Allegation

Former Philadelphia homicide detective Kenneth Rossiter, who was fired last year for alleged overtime abuse, has been reinstated by an arbirator. "He was awarded his job back" yesterday, John McNesby, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, said Thursday. He had vowed to fight for Rossiter's return. Rossiter, who joined the force in 1980, was fired by Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey in June for allegedly reporting to court for overtime duty, then going home and later reporting back to check out. "The arbitrator has made a final decision concerning this and I am forced to uphold that decision," Ramsey said.

Pennsylvania state police are investigating claims that a day-care facility in the Poconos abused children. The state Department of Public Welfare suspended the operating license of Just 4 Kids Daycare & Learning Center in Hamlin, Wayne County, after an investigation last month. Welfare Department investigators looked into allegations that day-care staff duct-taped a child's hands and feet to keep him still, forced a child to remain seated for hours because he would not eat, and used a witch statue to scare children into behaving, among other claims.

Bail remained at $600,000 Tuesday for the man accused of stealing two vintage vehicles and the South Philadelphia home of a World War II veteran through a yearlong deception scheme. Public defender Beena McDonald asked Judge Nazario Jimenez Jr. at a morning hearing to lower Melvin Mcilwaine's bail to $60,000 and put Mcilwaine on house arrest. She said Mcilwaine, 59, is a married father with three children and has "strong ties to the community. " The prosecutor, Deborah Cooper Nixon, said the alleged scam against Ray White, 88, "is one of the most egregious cases of elderly abuse," adding: "He was scammed out of everything he owned.

NEW YORK - A Democratic state senator conspired with a New York City councilman to buy himself onto the Republican ballot for mayor this year with tens of thousands of dollars in bribes to two Republican leaders, a prosecutor said Tuesday. Malcolm Smith, 56, who has served at times as the state Senate's majority and minority leader since becoming a senator in March 2000, was arrested along with Republican New York City Councilman Dan Halloran, 42, and four other political figures. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara told a news conference that he believed public corruption in New York was "downright pervasive" and "a show-me-the-money culture seems to pervade every level of New York government.

A corrections officer faces charges in the theft of $72 in cash from an inmate being processed at the Delaware County prison, the District Attorney's Office said Monday. Michael Siler, 45, of Upper Darby, a guard at the George W. Hill Correctional Facility in Thornton, was charged last week with theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, and theft by failing to make required disposition. Siler is accused of pocketing the money from an inmate who handed in the cash while being processed in October, according to the criminal complaint.

A Philadelphia police officer was hit by a drunken driver early Sunday morning as she was stepping out of her patrol car, police said. As a member of the traffic unit, the officer was at the intersection of Roosevelt Boulevard and Large Street in Oxford Circle just before 1:30 a.m. when she was knocked to the ground after a motorist hit the back of her car, police said. Medics took the officer, whose name was not released, to Aria Health-Frankford Campus, where she was treated for head pain and released, police said.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan special forces took control of part of a troubled province bordering Kabul from U.S. troops on Saturday, ending a weeks-long dispute over abuse allegations that prompted Afghan President Hamid Karzai to order all American forces out of the area. The handover highlighted the Karzai government's struggle to assert its authority over security matters on an accelerated timetable ahead of the scheduled withdrawal of most of the coalition forces by December 2014.

Penn State 2013 signee Zayd Issah, a highly sought linebacker from Central Dauphin High School in Harrisburg, was arrested after he allegedly tried to pass counterfeit money to buy food at a McDonald's restaurant. Issah, who is 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, was one of 12 players who signed national letters of intent on Feb. 6 to play football with the Nittany Lions. It was not known how the arrest will affect Issah's career at Penn State, where coach Bill O'Brien had expected him to compete for a backup role in his first season.

A former state trooper killed his estranged wife with a shotgun inside a central Pennsylvania supermarket Thursday and then killed himself, days after she filed for divorce and two months after he was accused of beating her, police said. Mark A. Miscavish, who retired from the state police in 2011 after 15 years, killed Traci Miscavish at about 10 a.m. at the County Market in Philipsburg, where she worked, authorities said. Police also spelled her first name Tracie. He was arrested Jan. 23 after Traci Miscavish, who had recently left him, returned to the home to retrieve some belongings, Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller said.