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Retiree spends free time tracking down Pa.'s abandoned oil wells

PA News

BRADFORD — Driving into Bradford, Barbara Laxon tells people to look out for the flare coming from the oil refinery running along the town. At 74, Laxon spends much of her free time taking people on tours to show the traces of the oil and gas industry in her town — from an oil jack located in the parking lot of a McDonald's to hidden wellbores near a local elementary school. After exploring town, Laxon leads people into Allegheny National Forest to find abandoned oil wells. Parking on the side of the highway, she guides visitors carefully through swampy woods, warning them to watch ...

Cases of the plague are reported in parts of Africa and the US nearly every year

International News

The plague, the rare bacterial infection infamously known for killing tens of millions in 14th-century Europe, never went away. It is now easily treated with antibiotics. Since the 1990s, most human cases have been reported in Africa, especially Congo and Madagascar, according to the World Health Organization. There are an average of about seven human cases per year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mostly in rural areas of the American West. A worker at a plague research institute in Siberia recently died of pneumonia. The case has raised ...

Tropical Storm Isaias forms, is forecast to become a hurricane

National News

Tropical Storm Isaias formed Wednesday in the warm waters off eastern Mexico and forecasters predicted it will quickly strengthen into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season before striking the U.S. Gulf Coast later in the week. Communities in Isaias' potential path moved quickly to ...

Police reports

Local News

Woman charged with dog law violation PORT ROYAL — A 32-year-old Port Royal woman was charged following a reported dog law violation in Beale Township, according to Pennsylvania State Police at Lewistown. Police said troopers were dispatched to Vine Street at about 2:30 p.m. Sept. 20 for the reported violation. A 19-year-old Port Royal man was listed as the victim. Police said charges were filed against the woman. Police investigate theft of investment funds McVEYTOWN — Pennsylvania State Police at Lewistown are investigating the reported theft of more than $6,000 from an ...