CDL TR TRAINING AINING
OPEN OP O HOUSE H
Tuesday, June 23 • 12-6pm
Giveaways Including a
www.indianagazette.com Vol. 111 — No. 300
24 pages — 2 sections
7
Monday 1
2
3
4
8
9
10
11
12 13
15
16
17
19 20
14
15
21
21
28
29
22
5
6
22
23
24
25 27
29
30
28
28 29
Who’s in the news There is good news today in The Indiana Gazette about these area people: Renee Euasic, Dan Meyer, Tammy Dalessio, Marlene Shaffer.
By PHILLIP LUCAS and JONATHAN DREW
Inside
Associated Press
EMBRACING ROLE: In contrast to Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential run, the Democratic candidate is emphasizing her family and gender this time./Page 3 A NEW TWIST ON YOGA: Millions of yoga enthusiasts across the world contorted their bodies in complex postures Sunday to mark the first International Yoga Day./Page 5 GREECE TALKS: European officials were cautious about the prospects of reaching a comprehensive deal today to keep Greece from defaulting and falling out of the currency union./Page 7 CHANGING TUNE: After Taylor Swift criticized Apple in an open letter, the tech giant said it will pay royalties to artists and record labels for music played during a free trial of its new streaming service./Page 10 TAKING THE TITLE: Doug Gradwell and Dave Smith won the Championship Flight in the Indiana County Invitational on Sunday./Page 13 MARKETING MISSION: Four Catholic shrines have joined forces to market themselves to the million-plus visitors expected in Philadelphia in September to see Pope Francis./Page 24
Weather Tonight
71°
www.ictccdl.com
City, church mourn victims
WAGONS, HO!
June 2015
1
75 cents
Samsung Samsun ng Galaxy 8!
TOM PEEL/Gazette
THE APPALACHIAN WAGON TRAIN, with 16 covered wagons and buggies, today started its 2015 trek from Indiana County to Armstrong County. The annual family-oriented trek, involving dozens of pioneer-era re-enactors from Pennsylvania and surrounding states, began this morning from the group’s camp along Parkwood Road, Armstrong Township.
Here’s what you need to know about budget as deadline nears By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG — The new fiscal year for Pennsylvania state government begins July 1 and Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature are meeting regularly in an effort to reach agreement on granting the state another year of spending authority. The sides have had little, if any, progress to show. Other subjects are in the mix as well. Here is a rundown.
BUDGET Wolf has proposed a plan to increase overall spending through
the state’s main bank account by about 9 percent to $31.6 billion. That counts pension obligations that Wolf wants to move to a restricted account. The spending would account for a deficit Wolf’s administration has estimated to be in excess of $2 billion. Under Wolf’s plan, tax increases would be necessary to pay for it from a grab bag of sources including sales, personal income, Marcellus shale natural gas production, bank share values and sales of cigarettes and other tobacco products. Neither Republicans in the House or Senate have introduced or passed a counterproposal, nor have they agreed to any sort of tax
Associated Press
Shower/t-storm tonight. A thunderstorm tomorrow. See Page 2.
Coming up TUESDAY: Can a fitness tracker really help you get healthier? A new study looks at the growing popularity of fitness gadgets and what it all means./Health
Index Classifieds ...............21-23 Comics/TV....................18 Dear Abby .....................10 Entertainment ..............11 Family .............................8 Lottery.............................2 Sports.......................13-17 The Mini Page .........19-20 Today in History...........10 Viewpoint .......................6
Strawberry Festival, Sunday Glen Campbell Church
Wolf is proposing the biggest one-year increase in history of discretionary aid for public school instruction and operations, about $410 million, or about 7 percent. He also wants to cut an estimated $160 million in school district payments to cyber charter schools by capping the per-student subsidy, while adding an additional $380 million for early childhood education programs, special education programs and higher education. Republicans have not agreed to Continued on Page 12
By RAHIM FAIEZ and AMIR SHAH
80°
Obituaries on Page 4 BISS, Elizabeth “Betty” (Bostic), 97, Bowdertown BROWN, Shirley Hatherill, 80, Vero Beach, Fla. KULIK, Edward John, 87, Saltsburg RALSTON, Madeline “Lynn” (Zasadny), 75, Clymer VALYO, Ruth Elizabeth, 74, Homer City Late Death NOGA, Joseph F., 91, Homer City
EDUCATION SPENDING
Police repel Parliament attack
Tomorrow
Deaths
increase or overall spending figure.
MASSOUD HOSSAINI/Associated Press
FIRE AND smoke rose today from the site of a suicide attack near the Parliament in Kabul, Afghanistan.
KABUL, Afghanistan — A Taliban suicide bomber struck the entrance to the Afghan parliament today and gunmen tried to storm the heavily guarded compound, setting off a gunbattle with police that left two civilians dead as lawmakers were meeting inside to vote on the appointment of a new defense minister. Afghan security forces managed to repel the attack, killing all seven gunmen and ensuring that no members of parliament were harmed. But the audacious assault came as the Taliban captured two districts in as many days in the country’s north, displaying their ability to operate on multiple fronts.
VA wait lists grow as more seek care By RICHARD A. OPPEL JR.
New York Times News Service
One year after outrage about long waiting lists for health care shook the Department of Veterans Affairs, the agency is facing a new crisis: The number of veterans on waiting lists of one month or more is now 50 percent higher than it was during the height of last year’s problems, department officials say. The department is also facing a nearly $3 billion budget shortfall, which could affect care for many veterans. The agency is considering furloughs, hiring freezes and other significant moves to reduce the gap. A proposal to address a shortage of funds
for one drug — a new, more effective but more costly hepatitis C treatment — by possibly rationing new treatments among veterans and excluding certain patients who have advanced terminal diseases or suffer from a “persistent vegetative state or advanced dementia” is stirring bitter debate inside the department. Agency officials expect to petition Congress this week to allow them to shift money into programs running short of cash. But that may place them at odds with Republican lawmakers who object to removing funds from a new program intended to allow certain veterans on waiting lists and in rural areas to Continued on Page 12
Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said the attack began with a car bomb explosion near the entrance to parliament. Gunmen then attempted to storm the compound but were pushed back by security forces and eventually corralled into a nearby building that was under construction. Sediqqi later said all seven attackers were killed by police and that no members of parliament were harmed. “It is over now,” he said. Sediqqi said a woman and a 10-year-old girl were killed. Health Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ismail Kahousi said 31 civilians were wounded in the parliament attack, including two women and two children. Sidiqa Mubarez, a member of parliament, said the buildContinued on Page 12
CHARLESTON, S.C. — A week of funerals lies ahead for victims of the Charleston church massacre that killed nine people, reopened old racial wounds and evoked memories of past episodes of violence against black churches. Bells tolled across the city Sunday as thousands linked up on a towering bridge and a historic sanctuary reopened in displays of unity. Area residents repeated messages of solidarity, love and even defiance of evil at the remembrances, hopeful their expressions Associated Press would drown out the hate embodied MARCHERS JOINED in the slayings at hands Sunday in Emanuel African Charleston, S.C. Methodist Episcopal Church. Authorities say a white gunman was welcomed into a Bible study last week at the historic black church before making racist remarks and shooting nine people to death. “Because the doors of Mother Emanuel are open on this Sunday, it sends a message to every demon in hell and on earth,” said the Rev. Norvel Goff, who led the first Sunday service since the killings at the church known as “Mother Emanuel” because it is one of the oldest black congregations in the South. During the service, many stood — some holding small children — to shout their praises or raise their hands toward the church’s vaulted ceiling. For added security, police officers stood watch over worshippers. As Emanuel’s congregation sang a gospel hymn, church bells rang throughout the “Holy City” — nicknamed because of the numerous churches here. Continued on Page 12
Obama: U.S. not cured of racism By NEDRA PICKLER Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said the United States has not overcome its history of racism and is using the N-word to make his case. In an interview, Obama weighed in on the debate over race and guns that has erupted after the arrest of a white man for the racially motivated shooting deaths of nine black church members in Charleston, S.C. “Racism, we are not cured of it,” Obama said. “And it’s not just a matter of it not being polite to say ‘n-----’ in public. That’s not the measure of whether racism still exists or not. It’s not just a matter of overt discrimination. Societies don’t, overnight, completely erase everything that happened 200 to 300 years prior.” Continued on Page 12
FARM FRESH
JAMES J. NESTOR/Gazette
DANA DRISCOLL, right, new to Indiana from Michigan and a new English professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, bought fresh vegetables Saturday from Chloe Drew and Mother Earth Farm at the Indiana County Farmers’ Market in the S&T Bank parking lot at Eighth and Church streets, Indiana. The market is open from 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays and from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Wednesdays in the old BiLo parking lot along Wayne Avenue, White Township.