Free Republic

WILKES-BARRE - A Sugarloaf Township man's 7-year battle to regain his right to carry a concealed weapon suffered a major setback Monday when the state's Commonwealth Court reversed a ruling that granted him the permit. The decision is the latest in a long, complex legal battle Michael S. Pecora has waged with the Pennsylvania State Police and the Luzerne County Sheriff's Office. Pecora had held a concealed weapons permit for about 35 years, but the sheriff's office denied him renewal in 1996 after a state police records check showed Pecora pleaded no contest in 1978 to federal income tax evasion....

DAVIE, Fla. (AP) - A prominent Democratic fund raiser and his business partner were found shot to death Tuesday in a banquet hall they owned, police said. Jerome Berlin and his business partner, Michael Pecora, were found dead in a locked office on the second floor of the Signature Grand banquet hall in Davie, police said. Police believe the deaths were a murder-suicide.An employee reported overhearing an argument, then three gunshots in the office.At the same time, about 1,200 eighth-grade students were attending an African Heritage Forum on the banquet hall's first floor.Berlin was a Miami businessman who raised millions...