State briefs
Insurance plan pulled ERIE, Pa. (AP) – An insurance company plans to pull a limited-network plan because it has become too popular – particularly among older employees – and too costly.
Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield began offering Community Blue as a lower-cost alternative to employers, company spokesman Pete Sitter said. “We expected younger, healthier employees would choose the plan to save themselves money,” he said.
Instead, many employers offered the plan as the only option and it grew tenfold over the last two years. Community Blue now covers more than 26,000 Erie and Crawford county residents.
The costs increased and the insurer raised premiums by up to 50 percent. Sitter said the rates are now similar to other Highmark plans.
Highmark plans to discontinue Community Blue in 2004.
Cross discovered
MCKEESPORT, Pa. (AP) – A woman said she found a three-foot cross on her front lawn after she and her sister-in-law were awakened by the sound of bricks crashing through two windows in the home – bricks they said landed near children.
Shawnte Rice, 25, said the bricks went through her second-story bedroom window on Saturday morning and landed on her bed, inches from her 2-year-old son, Lance.
Rice’s sister-in-law, Stephanie Robinson, said another brick crashed inches from her 1-year-old daughter, who was sleeping in a playpen.
Rice, who is black, said she fears her family was the target of racial violence.
“We’re in 2003, not down in the South. This is McKeesport, a city. You see this in movies. We’re the only black couple on the street. I just don’t understand it,” Rice said.
Robinson said a McKeesport detective investigated but didn’t leave his name with the family. The Associated Press was unable to leave a message for McKeesport Police Chief Ronald Willard seeking comment.
Land purchased
LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) – Backers of a new baseball stadium have purchased two pieces of land for the $20 million ballpark and are close to getting a third.
But the Economic Development Company of Lancaster County does not yet have a letter of commitment from Gov. Ed Rendell for a $10 million state grant.
“We’ve been doing everything we can to get everything in place,” EDC executive director David Nikoloff said. “But we’re not eager to spend more money we don’t have.”
The ballpark, which backers hope to open next year, is being planned for a team in the independent Atlantic League.
Pilot injured
WASHINGTONVILLE, Pa. (AP) – A parasail got stuck in power lines when the pilot was unable to gain altitude, injuring the man with electrical burns, authorities said.
The accident happened Friday evening near the Montour Steam Electric Station. The man was on the ground when emergency workers arrived, but the parasail was stuck in the power lines.
A parasail is a parachute worn by someone pulled behind a car or motorboat. When done correctly, the person is pulled fast enough to be lifted off the ground by the air currents.
Recruit recommended
CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. (AP) – The principal of Chambersburg Area Senior High School, and the superintendent is recommending the middle school principal to replace him.
Barry Purvis has been at Chambersburg Area Middle School for 13 years, seven as principal.
Two other candidates have interviewed for the high school principal’s job, but Superintendent Edwin Sponseller said he thinks Purvis is the best one.
“Good principals are very, very hard to find because of the responsibilities associated with the job,” Sponseller said.
The school board makes its choice on June 11.
12 face trial
EASTON, Pa. (AP) – Twelve Easton residents who said the city acted improperly by shutting off their water service or threatening to do so may go to trial with their claims, a federal judge has ruled.
In 2000, the city was cracking down on delinquent water bills because 986 customers owed $1.9 million. The city told people that their water would be shut off if they did not pay within 30 days.
The residents allege that the city did not give them notice of their right to contest the bills or to appeal the shutoffs.
U.S. District Judge Ronald Buckwalter ruled May 13 that the lawsuit may go to trial, but dismissed eight additional claims against the city.
Snake thief sought
FRACKVILLE, Pa. (AP) – Police are looking for someone who slithered out of a pet store with a stolen snake.
A black ball python was stolen Saturday night from a store in a mall in New Castle Township, Schuylkill County, state police at Frackville said.
The snake is about a foot long and has tan markings. Police said it is worth $80.
Bid studied
EASTON, Pa. (AP) – Only one contractor bid on a project to rebuild a historic canal lock, and the bid was higher than expected.
Construction costs for rebuilding the Abbott Street canal lock in Hugh Moore Park had been estimated at $500,000; the only bid was $830,351.
Bid specifications will be rewritten to either scale back the project or switch to cheaper materials, park official Steve Humphrey said.