Sunday News

Catching Up on the News The following is a look at local news events during the week of Feb. 3.

SEEKING MORE POWER MORE FOR SCHOOLS MORE CHARGES ON TO TRIAL LOVELY CEREMONY UNITED WAY: $8.8 MILLION NO MAIL SATURDAYS REVIEW ON CORBETT

Lancaster County Sheriff Mark Reese and colleagues across the state are drafting potential legislation that would give Pennsylvania sheriffs more power and the authorization to arrest when confronted with criminal activity, it was reported Friday. Some, however, are wary of sheriff deputies assuming duties previously the domain of police.

Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed $28.4 billion budget for 2013-14 unveiled last week would raise core state spending by nearly 3 percent, increase support for public schools and cut business taxes. Lancaster County schools would see basic funding increase by an average of 2.1 percent or a total of nearly $3.3 million for the 17 local school districts. The support, however, is dependent on the governor's ability to enact pension and liquor-sale reforms.

The Pennsylvania Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs has filed multiple charges of professional misconduct against Benjamin M. Siar Jr., operator of Gundel Funeral Home in Conestoga, with the State Board of Funeral Directors. Siar is in Lancaster County Prison charged with four counts each of abuse of a corpse and theft by deception. Four bodies in various states of decomposition were found at his business last month.

Dereck Taylor Holt, 22, waived a preliminary hearing last week and will be tried on 23 charges related to the binding, beating and torturing of three elderly Mennonite sisters Dec. 14 in Clay Township in what police have called a case of "ethnic intimidation,'' it was reported Wednesday.

More than 100 couples reaffirmed their wedding vows at Masonic Village last week. Most have been married 55 to 65 years.

United Way of Lancaster County announced Thursday that its 2012 campaign raised $8.8 million. The total came in $308,201 under the previous year's fundraising push, but United Way President Patrick Jinks said he was thrilled with the results in light of the struggling economy and changes in the organization.

Saturday mail delivery will end in August, the U.S. Postal Service announced last week. Package deliveries will continue six days a week, and post offices open Saturdays will continue those hours. Mail will still be delivered to post office boxes Saturdays.

Twenty-six percent of registered voters said Republican Gov. Tom Corbett is doing an excellent or good job in a poll released Thursday by Franklin & Marshall College.