Anonymous Caller Creates Fake Emergencies
Union City – The Pennsylvania State Police are investigating a series of false reports of emergencies that have been made to the Bloomfield Volunteer Fire Department since April. One or more actors have been calling the department to make false reports of fires and of trees being downed in roadways. These illegitimate calls and fraudulent reports are hurting the readiness of the Bloomfield Volunteer Fire Department to respond to actual emergencies and do pose an actual public risk. Trooper Dufala of the Corry State Police is asking anyone with information to contact him at (814)663-2043.

State-Related Universities Lack Funding
Harrisburg – In State News, a budget impasse over spending for the State-related Universities; Temple, Penn State, Lincoln, and the University of Pittsburgh has resulted in no funding being approved by the time the General Assembly has recessed for the summer. Multiple rounds of bills have failed to get the 2/3 majority needed to pass as Republicans demand more legislative oversite of State Universities. The legislature will return to work in the latter half of September.

Stolen Truck
Cochranton – Authorities are looking for a silver colored Ford F-150 which was stolen from a home on Lake Creek Road in Jackson Township, Venango County. The truck is a 2005 model with the third passenger side door and Pennsylvania registration number ZLD6407 (Zulu Lima Delta). If you have information call the Franklin State Police at (814)676-6596.

Jury Determines Life or Death for Synagogue Shooter
Pittsburgh – The third phase of the Robert Bowers Trial is underway, on June 16th Bowers was found guilty of 63 charges including murder and federal hate crimes after he attacked the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Nearly a month later last Thursday, jurors determined that Bowers was mentally competent to face the death penalty, and now the jury must decide his fate; that phase of the trial began on Tuesday. Testimony thus far has been from family members of victims killed in the attack, and the girlfriend of a police officer who was disabled by the wounds he suffered responding to the scene.