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The PE Sneak Peek: Dec. 24, 2013

Here's a look at the stories that are keeping our reporters busy on this Christmas Eve: * A local man looks back at a harrowing Christmas that ended with a blessing: His neighbor survived cardiac arrest. * He needed a car part, so he stole one off a vehicle in the Walmart parking lot in broad daylight, police say. * A woman charged with stealing from a nursing-home patient thought a gift of Christmas cookies might help. * A man broke a leg when he opened the wrong door and fell down the stairs. Now he's suing.

4 arrested in alleged meth lab in NE Pa. home

TAMAQUA, Pa. (AP) -- Four people were charged with operating methamphetamine lab in a northeastern Pennsylvania home after firefighters were called to investigate an odor. The (Hazleton) Standard Speaker said firefighters responding to the Tamaqua home notified police, who entered the home late Sunday and reported finding equipment and other items for manufacturing methamphetamine. Police said the home and adjoining properties were evacuated and the home's occupants, including a six-month-old baby, were decontaminated.

Man threw son, 3, from building, then jumped, cops say

NEW YORK (AP) -- New York City police say a father had been alone with his son for the first time since the breakup with his wife when he threw the toddler off the roof of a building before jumping to his death. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Monday that it was the first time Dmitriy Kanarikov, 35, had been allowed to take his son Kirill alone since the breakup with his wife. Police say he was supposed to turn over his son to his estranged wife at a police precinct on Sunday. Instead, police say he threw his toddler off the roof of a 52-story building, and then jumped. Both died.

Car in high-speed Pa. chase had child, pregnant woman inside, cops say

ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) -- Police say a Pennsylvania man who crashed after a high-speed chase had a 3-year-old and a pregnant woman in the car. Authorities say 24-year-old Toryan L. White of Altoona allegedly fled a traffic stop at about 3 a.m. Friday. The Altoona Mirror reports that White allegedly accelerated the SUV and later almost struck one of the officers' vehicles. Police say he ultimately struck a bridge and came to rest, then allegedly ran into the woods, leaving a pregnant woman and her 3-year-old son in the vehicle.

Health plan sticker shock ahead for some buyers

CHICAGO (AP) -- As a key enrollment deadline hits Monday, many people without health insurance have been sizing up policies on the new government health care marketplace and making what seems like a logical choice: They're picking the cheapest one. Increasingly, experts in health insurance are becoming concerned that many of these first-time buyers will be in for a shock when they get medical care next year and discover they're on the hook for most of the initial cost.

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