Dog rescued from sinkhole

OLD FORGE — Firefighters in northeastern Pennsylvania rescued a dog trapped in a sinkhole.

WNEP-TV reports Tom Borthwick was getting ready to cut the grass at his Old Forge home when he saw a sinkhole on his property. Borthwick looked inside the hole and was surprised to see his son's 14-year-old Husky, Damon, had fallen into the hole.

Borthwick called police and the fire department after the discovery.

A firefighter dropped into the sinkhole, put a harness around the tired dog and got it out. Lt. Ron Coles says the rescue was easy.

Authorities believe the sinkhole was caused by heavy rain.

Odor diverts Philly-bound flight to North Carolina

PHILADELPHIA — A Frontier Airlines jetliner has arrived in Philadelphia nine hours after an odor forced it to land in North Carolina.

Flight 1674 landed around 5 a.m. Thursday. Its 230 passengers and seven crew members were scheduled to arrive at 8 p.m. Wednesday from Orlando, Florida, but an odor in the cabin caused the flight to divert to Raleigh, North Carolina.

Frontier says eight people complained of feeling sick from the smell. Three asked to be taken to a hospital as a precaution.

There is no word what caused the odor.

Unemployment rate hits new post-recession low

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania's unemployment rate hit a new post-recession low, as payrolls crept upward to a new record high.

The state Department of Labor and Industry said Friday that Pennsylvania's unemployment rate dropped one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.2 percent in July, the lowest point since 2007.

The national rate is 3.9 percent.

A survey of households found Pennsylvania's civilian labor force grew by 7,000, as employment rose and unemployment shrank.

A separate survey of employers showed seasonally adjusted non-farm payrolls rose by about 2,100 in July, reaching a new record high above 6 million.

The biggest gains were in the leisure and hospitality and professional and business services sectors, while construction, manufacturing and the trade, transportation and utilities sector shrank.

Friday's figures are preliminary and could change.

Man slashes police officer

PHILADELPHIA — A scuffle between a Philadelphia police officer and a suspected thief ended with the man slashing the officer on the nose.

Authorities say the man was suspected of stealing items from a pharmacy when a security guard there approached him around 1:15 a.m. Friday. The man allegedly pulled a knife on the guard, who backed off and the man fled.

The officer spotted a man fitting the suspect's description about 45 minutes later on a nearby street. The officer tried to stop the man, who ran away.

The officer soon caught up with the man, and a violent struggle ensued. The suspect briefly slipped away again, but the officer and others caught him in a vacant lot. The man was soon subdued following another struggle.

The officer was treated at a hospital. The suspect wasn't injured.

Ex-cop guilty of drunken hit-and-run, pointing gun

PHILADELPHIA — A former Philadelphia police officer has been convicted of pointing his gun at two people after a drunken hit-and-run accident.

Kevin Klein, 37, was found guilty Thursday of simple assault, drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident. Klein, who had served on the force for nine years, is due to be sentenced in November.

The charges stemmed from a crash on Christmas Eve in 2016.

Officials say Klein was off-duty when he hit another vehicle then took off, swerving down the road and smashing into a median as the car followed him. They say Klein then pulled over and pointed his gun at the pair whose car he hit.

— The Associated Press