Free

Five shot at ethnic festival

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- A police helicopter that happened to be near a Tulsa events center Saturday night when a gunman shot and wounded five people at a Hmong New Year's festival spotted a suspicious vehicle driving away from the scene, which eventually led to the arrest of two suspects, authorities said. Police Capt. Mike Williams said both suspects, like those celebrating inside the Green Country Event Center, are Hmong -- an Asian ethnic group mainly from Laos. He said investigators hadn't determined a motive for the attack, but that both men would be charged.

The PE Sneak Peek: Oct. 11, 2013

Here's a look at the stories that are keeping our reporters busy Friday: * A local police officer is found dead by her own hand. * A recent local high school graduate was among those badly hurt in a bus crash this week on I-80. We'll have more on her recovery. * Should Pennsylvania raise its top speed limit? See what one legislator will propose. * Del Monte makes a billion-dollar business decision that could impact its Columbia County pet food plant.

70 mph on Pa. highways? Proposed change is on the way

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- A leading Pennsylvania state senator said Friday it's time to increase the state's maximum allowable speed limit from 65 mph to 70 mph. Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati announced plans to introduce legislation that would allow -- but not mandate -- the higher maximum speeds on interstates, including the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Scarnati, R-Jefferson, said the 70 mph limit would help traffic move better and make the delivery of goods more efficient.

Man says 1973 UFO incident turned life upside down

PASCAGOULA, Miss. (AP) -- Charles Hickson never regretted the notoriety that came his way after he told authorities he encountered an unidentified flying object and its occupants 40 years ago on the banks of the Pascagoula River. Until his death in 2011, Hickson told his story to anyone who would listen. But Calvin Parker Jr., the other man present for one of the most high-profile UFO cases in American history, has never come to terms with what he still says was a visit with gray, crab-clawed creatures from somewhere else. He says the encounter on Oct. 11, 1973, turned his life upside down.

Pa. chief's hearing halted when gun falls on floor

GILBERTON, Pa. (AP) -- A hearing for a Pennsylvania police chief who made profanity-laced Internet videos about liberals and the Second Amendment was halted suddenly Thursday night after a handgun belonging to one of his supporters slid out of its holster and crashed onto the concrete floor. The loaded semi-automatic handgun landed inches away from Gilberton Chief Mark Kessler and his attorney. It did not go off, but attorney Joseph Nahas said that he and other officials were concerned about the safety of everyone in the tiny, crowded meeting room at borough hall.

Pa. man guilty of killing 75-year-old over alleged love triangle

UNIONTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- A jury has convicted a western Pennsylvania man of third-degree murder over the death of an elderly man that authorities allege stemmed from a love triangle involving the younger man's girlfriend. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that 37-year-old Jonathan Godines of Brownsville was convicted in the November 2011 death of 75-year-old John Eicholtz. The jury deliberated a little more than three hours. Godines had denied that the fight was due to jealousy and cited a traffic dispute.

Former Steeler Hines Ward tackling Ironman triathlon

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Hines Ward spent 14 years in the NFL, catching 1,000 passes and earning a reputation as one of the most physical wide receivers in NFL history. And none of it prepared him for what the former Pittsburgh Steelers standout and "Dancing With the Stars" champion calls the most difficult challenge of his life: the Ironman Triathlon. "I didn't know what I was signing up for," Ward says with a laugh.

The PE Sneak Peek: Oct. 10, 2013

Here's a look at the stories that are keeping our reporters busy Thursday: * Even after a house was condemned, a family made it home, officials say. Now there's a move to demolish it. * What started as a sex charge ends up as a case of a man holding a woman against her will. Find out what the judge did. * We're chasing developments in the shooting that put a man in the hospital. * Drug troubles: A man mixes meth and Ecstasy, and a woman gets caught with heroin -- again, police say.

Auto-erotic asphyxiation possible in kidnapper's death

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro may have died from auto-erotic asphyxiation, not suicide, and two prison guards falsified logs documenting their observation of him in the hours before he died, the state said Thursday. Castro's pants and underwear were pulled down to his ankles when he was found, leading the state to forward those facts to the state highway patrol to consider the possibility of auto-erotic asphyxiation, according to the report from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

Man clocked at 111 mph says he needed a bathroom

LOGAN, Utah (AP) -- A Utah man has been sentenced to seven days in jail after a high-speed chase that he blamed on a bathroom emergency. Thirty-nine-year-old Jeffrey Laub told a judge Monday that he ate something that upset his stomach and was racing to get to a rest area in Logan Canyon. The Herald Journal reports 1st District Judge Thomas Willmore called the explanation "one of the worst stories" he ever heard. The judge pointed out that Laub passed several outhouses while he led a Utah Highway Patrol trooper on a chase last spring that reached 111 mph.

Pages