BC-PA–Domestic Dispute-Arson,0131 Police: Pa. man punches woman, sets house on fire Eds: APNewsNow.
RACCOON TWP._ A Raccoon Townshipwascharged with punching his girlfriendand setting their house on fire before surrendering to police after a domestic dispute.
State police were called to the home in Raccoonabout 10 p.m. Thursday and say 29-year-old William Brocklebank didn’t surrender until about 12:30 a.m. Friday, and then only after setting the house on fire. The house wasunder construction and heavily damged.

Police say Brocklebank knelt on 28-year-old Marcy Prosko then punched her.
When police arrived, they spoke to Brocklebank on the phone until he agreed to surrender because he had numerous weapons in the house.
Police say Brocklebank has been charged with arson, aggravated assault and other crimes.

VANPORT TWP. — One southbound lane of the Vanport Bridge that carries Route 60 over the Ohio Riverin Vanport Township will be closed from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday for sweeping, PennDOT said.

Northbound traffic won’t be affected.

Lane closures will occur Tuesday morning on Route 51 north of the Henry Mancini Bridge in Aliquippa to the Rochester Monaca Bridge in Monaca, PennDOT said.

Traffic will be reduced to a single-lane, alternating use daily as needed between8 a.m. and 4 p.m. through mid-September. Geotechnical engineering crews will be conducting subsurface investigations for a future improvement project.

SEWICKLEY - A multi-million dollar drug-trafficking ring authorities believe has been operating for nearly 20 years between western Pennsylvania and Arizona was smashed Friday with the arrest of 12 people suspected to be involved.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett announced the arrests Friday morning in Sewickley, saying the group moved more than 400 pounds of marijuana from Tucson to this area each month. He estimated they brought more than $2 million worth of marijuana to Allegheny and Beaver counties between 2007 and now.
The investigation was dubbed “Operation Infamous Choppers” because the alleged ringleader of the group was identified as John Duzicky, 37, of 710 Timber Lane, Aleppo Township, owner of Infamous Choppers, a motorcycle shop at 534 Camp Horne Road, Ohio Township.
Corbett said authorities believe Duzicky has been involved in transporting marijuana from Arizona, where he also maintains residency, to Beaver County as far back as 1990. He said Duzicky received bulk quantities from a Mexican supplier while he was in Arizona.
The attorney general’s Bureau of Narcotics Investigation has been tracking the drug ring since 2007 and recently presented its case to a statewide grand jury, which recommended criminal charges be filed.
“Today’s arrests have disrupted a multi-million dollar drug pipeline flowing into Pennsylvania,” Corbett said. “This organization allegedly pumped more than 10,000 pounds of marijuana onto the streets of western Pennsylvania during this operation.”
A series of undercover drug buys were made in various locations including Ohio Township, Ambridge, Aliquippa, Crescent Township and Independence Township from Duzicky and his associates during the investigation, Corbett said. He said investigators seized approximately 220 pounds of marijuana, approximately $635,000 in cash, two kilos of cocaine, two handguns, two shotguns, six vehicles and a custom chopper over the course of the investigation.

The New Sewickley Township recreation board will have its final movie night tonight at Green Valley Park.
“Beverly Hills Chihuahua” will begin at dusk. The board will serve free beverages and popcorn along with grilled hot dogs donated by the township police union.

By Joe Mandak, Associated Press Writer
PITTSBURGH (AP) - A former Nevada casino worker who accused Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger of rape in a civil lawsuit should drop the case because her own e-mails and text messages prove she wasn’t assaulted, his attorney said.
The woman “should abandon her lawsuit immediately and admit that Ben Roethlisberger did not rape her,” Roethlisberger’s attorney W. David Cornwell said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press. “We believe that (the woman’s) own words directly refute the scurrilous allegations made in her complaint.”
The woman contends in the lawsuit filed last month in Washoe County District Court in Reno, Nev., that Roethlisberger raped her in his room at Harrah’s in Lake Tahoe in July 2008 when he was there to play in a celebrity golf tournament.
The woman never went to authorities; her lawsuit says she didn’t file a criminal complaint because she feared Harrah’s would side with Roethlisberger and she would be fired. She also accused Harrah’s officials of orchestrating a cover-up.
Cornwell provided the AP and other news outlets with 18 pages of e-mails and texts purportedly between the 31-year-old woman and a male friend.
Cornwell wouldn’t say Wednesday how he obtained the e-mails and texts, but said he has a “good faith basis” to believe they are legitimate. Some of the e-mails were sent within a day of the alleged attack, including some just a couple of hours later, Cornwell said.
In an e-mail two days before the alleged rape, the woman tells her friend that she has been chosen to take care of the resort’s celebrity guests, including Roethlisberger, Cornwell said. She also tells him that he and the quarterback look alike.
On July 12, less than 24 hours after the alleged rape, the woman writes about how much she has enjoyed entertaining the celebrities and VIPs.
“The golf tournament has been really fun … I am really excited because we are all going to see Journey tonight and that will be soooooo much fun. Speaking of which I need to head over to dinner with your lookalike and a few others before heading out,” the e-mail said, according to Cornwell.
The Associated Press does not generally identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted.
The woman’s Reno-based attorney, Calvin Dunlap, didn’t return a message left by The Associated Press on Wednesday. Cornwell wouldn’t comment beyond his e-mailed statement.
In her lawsuit, the woman said she was distraught and left work after the assault, going to cry in her pickup truck.
But in an e-mail sent from her work station two hours after the alleged attack, she sounds as if nothing has occurred, Cornwell said. “Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh I finally got away,” she writes. Nine minutes later sent him a cute note filled with mock baby talk, Cornwell said.
In text messages sent in December, the man asked her what would happen if they broke up, Cornwell said.
“I would date Ben Roethlisberger,” she answered. “hahahahah.”

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The government says the number of women arrested for drunken driving has increased nearly 30 percent during the past decade, representing a dangerous trend for Americans on the nation’s roads.
Safety officials said Wednesday the problem was highlighted by a wrong-way crash involving a woman in New York last month that killed 8 people.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the number of women arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs increased nearly 30 percent between 1998 and 2007. The number of men arrested under the influence fell 7.5 percent during the same period.
The department says the number of impaired women involved in a fatal crash increased in 10 states from 2007 to 2008.

BUTLER, Pa. (AP) _ A criminal trial is scheduled for a former Army Junior ROTC instructor who is charged with molesting two boys at a western Pennsylvania high school.
Fifty-one-year-old retired Sgt. Maj. Kevin Johnson, of Portersville, faces trial today on charges filed last year. He’s accused of molesting the boys at Seneca Valley High School in Butler County, about 25 miles north of Pittsburgh.
Johnson faces 70 criminal counts, including corruption of minors and indecent assault after two boys testified at a preliminary hearing in March 2008 about sexual contact with Johnson. One boy says Johnson threatened to “take out” the boy’s family if he told anyone.
One of the boys has since sued Johnson and the school district.
Johnson has pleaded not guilty.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Hundreds of millions of dollars in tuition grants for Pennsylvania college students is stuck in limbo because of a six-week-old state government budget impasse.
That means an anticipated 172,000 students do not know exactly how much money they will receive from the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency.
Republican legislators are advocating $386 million, while Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell wants $460 million in grants.
Last year, the agency distributed $407 million, down from a record $454 million the year before, although that figure was pushed up by income from the student-loan agency.
The maximum individual grant award is $4,120.
For now, Penn State and many other schools say they will front the students’ grant money for the fall semester if the budget is not finished by then.

Routine bridge inspection is set next week for the Ambridge-Aliquippa bridge between Route 51 and Route 65, said PennDOT.

Traffic on the bridge will be reduced to a single lane alternating use from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.