bangor and Belvidere.
Floyd Edgar Ike, 89, former resident of Bangor, passed away on Wednesday at the home of his daughter and son-in-law, Marianne and Ken Smith, in Egg Harbor Township, N.J.
He was an auto mechanic for many years at dealerships in Bangor and Belvidere. He also had his own trucking business and picked up milk from the farmers early in the morning, every morning, and delivered it to the dairy in Belvidere.
See Floyd Edgar Ike's full obituary.
See all of today's obituaries from The Express-Times.
Today's death notices:
Palmer Township police, undergoing state accreditation, say decisions like those made in the fatal 2008 wrong-way crash would be different now.
The hair-raising police car chase last weekend that included wrong-way pursuits on Route 22 was initiated in seconds but watched closely, according to Pennsylvania State Police.
In the Lehigh Valley, where a wrong-way police pursuit on the same road in 2008 ended fatally, law enforcement officials say the decision to chase is rarely an easy one. Officers also grapple with decisions over how to stop suspects once police catch up to them.
“Each pursuit is different,” Pennsylvania State Police Capt. William Teper said. “A lot of factors are accounted for in a short period of time."
Last weekend, troopers pursued 26-year-old Daniel R. Ranallo, of Oxford Township, as he fled from police just before midnight March 2 on Route 22.
Ranallo, who was wanted, drove off the highway after police started chasing him. Soon after, he re-entered the highway -- driving east on the westbound shoulder. Police followed.
Ranallo led police to the Lehigh Valley International Airport in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, court papers say.
Police used the precision immobilization technique, where an officer drove alongside Ranallo's car, knocked into the rear of it and spun it 180 degrees to a stop. Ranallo ran away, scaled a 10-foot fence topped with barbed wire and sprinted across an airport runway until he was finally caught, police said.
Careful monitoring
Teper said officers are trained to recognize when a search is worthwhile and when it’s too dangerous to continue.
The time of day, the road and even weather can come into play during such a decision. But even in mid-chase, things can change.
“Every pursuit is evaluated by officers and supervisors,” Teper said. “If we think the risks outweigh the reward, we can terminate the pursuit. In this case, we felt comfortable with it continuing.”
But if someone fled at 3 p.m. on a weekday near a school, he said, police would be less likely to chase.
“With that kind of information, we’re going to shut down a pursuit,” he said.
The maneuver state police used to stop Ranallo is the same one state police Trooper Joshua Miller used June 7, 2009, to stop Daniel Autenrieth, who had kidnapped his son in Nazareth and led police on a chase into the Poconos.Miller spun out Autenrieth's car on Route 611 in Coolbaugh Township in Monroe County, and fellow officers saved the kidnapped boy from the car before Miller and Autenrieth died in a shootout.
Teper said the decision to use the special move, called a PIT maneuver, is not made lightly.
“I don’t want to say it’s rare, but it’s not an everyday occurrence,” Teper said.
Supervisors must give troopers permission to try the maneuver, which could be dangerous if other vehicles or civilians are near.
“It’s a tactic we use and that can be effective. The quicker we can stop a pursuit, the better,” Teper said. “In this case, we got our man.”
New Jersey State Police declined to discuss its pursuit policy.
‘If that situation would occur again … we would not pursue”
At least one wrong-way police chase in the Lehigh Valley is hard to forget.
Kevin W. Messinger, 38, of St. Petersburg, Fla., who was wanted out of Florida for aggravated assault and armed burglary charges, was fleeing from police after stealing a vacuum at from the Palmer Park Mall.
Jolene LaBar, a pregnant newlywed, was on her way home from work.
LaBar, 31, of Washington Township, N.J., was killed Aug. 19, 2008, when Messinger's truck slammed into her car in rush-hour traffic on Route 22 in Palmer Township.
Her husband Daniel LaBar filed a lawsuit against Palmer Township and Wilson Borough in September 2009, alleging that police were negligent when they pursued Messinger on the busy highway. A U.S. District Judge dismissed the case in early 2011.
John Zaiter, attorney for Daniel LaBar, said his client opted not to appeal due in part to recent rulings in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals pertaining to police chases.
Palmer Township police Sgt. Michael Vangelo, who was not with the force at the time of the chase, said the chase has been reviewed thoroughly by the department.
Vangelo said the township department is undergoing the state accreditation process, which will require the implementation of a standard police pursuit policy. Those directives are likely to mirror those of the state police, also an accredited agency.
Vangelo said the decisions made in 2008 to pursue Messinger would likely not have been approved under the new policy.
“We did review that,” Vangelo said. “I can say that if that situation would occur again in Palmer Township, we would not pursue the wrong way on the roadway.”
New York is entering the fifth year of review of the process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, amid calls to wait for the study's results.
A health study cited by leading environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as pivotal in helping persuade Gov. Andrew Cuomo to hold off on plans for limited gas drilling is likely years away from conclusions about whether the technology involved is safe, according to the project’s leaders.
With New York entering the fifth year of review of the process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, growing calls to wait for the Geisinger Health System study to be finished could push a final decision back several more years, frustrating landowners and the industry that had hoped to begin tapping the gas reserve that lies below parts of the state.
Preliminary results could be released within a year.
“We don’t really believe that there is a fast answer here, if you’re looking at the issue of health impacts,” Andy Deubler, an executive vice president at Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania, said in an interview. “You’ve got to have all the data before you can come to a conclusion.”
The study, still in early planning stages with only a fraction of its necessary funding, is but one piece of a larger body of independent research just getting under way and seeking funding.
Geisinger, based in Danville, Pa., serves 2.6 million patients and operates hospitals, clinics and an insurance program in 44 Pennsylvania counties, where fracking is being done. That gives it vast troves of health care data concerning everything from cancer to car accidents to asthma attacks. The company says research has been “fundamental” to its mission since it was founded in 1915 but also says it’s never done a study like this.
Alan Leshner, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, wrote in an email that it’s “extremely rare” for any single scientific or health study to resolve a difficult question. Complex issues typically require a series of incremental studies that either build on or test the suggestions from previous work, he said.
Leaders of an anti-fracking coalition in New York state have said Cuomo should wait for results of the Geisinger study and also call for a far more extensive, New York-specific review of potential health, community and socioeconomics effects. Such a study would involve public hearings and comment periods.
Critics worry about the environmental and health effects from fracking, which involves injecting water, sand and chemicals into underground rock to free vast reserves of gas. There have been cases of water and air pollution, as well as concerns about the waste generated by drilling. Some regulators and the industry say with proper regulations, gas can safely be extracted from the shale, and the Obama administration supports the practice.
A month ago, a proposal to drill and closely monitor a limited number of wells in the set of southern New York counties known as the Southern Tier gained momentum within the Cuomo administration, although Cuomo hadn’t made a decision, according to two people who were familiar with his thinking.
Kennedy, Cuomo’s former brother-in-law, told The Associated Press that he talked to Cuomo around the same time about the Geisinger report, which Kennedy thinks will be “pivotal.” Soon after Cuomo spoke with Kennedy and others, the momentum to approve limited drilling died.
Cuomo’s health commissioner, Dr. Nirav Shah, mentioned the Geisinger study among three health reviews that could influence Cuomo’s decision. The others are an Environmental Protection Agency study, due for completion in 2014, of potential effects of fracking on drinking water, and a study recently announced by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania in collaboration with scientists from Columbia, Johns Hopkins and the University of North Carolina.
Dr. Aaron Bernstein, associate director of Harvard’s Center for Health and the Global Environment, said researchers there hope to hear this month about funding for a comprehensive study on the health impacts of fracking that was proposed last year.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation’s 5-year-old environmental impact study and new regulations are on hold, pending Shah’s recommendation.
This week, the Assembly called for a two-year moratorium on a decision to await the Geisinger and other studies. The Independent Democratic Conference, which shares control of the Senate, also called for a delay until the Geisinger and two lesser studies are completed.
Geisinger executives envision the fracking health study as a 20-year project divided into five-year phases, with the first phase requiring upward of $25 million in funding. So far, the project has received $1 million from Sunbury, Pa.-based Degenstein Foundation, which is not seen as having an ideological bent.
Deubler said much of the first five years will be spent building a data-collection system, although there likely will be some pilot studies at the same time that look for actual health effects. Geisinger is also partnering with Guthrie Health on the study. Guthrie provides health care in the Southern Tier and northern Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania public health officials are also sharing data.
Sandra Steingraber, a biologist and leader of a coalition of about 250 health professionals concerned about the health effects of fracking in New York, said the Geisinger study is the first that will track medical information over time and by area. Researchers will be able to use the data to find patterns such as a change in the number of asthma cases in children after drilling starts in an area.
“This is one type of study we’ve been asking for, but it’s not all we’re asking for,” said Steingraber, whose group insists on a comprehensive health impact assessment with public input.
At the heart of debate is whether taking DNA samples without a warrant represents a violation of Fourth Amendment protections, or if DNA is simply a futuristic fingerprint. Take a NEWS POLL.
Saliva in a ski mask led police this week to a 2010 robbery
suspect.
A bandanna kept a 2001
What’s left behind at a crime scene can sometimes double as a genetic calling card that not only opens up a person’s criminal history but can lead to future convictions.
A positive “hit” or match in a
The issue of taking pre-trial samples is before the U.S.
Supreme Court, which heard arguments in February surrounding a
At the heart of debate is whether taking samples without a
warrant represents a violation of Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, or if
Convicts people but also clears them
Jennifer K. Wagner, a research associate at the
Wagner, who attended arguments Feb. 26 for
“For me, identification goes more broadly than your name, your age. I don’t think you have a reasonable expectation of privacy in your genetic markers analyzed by CODIS,” she said. “For me, I think there is a compelling government interest in getting this identification information.”
A database that includes profiles of people arrested could also help judges make more informed decisions during bail hearings. The judges could weigh what crimes the person has been associated with in addition to any previous convictions.
Wagner noted that
DNA easier to get than ever
The national case casts light on how states have handled the issue.
About half of the
country, including
The changes are an expansion of the state’s
The availability of
Investigators previously had to rely on the FBI for
Collecting samples from more people is generally viewed by investigators as a positive development, he said. Expanding the number of
“From a general law enforcement standpoint, the more people you have to compare matches to, the greater chance you have of finding the right person,” he said.
Warming up cold cases
The database is also useful to investigators in cases where evidence was collected but the crime remained unresolved.
This proved true in a
2001 rape case. Charles Mordan, 46, avoided arrest for four years after sexually
assaulting a woman
This week, Hellertown police announced the arrest of Rodney
Amos Chery, of
Senate Majority Leader
Dominic Pileggi, R-Chester/Delaware, has introduced a bill seeking to expand
"Recent technological
advances allow us to make much better use of
'At stake here is a fundamental right'
Major Mark Schau, director of forensic services for the Pennsylvania State Police, said that the state has seven labs, one of which handles
Schau said police support the concept behind the bill, since it gets samples
into the system sooner, which ultimately helps investigators. He acknowledged
that the legislation would weigh on an already heavy caseload and would require additional
personnel to handle.
“The wheels of justice will actually come to a grinding halt because of the backlog,” said Andrew Hoover, legislative director for The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania.
Not only would the bill slow down the judicial process, but
its application would represent an unlawful search, he said. He said that law
enforcement should obtain a warrant before requiring a
“What’s at stake here is a fundamental right that people are
innocent until proven guilty,” he said. “It’s different from a fingerprint.
Two more votes are expected later today.
Cardinals didn't elect a pope in the first two votes today in the Sistine Chapel in the second day of the conclave after black smoke about 6:40 Eastern Time from the Sistine Chapel chimney in Vatican City indicated no winner.
The smoke did not appear as dense or as black as it was Tuesday night.
The schedule for today's voting included a brief prayer followed by two rounds of morning balloting from the 115 cardinals. The cardinals then break for lunch and return for two more ballots in the afternoon.
The drama — with stage sets by Michelangelo and an outcome that is anyone's guess — is playing out against the backdrop of the turmoil unleashed by Benedict XVI's surprise resignation and the exposure of deep divisions among cardinals.
As a result, many analysts predict a long conclave — or at least longer than the four ballots it took to elect Benedict in 2005.
Core retail sales, which exclude gas, autos and building supply store sales, rose 0.4 percent in February compared with January.
Americans spent at the fastest pace in five months in February, boosting retail spending 1.1 percent compared with January. About half the jump reflected higher gas prices, but even excluding gas purchases, retail sales rose 0.6 percent.
Today's report from the U.S. Commerce Department shows that Americans kept spending last month despite higher Social Security taxes that took effect this year. The retail sales report is the government's first look each month at consumer spending, which drives about 70 percent of economic activity.
Core retail sales, which exclude gas, autos and building supply store sales, rose 0.4 percent in February compared with January.
Also, eight people from Bucks County are charged in thefts of copper and damage to PECO substations; the vote on PokerStars' casino buy is postponed; and why is Gino DiPietro dead?
Poll: With Lautenberg out, Booker increases his lead for 2014 Dem Senate nomination [nj.com]
Gov. Corbett trails five Democrats in new PPP poll [pennlive.com]
8 from Bucks charged in $175K copper thefts, damage at PECO substations [phillyburbs.com]
Gino DiPietro: Who was he? Why was he killed? [philly.com]
Casino Control Commission postpones vote on trade group's opposition to PokerStars - Atlantic Club sale [pressofatlanticcity.com]
Seven others also face charges involving cash, travel, entertainment and political contributions.
Attorney General Kathleen Kane said the eight are accused of engaging in criminal activity for their financial and political advantage. A grand jury heard evidence that cash, travel, entertainment and political contributions were secretly provided to public officials and political groups by turnpike vendors and their consultants, Kane’s office said in a news release.
The defendants include former state Senate Democratic Leader Bob Mellow, former turnpike Chairman Mitchell Rubin and former turnpike chief executive Joe Brimmeier. Three former turnpike officials were also charged: George Hatalowich, 47, of Harrisburg, the former chief operating officer; Melvin Shelton, of Philadelphia; and Raymond Zajicek, of Tarpon Springs, Fla.
The other defendants are two turnpike vendors: Dennis Miller, of Harrisburg, and consultant Jeffrey Suzenski, of Pottstown, Pa.
The allegations include conspiracy, commercial bribery, bid rigging, theft and conflict of interest.
Kane said the grand jury found “substantial evidence” that Mellow directed an aide to help key contributors and supporters obtain turnpike contracts.
“The public has lost untold millions of dollars,” Kane said. “The greatest improper influence was exerted over the turnpike’s procurement process.”
The investigation began several years ago and has been conducted largely in secret.
In 2009, turnpike officials disclosed the commission had received a subpoena from state investigators.
Also, Chris Christie's administration has appealed in the federal sports betting case.
Details on the charges in the Pennsylvania Turnpike pay-to-play scandal [pennlive.com]
Disability rights group sues over ‘cruel and unusual’ treatment of mentally ill state prison inmates [pennlive.com]
Business and retail leaders back liquor privatization in Pennsylvania [pennlive.com]
Christie administration files notice of appeal in federal sports betting case [nj.com]
Revel CEO resigns weeks before expected bankruptcy filing [nj.com]
Christie has 'demonized' public workers, Buono says [nj.com]
The new pope has not been identified yet. Vote in the NEWS POLL.
In the second day of the conclave, thick white smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, prompting cheers from thousands of people gathered in a rain-soaked and chilly St. Peter's Square.
Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, succeeds Benedict XVI. He will be known as Pope Francis.The winner had to receive 77 votes, or two-thirds of the 115, to be named pope.
After the third ballot earlier today, the cardinals broke for lunch at the Vatican hotel and returned for another two rounds of voting this afternoon.
The names mentioned most often as "papabile" — a cardinal who has the stuff of a pope — were Cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan, an intellect in the vein of Benedict but with a more outgoing personality, and Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the Canadian head of the Vatican's important bishops' office who is also scholarly but reserved like Benedict.Brazilian Cardinal Odilo Scherer was liked by the Vatican bureaucracy but not by all of his countrymen. And Cardinal Peter Erdo of Hungary has the backing of European cardinals who have twice elected him as head of the European bishops' conference.
On the more pastoral side was Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston, the favorite of the Italian press, and Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the back-slapping, outgoing archbishop of New York who admitted himself that his Italian was pretty bad — a drawback for a job that is conducted almost exclusively in the language.
Unlike the confusion that reigned during the 2005 conclave, the smoke this time around has been clearly black — thanks to special smoke flares akin to those used in soccer matches or protests that were lit in the chapel ovens to make the burned ballots black.The Vatican on Wednesday divulged the secret recipe used: potassium perchlorate, anthracene, which is a derivative of coal tar, and sulfur for the black smoke; potassium chlorate, lactose and a pine resin for the white smoke.
The chemicals are contained in five units of a cartridge that is placed inside the stove of the Sistine Chapel. When activated, the five blocks ignite one after another for about a minute apiece, creating the steady stream of smoke that accompanies the natural smoke from the burned ballot papers.
Despite the great plumes of smoke that poured out of the chimney, neither the Sistine frescoes nor the cardinals inside the chapel suffered any smoke damage, Lombardi said.
The actual vote takes place in far more evocative surroundings: the Sistine Chapel frescoed by Michelangelo in the 16th century with scenes of "Creation" and "The Last Judgment."
The former Jorge Mario Bergoglio is also known for modernizing an Argentine church that had been among the most conservative in Latin America. Vote in the NEWS POLL.
Argentine Jorge Bergoglio was elected pope today and chose the papal name Francis, becoming first pontiff from the Americas and the first from outside Europe in more than a millennium.
A stunned-looking Bergoglio shyly waved to the crowd of tens of thousands of people who gathered in St. Peter’s Square, marveling that the cardinals had had to look to “the end of the earth” to find a bishop of Rome.
He asked for prayers for himself, and for retired Pope Benedict XVI, whose stunning resignation paved the way for the tumultuous conclave that brought the first Jesuit to the papacy. The cardinal electors overcame deep divisions to select the 266th pontiff in a remarkably fast conclave.
Bergoglio had reportedly finished second in the 2005 conclave that produced Benedict — who last month became the first pope to resign in 600 years.
After announcing ‘‘Habemus Papum” — ‘‘We have a pope!” — a cardinal standing on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday revealed the identity of the new pontiff, using his Latin name.
The 76-year-old archbishop of Buenos Aires has spent nearly his entire career at home in Argentina, overseeing churches and shoe-leather priests.
Tens of thousands of people who braved cold rain to watch the smokestack atop the Sistine Chapel jumped in joy when white smoke poured out a few minutes past 7 p.m., many shouting “Habemus Papam!” or “We have a pope!” — as the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica and churches across Rome pealed.
Chants of ‘‘Long live the pope!” arose from the throngs of faithful, many with tears in their eyes. Crowds went wild as the Vatican and Italian military bands marched through the square and up the steps of the basilica, followed by Swiss Guards in silver helmets and full regalia.
They played the introduction to the Vatican and Italian anthems and the crowd, which numbered at least 50,000, joined in, waving flags from countries around the world.
“I can’t explain how happy I am right down,” said Ben Canete, a 32-year-old Filipino, jumping up and down in excitement.
Elected on the fifth ballot, Francis was chosen in one of the fastest conclaves in years, remarkable given there was no clear front-runner going into the vote and that the church had been in turmoil following the upheaval unleashed by Pope Benedict XVI’s surprise resignation.
A winner must receive 77 votes, or two-thirds of the 115, to be named pope.
For comparison’s sake, Benedict was elected on the fourth ballot in 2005 — but he was the clear front-runner going into the vote. Pope John Paul II was elected on the eighth ballot in 1978 to become the first non-Italian pope in 455 years.
Patrizia Rizzo ran down the main boulevard to the piazza with her two children as soon as she heard the news on the car radio. “I parked the car ... and dashed to the square, she said. “It’s so exciting, as Romans we had to come.”
That's when the weather appears most cooperative. Bring binoculars, an astronomer recommends.
Named Pan-STARRS, the comet should be visible for the next week or so, said Virginia McSwain, an assistant professor of physics at Lehigh University whose doctoral degree is in astronomy.
Of course, the weather has to cooperate. Ray Kruzdlo, meteorologist with the National Weather Service at Mount Holly, N.J., said a front passing through the region tonight could mean cloudy skies.
"I think we're going to see mainly clear skies tomorrow," he said this afternoon. "At least for the next five days it looks like Thursday night would be the best night."
Visible low in the western sky for up to an hour after sunset, the comet will appear higher in the sky each evening -- but also grow more faint, McSwain said.
"My advice is to find a location where you can see the western horizon shortly after sunset, while it's still twilight," she said this afternoon from the Bethlehem school. "It may help to bring binoculars."
Comet-gazers' view should also be unobstructed by trees, McSwain said. And as with all night-sky viewing, the darker the skies, the better.
Pan-STARRS' name is an acronym for the telescope in Hawaii used to discover it two years ago: the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System.
Although billions of years old, Pan-STARRS is making its first-ever cruise through the inner solar system. The ice ball passed within 28 million miles of the sun Sunday, its closest approach to our star and within the orbit of Mercury.
California astronomer Tony Phillips told The Associated Press the comet did not appear to decay during its brush with the sun, even though it encountered 10 times more intense solar rays than what we're used to here on Earth.
Last Tuesday, Pan-STARRS made its closest approach ever of Earth.
It is one of two comets expected to be visible from the northern hemisphere this year. In November, the comet ISON should be even brighter.
"It is expected to be easily visible with the naked eye," McSwain said of ISON.
That one "is due to reach its peak brightness around November," also above the western horizon.
An occupant of a silver SUV should be considered armed and dangerous.
Authorities are looking for a silver sport-utility vehicle in an Interstate 78 road-rage incident this afternoon that involved shots fired out of a vehicle, according to emergency broadcasts asking authorities to be on the lookout for the vehicle.
The incident happened in Pennsylvania -- the broadcasts did not say where -- on I-78 East, according to a broadcast just after 4:20 p.m. indicating the incident occurred about 4 o'clock.
An occupant of the SUV should be considered armed and dangerous.
The broadcasts said the license plate could be for a person with a disability.
'His concern for the poor will put a better direction on things than the church has done in the past, in terms of being concerned about that,' Monsignor Joseph Sobiesiak said.
Overjoyed by today's election of a new pope, Allentown Bishop John Barres issued what he called a "special appeal" to inactive Catholics across the diocese.
Barres said Pope Francis will be the one to guide those who may have lost their faith "back to the heart of the church."
"He is a bridge to us," Barres said.
Cardinals gathered at the Vatican chose Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the 76-year old Argentinian archbishop of Buenos Aires, to lead the church. He is the first pope from the Americas.
"Our new Holy Father is known for his humility, simple lifestyle and commitment to social justice, much like the patron saint he named himself after -- St. Francis of Assisi of Italy," the Most Rev. Paul G. Bootkoski, bishop of the Diocese of Metuchen, said in a statement.
"I am confident that he will prove to be a worthy successor to Peter, our first pope, and to our most recent pope, Benedict XVI, who is to be admired for his leadership of the past eight years," Booktkoski continued.
Watching Francis take his first bow in prayerful silence before a crowd of at least 50,000 in Vatican City's St. Peter's Square was especially moving for Barres.
"The man is on fire with the Holy Spirit," Barres said.
Having studied at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome from 1996 to 1999, Barres said that if anything, the "pin-drop silence" alone was jarring to see as Francis bowed in prayer.
"I spent three years in Rome studying, and I know that's an unusual occurrence," said Barres.
Admittedly knowing little about Francis before he assumed the grand stage Wednesday, Barres said he hopes to meet the new leader in the near future.
In Dec. 2011, Barres met Francis' predecessor, former Pope Benedict XVI, on a trip to Rome alongside 15 other Pennsylvania bishops.
Hope for social issues
Across the Lehigh Valley on Wednesday, residents and religious leaders voiced strong support for Francis' appointment.
Bethlehem resident Silagh White, a self-described liberal Catholic, said she was encouraged by Francis' reputation for championing the poor and social issues. She said she would prefer a pope who also supported gay marriage and abortion rights but knows that will never happen in her lifetime.
“I’m hopeful, but I’m not banking on too many liberal miracles,” White said. “The baby steps that this pope could take would already be great.”
Monsignor Joseph Sobiesiak, assistant pastor at Bethlehem’s Holy Infancy Church, said he, too, was impressed with Francis' dedication to helping the poor and his overall humbleness.
“His concern for the poor will put a better direction on things than the church has done in the past, in terms of being concerned about that,” Sobiesiak said.
The Rev. Scott Ardinger, pastor of Incarnation of Our Lord in Bethlehem, said he was so excited about the announcement of the new pope that he rang the church’s bells as soon as he saw the white smoke.
Bells also pealed at St. Rocco's Roman Catholic Church in the Martins Creek section of Lower Mount Bethel Township, once word spread that a pope had been elected.
“The fact he started with a prayer, I just thought that was so humble,” Ardinger said. “Something about his face, he just seems like a father right away. He’s the Holy Father now.”
'Good to have a pope'
Nancy Corriere, 72, attended the Stations of the Cross tonight at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Easton and said she was surprised to learn of the appointment, considering there was not much talk about him in the media as a likely candidate.
"I think he's going to be a great guy," the Palmer Township resident said.
Francis' age has garnered some concern among experts, following Benedict's abdication. St. Anthony's parishioner Ann Williams, 69, said that's not a concern of hers.
"He looks very enthusiastic," said Williams, of Easton. "He doesn't look old, he looks energetic. He looks healthy, God love him."
Josephine Giglio, 85, of Easton, said she was happy to see the first pope from Latin America. Though she is Italian, her father's brother is Argentinian, and she still has distant cousins there.
"It's great that the new pope is from that area," she said.
Bessie Boccadoro, also 85 and from Easton, said she was just happy to finally have a pontiff.
"Right now, that's good enough for me," she said. "It's good to have a pope again."
The former cardinal from Argentina is seen as a force for unification among Catholics from South through North America.
The selection of the Catholic church’s first pope from Latin America drew praise today from Hispanics in the Lehigh Valley, as many hope Pope Francis ushers in a new era of Latin Americans in positions of world leadership.
Lorna Velazquez, executive director of the Hispanic Center Lehigh Valley in Bethlehem, heralded the pick of Francis as a "sign of things to come."
Velazquez said the papal appointment of former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, shows a new sense of diversity at the Vatican and believes it will prove itself increasingly relevant as the Latino population continues to grow worldwide.
For area children, Velazquez said, seeing an Argentinian like Francis on the world stage could be a positive motivator.
"I think it will inspire our youth and our adults as well," Velazquez said.
In colonial Old San Juan district in Puerto Rico, Jose Antonio Cruz, a Franciscan friar, said the new pope would help revitalize the church.
“It’s a huge gift for all of Latin America. We waited 20 centuries. It was worth the wait,” said Cruz, wearing the brown cassock tied with a rope that is the signature of the Franciscan order. “Everyone from Canada down to Patagonia is going to feel blessed. This is an event.”
Allentown Diocese Bishop John Barres echoed the sentiment, saying the roots of the church's new leader represent an important opportunity to unify Catholics across the Americas.
"It's a sign of our globalized church," he said.
At Bethlehem’s Holy Infancy Church, which has a majority Hispanic congregation, Monsignor Joseph Sobiesiak called the selection of a Latin American pope "a good surprise."
“I think there’s been the hope for that, just personally, I didn’t think they’d go out of Europe at this point,” said Sobiesiak, who is assistant pastor there.
The Rev. Scott Ardinger, pastor of Incarnation of Our Lord, also in Bethlehem, said, "The Spanish speakers in the United States are going to be really blessed to have a native Spanish speaker.”
Reporters Andrew George and Lynn Olanoff and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
It's an already uncommon internship that has taken on a whole new dimension with the historic departure of Pope Benedict XVI and the election of his successor, Pope Francis.
Talk about a baptism by fire: On the first day of Lauren Colegrove’s journalism internship at Catholic News Service in Rome, the pope announced his resignation.
The Villanova University junior thought she’d spend her first day filling out paperwork and undergoing orientation. Instead, she ran over to the Vatican Press Office to attend a news conference and later conducted interviews in St. Peter’s Square.
“It’s pretty hard to have a more exciting first day of work than that,” Colegrove said in an email interview.
Colegrove, originally from Tampa, Fla., is among four Villanova University students working this semester at the Vatican. It’s an already uncommon internship that has taken on a whole new dimension with the historic departure of Pope Benedict XVI and the election of his successor, Pope Francis.
Previous interns from Villanova, a private Catholic university near Philadelphia, have shot videos for the Vatican’s YouTube channel, created 360-degree virtual tours of the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica, and performed research that led to the first papal tweet in December.
“Not every tourist can walk up and say, ‘I’d like to go behind the wall of the Vatican and check out what’s happening,’“ said Villanova computer science professor Robert Beck, who helps select the students who go abroad. “The interns are given the ability to do that.”
In addition to Colegrove’s reporting, the university this year has a computer science student working on a Vatican mobile app at the Internet Office of the Holy See and two other students interning at the Pontifical Council for Social Communication.
The council administers the Vatican’s main news portal, www.news.va, and its companion Facebook page. Communications interns Danielle McMonagle and Sean Hudgins have been creating and curating content for the latter website since last month, including taking photos of Benedict’s last audience in St. Peter’s Square.
“It was one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced, not only as an intern but just in general being there with thousands of people from all over the world,” McMonagle, a junior from Moorestown, N.J., wrote in an email.
Thaddeus Jones, a council official and the interns’ supervisor, said the world moves so quickly that “it’s more important than ever” to draw on students’ knowledge of multimedia and digital social platforms to help the church communicate in the 21st century.
But with the breaking news of Benedict’s departure, subsequent conclave and the selection of Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the new pope on Wednesday, there is less time for students to research emerging technologies and strategies, as previous interns have done, he said.
“It’s kind of like all hands on deck right now, rather than study trends and things,” Jones said in a phone interview.
Villanova’s program started in 2003 with computer science students working in the Vatican’s Internet Office to help modernize the church. By 2008, communications students were being placed at the Pontifical Council for Social Communication.
Last semester, intern Andrew Jadick helped the church prepare for a tweeting pope by researching how other major world figures use their Twitter accounts. Jadick was among those who stood by Benedict on Dec. 12 when he tweeted for the first time, and got to shake the pontiff’s hand.
After Benedict stepped down Feb. 28, the church deleted, but archived, all his tweets — the account read “Sede Vacante,” or “Seat Vacant” until Wednesday. Jadick hopes the new pope will also take advantage of Twitter, because a social media presence can help Catholics feel more connected to their leader, he said.
“It would be a shame if he doesn’t want to use it,” said Jadick, who is now back on campus.
Meanwhile, McMonagle expects to be very busy in the coming days gathering content and public reaction to the momentous election of Francis, the first Jesuit pope and the first to be chosen from the Americas.
“To have the opportunity to work as an intern here at the Vatican was already an honor,” McMonagle said, “but to be doing so now at this historic time is simply incredible.”
A man was assaulted Wednesday night by two men, one of whom pulled a knife, authorities report. This follows incidents reported Friday and Sunday.
A third assault in a week on the campus of Kutztown University is under investigation, the Pennsylvania state school in Berks County announced on its website.
A man was hit from behind by another man about 9:40 p.m. Wednesday on Bell Plaza between Old Main and the administration building, the university's public safety department reports.
The victim fought back and another man joined in on the assault, authorities said. One of the assailants pulled a knife, authorities report. The victim continued to fight back and the men eventually fled into Kutztown, authorities said.
The assailants were wearing black hoodies and blue jeans, authorities said. Their faces were covered from their noses down, authorities said. One of the men wore tan Timberland boots.
It was unclear if the victim were injured.
University police ask anyone with information to call 610-683-8477.
It follows an incident Friday in which three men, one who displayed a handgun, broke into a Kutztown dorm room in an attempted armed robbery but didn't take anything, authorities report.
The Reading Eagle reports that on Sunday, a Kutztown student was assaulted by an unidentified male about 2:45 a.m. outside Dixon Hall, which is next to Deatrick Hall. The victim initially said he was robbed of his cellphone and wallet, but officials said university police later downgraded the incident to a simple assault after the victim said he found his cellphone and wallet, according to the newspaper.
