State briefs
Graduate rate studied EDINBORO, Pa. (AP) – Fewer than half of all undergraduate students at Edinboro University graduate within six years, according to a recent national report.
The nonprofit Education Trust found 48.1 percent of undergraduates earn a degree within that time.
School officials say about 20 percent of Edinboro students are nontraditional, like those who are taking classes while holding full-time jobs.
The school has been aware of graduation rates and the numbers are an indication of Edinboro’s mission to remain flexible for students who are trying to earn a degree later in life, said Michael Mogavero, vice president for enrollment services.
“We are satisfying the needs of a much more diverse population than the typical 18-year-old who is on a residential campus and expects to graduate in four years.”
Edinboro has about 8,000 undergraduate and graduate students. About 2,500 students live on campus.
Designs displayed
SOMERSET, Pa. (AP) – Hundreds of design submissions went on display Wednesday for the Flight 93 Memorial.
The National Park Service received nearly 1,000 concept drawings from both professional designers and from people who were moved enough to scratch out their ideas at the kitchen table.
The submissions are on display at The Shops at Georgian Place in Somerset, just off the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
As many as five finalists will be chosen by Feb. 4.
The display closes after the Sunday showing, but will reopen between Jan. 27 and Feb. 1.
A second jury will announce a winning design by Sept. 11, the fourth anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Two weeks later, the design will be submitted to Congress and the Interior Department, which will oversee development.
Woman faces trial
BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) – A woman charged with homicide by vehicle must stand trial before making a legal argument to state appeals courts that she should never have been charged in the first place, a judge ruled.
Amber Thomas, 20, of Bellefonte, was involved in an accident in 2003 that resulted in the death of Steven H. Berry, 50. Thomas’ lawyer Stacy Parks Miller argues that there is no evidence that her client consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk, which is required to prove homicide by vehicle.
Parks Miller said if her client is acquitted, it will never be known whether the Superior Court would have decided it was wrong for prosecutors to bring charges.
A prosecutor said he charged Thomas in part because she told troopers at the scene that she saw Berry’s motorcycle coming, but thought she had enough time to make a left turn safely.
Arbitration sought
LOCK HAVEN, Pa. (AP) – The Lock Haven Police Officers Association has requested binding arbitration because negotiations with the city have not produced a contract, City Manager Richard Marcinkevage said.
The 12 police officers have been without a contract since Dec. 31, 2003, when the last labor agreement between the association and city expired.
Marcinkevage declined to comment about the remaining disagreements.
Plan abandoned
CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. (AP) – The borough has abandoned a plan to offer high-speed Internet services over its power lines, citing a lack of money and a new law designed to encourge telecommunications companies to provide the same service.
The decision not to pursue broadband-over-powerline service was welcomed by amateur radio users, who were worried that the Internet service would cause radio interference.
“That is good news,” said David Yoder, president of the Cumberland Valley Amateur Radio Club. “All amateur radio operators in the area are relieved to learn that apparently our concerns were taken into account, along with the recent legislation.”
Student files suit
KUTZTOWN, Pa. (AP) – A student at Kutztown University is suing the school, saying she is denied safe access to the college’s buildings because she uses a wheelchair.
Tarah Schaeffer, a Kutztown sophomore from Amity Township, is joined in the lawsuit by two Reading disability activists. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Philadelphia asks a judge to order the university, which is part of the State System of Higher Education, to make its facilities accessible to people with disabilities.
A university spokeswoman and the lawyer defending the university in the lawsuit declined to comment.
Lawyers debate
JIM THORPE, Pa. (AP) – Lawyers debated whether a Palmerton man accused of molesting two children should be tried again after he had a mistrial in March.
Defense lawyer Paul Aaroe said his client, Kevin Kuntz, 42, was on the way to acquittal in the original trial. In court on Tuesday, Aaroe accused Assistant District Attorney Joseph Matika of provoking a mistrial deliberately by using vague testimony from two women.
Matika said he called the women only to rebut Kuntz’s statement in court that he had committed sex abuse before.
Senior Judge Richard W. Webb gave Aaroe and Assistant District Attorney David Addy 10 days to file briefs with case law and said he will rule after that on whether Kuntz may be prosecuted again.
Girl rescued
BANGOR, Pa. (AP) – A farmer rescued a 3-year-old girl from a smoking car after the car crashed into a tree.
“She was crying for her mommy, and the car was filling up with smoke. I couldn’t get her out of her car seat,” dairy farmer Kevin Brewer said after Tuesday’s rescue. “I just took out my knife and chopped the belt off. … With all that smoke, I didn’t know if (the car) was going to burn, so I got the baby out. That was the first thing on my mind.”
Brewer then rushed the girl inside his home, and used the driver’s cell phone to call 911.
The driver, Christopher Clifton, 33, of Washington Township, was pulled out of the vehicle by a rescue squad and airlifted to a hospital with a serious head injury.