Land for mall sold

Land for mall sold
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- City council agreed Thursday to sell a plot downtown to a developer working on a Hollywood themed-mall.
Cascade Riverplex, LP, which is owned by developers Tom George, Bob Bruce and their families, bought the land that once housed the B & amp;O Federal Credit Union at 217 S. Mill St. for $150,000. The former credit union building will be demolished and a new entrance to the Neisner Building, directly behind it, will be constructed, according to the developers.
The Neisner Building was the home of the first theater opened by the Warner brothers, who later became Hollywood movie moguls. The Hollywood-themed mall is expected to re-create the theater and have several related shops and restaurants.
Dairy Mart robbery
WEST MIDDLESEX, Pa. -- Southwest Mercer County Regional Police are reviewing surveillance tapes in an effort to identify the man who robbed the Dairy Mart store at 3108 Main St. around 4:15 a.m. Thursday.
A store clerk told police a man entered the store and demanded money, indicating that he had a gun.
The clerk saw no gun but complied, handing over an undisclosed amount of cash, police said.
Attack on police officer
SHARON, Pa.-- John A. Reed, 34, of Lorain Street was lodged in Mercer County Jail on $50,000 bond after he attacked an officer while trying to break into a cruiser, police said.
Reed appeared Thursday before District Justice James McMahon.
Police said Sgt. Mark Yassem had left his car locked car in an alley between Lorain Street and Wheeler Place around 1:30 a.m. Thursday, and when he returned minutes later, he saw a man later identified as Reed trying to open the door.
When Yassem tried to stop him, the man swung a bag containing five bottles of beer at him, striking Yassem on the back of the head. Yassem used tear gas to subdue the man and arrested him on charges of aggravated assault, resisting arrest and public drunkenness, police said. Yassem was treated at Sharon Regional Health System for a head injury, police said.
Hearing on Verizon
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- The Public Utility Commission has scheduled a hearing for public comments on whether local calling for Verizon's 924 exchange should be extended to include 752 and 758 exchanges.
The hearing is set for 6 p.m. Thursday at New Castle Municipal Building, 230 N. Jefferson St. Customer testimony will be part of the record on which the PUC will base its decision in the case. Administrative Law Judge John H. Corbett Jr. will determine if there is enough evidence to require Verizon to conduct a poll of all calls from 924.
If enough calls are made during the poll, the company will then be required to extend the local calling area for the 924 exchange. Residents living in the 924 exchange, mainly in Slippery Rock Township, border the 752 and 758 calling area, but must pay toll charges to call neighbors.
Juvenile burglary
SHARON, Pa. -- Police said they will file juvenile court petitions for burglary against two 13-year-old girls who broke into an apartment in the 100 block of Fourth Avenue.
A neighbor saw the girls crawling through a window around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday and called police, who found them inside. They were released to their parents pending the filing of charges.
Cemetery vandalism
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Four youths are being blamed for desecrating one of Pittsburgh's largest and oldest Jewish cemeteries by damaging more than 100 headstones and burning at least a dozen U.S. flags.
Allegheny County police say two boys and two girls vandalized Beth Hamedrash Hagodol-Beth Jacob cemetery in McKees Rocks either late Monday or early Tuesday by toppling, shattering and damaging grave markers. They also put the flags in a pile and set them ablaze.
One of the suspects, a 12-year-old boy from McKees Rocks, was arraigned on a charge of institutional vandalism and was being held at Shuman Juvenile Detention Center on Thursday, said county police Sgt. Bob Downey.
Authorities said it doesn't appear to be a hate crime.