A | Behrend Beacon fcAj April 16, 2010 "I www.thebehrendbeacon.com LOCAL NEWS ERIE The trial involving the family of 18-year-old Dominica Ju liano and Country Fair Inc. began on Thursday. In 2004, then 12-year-old Do minica entered the Country Fair store at West 18th and Sas safras St. to buy some snacks with her grandmother, where an employee flashed his hand operated bar code scanner lightly over Dominica’s face and told her to smile. The next day, bums appeared on Dominica’s face, which her family claims were a result of the clerk’s actions, which not only caused burns, but also se vere psychological problems that followed after the incident. The Country Fair company claims that the child showed no signs of distress during the in cident, and that there is no sci entific evidence that the scanner used can cause the kind of damage claimed by the Juliano’s. ERIE Three Erie residents were charged with attempting to ex tort $l,OOO from an Erie couple on Tuesday. Tayron Cargile and Devon Henderson were accused of try ing to force a woman to with draw money from her bank account at Erie Federal Credit Union on Monday. The two suspects transported the woman to the bank while her husband was held against his will by a third suspect with an ice pick. The woman alerted a teller that the two suspects were waiting outside in a car, and asked that the teller call police. After the call was made, po lice responded and took the two suspects into custody, and later the third suspect. The three defendants are charged with false imprison ment, extortion and conspiracy to commit theft by extortion. ""ST&re police have no new in formation to release on their in vestigation about a Linesville couple found murdered inside their home last weekend. Laurie and Tod Prenatt were found dead in their home over the weekend, which the Craw ford county coroner ruled as a homicide due to multiple gun shot wounds on the victims. Investigators are still probing other Linesville-area crimes to see if their are any way con- nected Among those crimes being investigated include a robbery at a Rite Aid store in Linesville on April 2. They are also inves tigating the abduction of an Erie man who was assaultec and taken against his will in Erie. NATIONAL POLITICS Polish President and government staff perish in plane crash MARCUS VEAGLEY head copy editor Polish President Lech Kaczynski and nearly 100 government officials died in a plane crash in western Russia on Saturday. Fifteen MPs, along with the heads of Poland's armed forces, the central bank governor, and several deputy ministers were killed. The delegation was heading to the Russian city of Smolensk to commem orate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre where Russian forces killed over 20,000 Polish prisoners of war. Donald Tusk, the Polish prime min ister, called the crash the "most tragic event in Poland's postwar history." The president's Tupolev Tu-154 jet went down in heavy fog and crashed in a forest, the Russian emergency ministry said, according to A 1 Jazeera. Russian investigators, working with their Polish counterparts, said that the pilots had not heeded repeated warn ings from Russian air traffic con trollers. “The crew was aware of the in evitability of the coming catastrophe, if only due to the plane shaking after the wings hit the trees,” said Andrzej Seremet, the Polish chief prosecutor. Russia's chief investigator, Alexan der Bastrykin, said that the flight ✓v «gjcy 1. China prepares rescue for earth quake victims JIEGU, China --China started to airlift hundreds of in jured people to hospitals on Thursday, a day after a earth quake struck the Qinghai province. The 6.9 magnitude earth quake caused buildings, bridges, and roads to collapse, leaving 11,000 injured and over 750 dead. Rescuers have pulled out over 1,000 people buried under ECONOMY Planes grounded due to volcano What event could stop all flights from Western Europe and those from the United States to Europe? One answer: Volcano. Since March 20, eruptions started to occur in Iceland’s EyjafjallajokuJl glacier, but the most recent eruption on April 14 blew a hole in the mass of ice, sending vol canic ash thousands of feet into the air. While an evacuation was placed for 800 people around the glacier due to fears of flash flooding, over 6,000 flights were can celed over eastern Europe, including the U.K., Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, France, and the Netherlands. In the United States, over 32 continental flights were canceled to Europe, refunds included. The main reason for the major shutdown was due to the volcanic ash, which could clog the engines of airplanes, causing disasterous results. Manchester Airport spokesman Russell Craig explained the dangers of volcanic ash. “If the air in the engine were mixed with ash, it could cause engine failure and electrical difficulties with an aircraft,” he stated. “It’s happened before, and the aircraft didn’t come out the other end in one piece.” American Airlines also canceled flights coming from airports from London, Paris, Zurich, Brussels, Manchester, and Dublin. recorders revealed there were “no problems with the plane.” World News the rubble and are still search ing for 234 people who are still missing. The Chinese government has sent thousands of tents and winter quilts to victims, along with $29 million for aid. 2. Adoptions from Russia suspended MOSCOW - The govern ment of Russia halted the adop tion of children by American families on Thursday. The Russian government stated that until ground rules pertaining to adoption are laid out, all adop ERIC PEIRCE jvsf. news editor American Airlines did manage to operate 15 flights both in and out of the U.K. on Thursday before the airport was closed down. Officials do not have clear idea of when flights will resume. According to Matt Wat son, a geophysicist, two things needed to Polish citizens mourn the loss of the Polish President and numerous government officials. Local/National Volcanic ash caused air travel to shut down in and out of Iceland. Since the crash, thousands of Poles palace in Warsaw, including Vladimir have gathered at the presidential Putin, the Russian prime minister. tions by American citizens will be temporarily suspended. The U.S. ambassador to Rus sia, John Beyrle, informed American families that were in the process of adoption “Not to worry. We’re working on this and we really don’t think that this will have any long-term ef fect on the ability of American families to adopt here.” This action comes after a American woman “sent back” a adopted Russian child last Wednesday, after the woman reported psychotic behavior from the child. 3. Man dies while waiting in line for tickets JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - 64-year-old Ralph von Heerden died while waiting in line for World Cup tickets on Thursday. Heerden was pro nounced dead by paramedics, and it was ruled that Heerden’s death was a result of heart problems after waiting in line for over five hours. The long waits in line for South Africans stemmed from ticket system breakdowns. happen before flights were to resume. “You need the volcano to stop emplacing ash to the altitude that commercial aircraft fly at 30,000 to 35,000 ft., and you then need the upper-level winds to blow ash and disperse it out of the air space.” News BEACON ONLINE The Beacon website, the behrendbeacon.com, is your online source for campus news. Constantly updated with new and breaking news sto ries, the website will feature immediate coverage of events as well as an archive of past articles in the Bea con. We also offer a Twitter ac count, (