EMT honored for saving a woman's life

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A quick thinking EMT was honored by the Birdboro Council for helping save a woman's life.


Eric Cleveland of the Birdsboro-Union Fire Department was recognized during tonight's Birdsboro meeting.


Officials said when Cleveland was at the Shady Maple Farm Market in East Earl Township, Lancaster County, he jumped into action to help a 78-year-old woman.


The woman had low blood sugar, and was having a stoke.


Cleveland was able to get her stabilized until more help arrived.



"I got into this career field so that I could do that, so I could make a difference for people whether it be for that moment or for a lifetime," Cleveland said.


Cleveland was also honored back in 2013, for resuscitating a woman who collapsed at the Berkshire Mall.






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Police are working with the DA's office on a bizarre shootin

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Police are working with the DA's office on a bizarre shooting case in Reading -- they say a man fired shot out of his second floor window and hit two alleged thieves out on the street. >>> wendy davis: Is that kind of shooting justified? It happened early this morning on the north side of Reading. WFMZ's Jennifer Joas is live at police headquarters in Reading with the details. >Police tell us one man took the law into his own hands...when he saw two men allegedly breaking into his car. He shot them both. And now...authorities are trying to determine if they should charge anyone.>>REPORTER: Shots rang out around 1:30 in the morning in the 1200 block of North 11th Street in Reading. >>anne kilian "i got kind of scared when i heard the gunshots last night. i was able to call the police but i couldn't tell them anything except that we heard the gunshots and heard footsteps, somebody running." >>reporter: When police arrived on scene...they found a man...claiming he was trying to stop two thieves in the act. >>sgt. matthew schappell: "He was inside of his home, he heard glass break and looked outside to see two individuals, looked like they were breaking into his car. He reported to us that he fired two shots at them and the suspects fled." >>reporter: Both alleged thieves turned up about a half an hour later at the hospital with gunshot wounds. One man had been shot in the chest, the other in the ankle. Some neighbors tell us they understand why the man fired shots.>>ANNE: "He was protecting his property so i think he had every right in the world.">>REPORTER: While others feel shooting the suspected thieves was unnecessary.>>LARRY kilian: "If the car was outside and he shot from a window, that's not justified. If we were in our apartment and somebody attacks us, breaks in, that's justified. Shooting outside, i don't believe is justified." >>reporter: The shooter is cooperating with police and consented to a search of his vehicle. The shooting victims do not have life threatening injuries.>>Police have turned over the case to the District Attorney. He is reviewing the case and determing if the shooter was justified...and if he...or the suspected thieves...should face charges. Live in Reading, Jennifer Joas, 69 News.>>>






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Reading Fire Department members receive awards for examplary response

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Various members of the Reading Fire Department received awards and commendations at Monday night’s Reading City Council meeting.


Around 1:30am on October 7, 2013, 16 members of the fire department responded to a dwelling fire at 718 Ritter Street in Reading.


The fire started as a result of unattended cooking, with flames taking over the first-floor kitchen and dining room and smoke spreading through all three floors of the row home.


Christine Reynolds-Kramer, 61, was trapped and unconscious on the second floor of the home.


Fire fighter Steven Ginder was the first to enter the home and to reach Reynolds-Kramer.


Ginder and Justin Auker were able to remove her from the building. Both men received a Medal of Merit for acting in “the highest tradition of the fire service.”


Lieutenant Thomas Rehr, Patrick Griffin and Ronald Fry received Unit Citation awards for their assistance in getting Reynolds-Kramer down the stairs and out of the building to safety.


Anthony Flowers also received a Unit Citation award for his actions to control and extinguish the fire, protecting the stairway and allowing the others to reach Reynolds-Kramer.


EMS Unit Citation awards were presented to the paramedics team that was able to revive and treat the victim on the scene: Lieutenant Scott Weitzel, Nik Knauer, Mike Grow, Tim O’Brien and Jeremy Grove all received awards.


Thanks to the actions of the fire suppression and EMS teams, no one else was hurt and the fire was extinguished in less than 40 minutes.


The response team was even able to save six cats using their animal oxygen masks.


Unfortunately 14 other cats, two large birds and one dog were killed in the fire. Damage to the property was estimated at $25,000 to $30,000.


Fire Chief William Stoudt Jr. commended the actions of his department, and thanked them for their willingness to do an often thankless job.


"On the average day the actions of these members and the lives they save go largely unnoticed, except by those whose lives they saved, and their coworkers," Stoudt said.


Mayor Vaughn Spencer acknowledged the fire department as an asset to the city.


“We are very proud of the men and women that serve in the Reading Fire Department, who respond to the call and put themselves in harms’ way when a lot of people would go the other way.” Spencer said.


“I am thrilled to be able to award these gentlemen and give them the recognition they deserve.”






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Bethlehem considering district-wide full-day kindergarten

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Some big changes are in the works for a Lehigh Valley school district.


Administrators with the Bethlehem Area School District would like to see all kindergarten classes go full-day and formally proposed the change Monday night. Supporters say there are a number of benefits.


Currently the majority of the district's kindergarten classes, about 40, are half-day, which is two hours and 45 minutes.


There are 14 full-day sections for at-risk students who need more help getting ready for first grade.


"I think it's one of the most important educational initiatives in this district for a long time," said Superintendent Joseph Roy.


"We know the primary years, pre-k through third grade, are absolutely critical to getting kids off to a good start and making sure that they're on grade level reading by the end of third grade," said Roy, who added he wants children to be as successful as possible.


Chief Academic Officer Jack Silva presented the plan during a school board Curriculum Committee meeting Monday night.


"It just makes sense," said Michael Faccinetto, the school board president. "It is the obvious choice. It should have been done a while ago."


The plan would cost an estimated $900,000 dollars and require 12 to 14 additional teachers, said Roy.


He said some of those positions would be reassigned from other areas and some would likely be new hires.


"We'll also find other savings," he said.


"For example, right now with our half day program we take kids home in the middle of the day and we pick kids up and bring them to school in the middle of the day, kindergartners. We won't be doing that anymore so we'll save $150,000 in transportation. That's worth two teachers."


School board member Basilio Bonilla said kindergarten and early childhood education are important, but he questioned whether the plan is a fiscally responsible choice right now.


Roy told 69 News more is expected of children in the early years of elementary school than in past years.


"Some of that has to do with just the demands of state testing, some of it has to do with the Pennsylvania Common Core Standards, particularly in math," he said.


The school board is expected to vote on the issue January 26. Supporters want the changes in place for next school year.


They'll have to work out details including staffing, curriculum, classroom space, transportation, cafeteria details and technology.


The district is expecting 800 to 900 kindergarten students next year in 16 elementary schools.






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Lehigh University researching ways to combat hacking

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Hackers are no longer limiting themselves to getting into personal computers and stealing identities, now they are targeting big corporations.



Sunday, hackers may have been responsible for Crayola's Facebook page turning into a place strictly for adults with crude cartoons, inappropriate pictures and posts.



Assistant Professor at Lehigh University Gang Tan said "It's clear that every year hackers gain new abilities and they learn more about how to hack computer systems."



Tan is working on research that could cut down on companies getting hacked.

Lehigh University, along with three others, received a $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to make software systems more secure.



The group is working to automatically detect malicious activity in software.



Currently defenses like anti-virus software systems scan for signatures or bad things inside of software, but this research will not just scan, it will monitor suspicious behavior and keep track of it.



Tan said, "The game now is trying to add multiple layers of defense to a system to try to make hackers life a little bit harder."



Tan said the first line of defense for businesses is to create a network firewall.



"It's really just a device that sits between the Internet and the businesses internal network and inspects all of the traffic," said Tan.



He also said pay attention to updates.



"Some of them are just to add new features to a piece of software, but a lot of them now a days are for security purposes," said Tan.



Tan said we should learn from what happened at Crayola and keep working on ways to prevent hackers from striking again.






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Couple Falls in Love at Football Factory

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David Muir visits Ada, Ohio where Wilson footballs are manufactured with the help of 130 workers, two of whom fell in love 20-years-ago while working the factory line. These “Made In America”...


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Jury picked, testimony set to start in Berks murder trial

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Testimony will begin Tuesday in the trial of a man accused of a deadly shooting in Reading.


Jurors were picked Monday to decide the fate of Jose Negron, who is charged in the deadly shooting of Luis Rosario-Rosario, 22, in an alley behind the 400 block of Schuylkill Avenue.


Authorities said the shooting happened after a heated altercation in June.






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Man dies of possible drug overdose in PPL Center

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A PPL Center employee was found dead of a possible drug overdose inside the Allentown arena Sunday night.


The deceased man was identified as 22-year-old Christopher Loyko of Whitehall Township by Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim.


Loyko was found inside the arena's employee area about 9:30 p.m. Sunday, after the final Disney on Ice performance, according to Captain Gail Struss of the Allentown police department.


Deputy Coroner Richard Kroon pronounced Loyko dead at the arena, located at 707 Hamilton St.


Struss said the death appears to be a drug overdose but the final ruling on the cause is pending toxicology results.


An autopsy was performed Monday morning.


Loyko resided in the 5000 block of McKinley Avenue in Whitehall.






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Brandon Wilson withdraws guilty plea in killing

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Brandon Wilson withdrew his guilty plea Monday in Monroe County Court for his involvement in a gang-related killing a year ago.


Wilson was one of six people accused of participating in the January 2014 drug-related shooting death of 39-year-old Darcey Kravchenko at his mobile home in the 5000 block of Old Timber Road in Hamilton Township, Monroe County.


He was killed by one of six shots fired into his home.


Wilson was 19 years old when arrested last February in New York City. He previously lived along Lackawanna Avenue in East Stroudsburg.


When arrested, he was charged with criminal homicide, conspiracy to commit criminal homicide, criminal homicide by accomplice liability, tempering with or fabricating physical evidence and recklessly endangering another person.


All the suspects admitted to being members of the Black P Stone gang.


Four of the five suspects had pleaded guilty to murder in the third degree as accomplices and admitted they committed the crime with the aid and encouragement of Sirvonn Taylor, a high-ranking member of the gang.


Taylor also is facing a homicide charge.






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Pharmaceutical drug collections in Berks up 64% in 2014

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Berks County is seeing success with its pharmaceutical drug drop-off program.


The district attorney's detectives announced Monday that they collected 5,517 pounds of pharmaceutical drugs that were dropped in 24 boxes placed throughout Berks County in 2014.


That's a 64 percent increase over the 3,364 pounds that were collected in 2013.


Officials attribute part of the increase to six additional police departments -- Bally, Boyertown, Shillington, Tilden, West Reading and Wyomissing -- joining the DA's program in 2014.


"Prescription drug abuse is the number one gateway to heroin use," Adams said. "We will continue to expand our program to the Berks County police departments that want to engage directly with their communities in the fight against prescription drug abuse. This program will continue to benefit us for years to come."


This program was developed in 2013 as a cooperative effort involving the district attorney's office, the Council on Chemical Abuse (COCA) and the Berks County Solid Waste Authority.


Pharmaceutical drug drop boxes can be found at the locations listed below:


• Amity Police Department, 2004 Weavertown Rd., Douglassville

• Bally Police Department, 425 Chestnut St., Bally

• Berks County Coroner’s Office, 1047 MacArthur Rd., Bern Township

• Berks County Detectives, Berks Co. AG Center, 1238 Welfare Rd., Bern Township

• Bern Twp. Police Department, 1069 Old Bernville Rd., Bern Township

• Birdsboro Police Department, 200 East Main St., Birdsboro

• Boyertown Police Department, 100 S. Washington St., Boyertown

• Brecknock Police Department, 889 Alleghenyville Road, Brecknock Township

• Caernarvon Twp. Police Department, 3307 Main St., Morgantown

• Central Berks Regional P.D., 2147 Perkiomen Ave., Mt. Penn

• Exeter Twp. Police Department, 4975 DeMoss Rd., Exeter Township

• Fleetwood Police Department, 110 West Arch St., Fleetwood

• Kutztown Police Department, 45 Railroad St., Kutztown

• Muhlenberg Police Department, 5401 Leesport Ave., Muhlenberg Township

• Penn State Berks Campus, Tulpehocken Rd., Spring Township

• Reading Police Department, 815 Washington St., Reading

• Sinking Spring Police Department, 3940 Penn Ave., Sinking Spring

• Shillington Police Department, 999 East Broad St., Shillington

• Spring Twp. Police Department, 2800 Shillington Rd., Spring Township

• Tilden Township Police Department, 870 Hex Highway, Tilden Township

• Tulpehocken Police Department, 22 Rehrersberg Rd., Rehrersberg

• Western Berks Regional P.D., 100 N. Reber St., Wernersville

• West Reading Police Department, 500 Chestnut St., West Reading

• Wyomissing Police Department, 22 Reading Blvd., Wyomissing






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Sleet, freezing rain wreak havoc on morning commute in Berks

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An icy blast created chaos on the roads in Berks County as many people headed out the door Monday morning.


Sleet and freezing rain made way for a messy Monday, which triggered several accidents. Cars struggled to gain traction as the ice covered area roads.


"It's weird. You just sit there and the brakes are on, but the truck just moves on its own," said Rocco Cipolla, whose van ended up in a ditch.


Cipolla was on his way to 24-7 Electric in Sinking Spring when he lost control. He was coming around a curve on Wheatfield Road in Spring Township when he hit a sheet of ice.


"I was coming down real slow and was practically stopped, but the truck just slid on its own uncontrollable," said Cipolla.


Minutes later, the slick street claimed another victim. Scott Heydt was headed from Lancaster to Sinking Spring when he ran into a detour. Part of Grings Hill Road was shut down because of the icy conditions. As Heydt made his way onto Wheatfield, he saw Cipolla's van and started to slide.


"You just feel helpless. It's a total loss of control and you're at the mercy of gravity at that point," said Heydt, who feared his car would end up in the creek.


Both vehicles barely missed a tree, and luckily the drivers were not hurt. Salt trucks were called in and a tow truck had to pull the vehicles out.


"Snow doesn't really bother me, but ice you can't do anything about," said Nathan Welker.


Several other accidents were reported around the county due to the conditions.






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