News Nearby: Charges Upped for Alleged Charity Scammer

There's plenty of news happening on any given day in Three Village, and the same can be said for the towns around us. Here's a look at some nearby Patch headlines.

From Port Jefferson Patch:Charges Upped on Alleged Scammer After '20 or More' Calls Come In. After police said recently that at least 20 calls came in following notice of her arrest, more charges – and more serious charges – have been handed down on a woman officials said was caught scamming locals into donating money for fake fundraising efforts. Ellen Burkheimer, a Port Jefferson Station resident, was arrested earlier in January on charges of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree, a felony, as well as misdemeanor charges of scheme to defraud in the second degree and criminal possession of a hypodermic instrument.

From Sachem Patch: . Police said there were no injuries and no summonses were issued after a tractor trailer snagged some electrical wires at the service road intersection of Sunrise Highway and Nicholls Road, pulling the live wires down. The Holbrook accident, which occurred Thursday morning at around 10:30 a.m., led to multiple lane closures in both directions and backed up traffic for an extended time period. Motorists took to Twitter and Facebook to express their curiosity with the emergency vehicles. In a follow-up with Suffolk Police, Patch was notified that the roads were closed for less than an hour. Five motorists reported damage to their vehicles as a result of the downed wires, which draped across the highway.

From Hauppauge Patch: Pennsylvania Crash Takes Life of Hauppauge Couple. A couple from Hauppauge was killed in a car accident in Pennsylvania on Monday night, according to a report in Newsday. Alexander Protosow, 89, and Louise Protosow, 83, were passengers in the backseat of a car that slid off an embankment  on Route 6 and crashed near the town of Shohola.

From Smithtown Patch: Superintendent: Smithtown Schools Didn't Expect State Aid Cut. While many factors have the Smithtown Central School District facing 2013-14 budgeting difficulties, Superintendent Anthony Annunziato said the unexpected reduction in state aid is the biggest blow to date. The district is budgeted to receive $37.7 million in state aid in 2013-14, compared to the actual amount Annunziato said Smithtown schools received for the 2012-13 school year of $38.3 million, resulting in a reduction of roughly $630,000.