Bucks County

In the 1840s, Benjamin "Big Ben" Jones of Baltimore was a fugitive slave living in Bucks County. The mountainous Jones - nearly seven feet tall, according to historical accounts - made friends in the region, but in 1844, he was caught by his slave master and forced to return to Maryland. Those friends from Buckingham, however, helped him return. After raising about $700, they bought Jones' freedom, bringing him back to Bucks County, where he lived until his death. Jones' dramatic life has been recounted in books and historical exhibits, and now will be brought to the screen in The North Star , a biopic set to debut at theaters in Doylestown and Newtown this week.

The three members of the Black Flag Family gang - including a former volunteer firefighter - knew exactly what they were doing when they allegedly tried to burn down a 237-year-old piece of Bucks County history, police said Tuesday. Fortunately, they didn't succeed. While the interior of the unique Croydon Lodge - once home to a Revolutionary War-era British officer - is damaged, the outside of the structure is still sound, said Bob Pritz, president of Holland Enterprises, a developer.

Terms of office are four years, unless otherwise indicated. Nominating one per office in each party, unless otherwise indicated. Judge of Court of Common Pleas (10-year term) Jahn S. Chesnov. . . 1,135 Diane Gibbons. . . 15,759 Gary Gilman. . . 10,737 Jahn S. Chesnov. . . 1,804 Diane Gibbons. . . 23,900 Gary Gilman. . . 6,599 County Commissioner Diane Marseglia. . . 16,240 Sandra A. Miller. . . 10,017 Steve Santarsiero. . . 12,529 Andrew L. Warren.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit against a Bucks County financial adviser who allegedly persuaded 70 clients to invest $30 million in an Illinois-based Ponzi scheme that defrauded at least 400 investors out of $105 million. In the federal lawsuit filed in Philadelphia, the SEC is seeking a permanent injunction against Emanuel L. Sarris Sr., 71, of New Hope, disgorgement of $1.8 million in salaries and fees, and civil penalties. The phone for Sarris Financial is not in operation.

Dr. Jorge "George" F. Schuster, 65, of Newtown Township, Bucks County, a former agricultural economist for an international organization, died Friday at Temple University Hospital of complications from heart surgery. From 1972 to 1990, Dr. Schuster worked for a food and agricultural organization supported by the World Bank, with headquarters in Rome. "He was fluent in five languages - Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese and English - and led missions to numerous economic development [efforts]

A hot time at the Red Ball Gala helped bring down Bucks Fever Saturday night in Doylestown. The finale involved more than dining and dancing, though: There was a dramatic reading of Pearl S. Buck's "The New Year" on Sunday, hosted by David and Julie Nixon Eisenhower. All of which led chairman Ron Watson to conclude that "there is something hot about Bucks County beyond the real estate market. "

The drivers in each of two vehicles were killed Sunday in a head-on crash along Rouye 663, officials said. State Police identified those killed as Nicholas Umberger, 23, who was at the wheel of a Subaru Impreza, and Terry L. Carrozzino, 52, also of Quakertown, the operator of a Ford Explorer. Both were reported wearing seatblets in the accident at 7:04 a.m. in the 1700 block of John Fries Highway (Route 663). Each was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators said that Umberger's car, traveling south on the highway, crossed into the opposite lane and struck the Explorer.

A man was pronounced dead by New Jersey State Police on Thanksgiving Day shortly after he jumped off the New Hope Toll Bridge along Rte. 202 in Bucks County, police said. Police received the report of a person lying face down in the Delaware River at 1:32 p.m. Rescue units and a dive team were dispatched to the scene, according to Breaking News Network, a firm which monitors police radio traffic. Rescue units lost sight of the floating form until 1:52 p.m., when the man was recovered in full cardiac arrest, the news network reported.

Joseph Mannello, 57, of Lower Makefield Township, a well-known Bucks County restaurateur, died Sunday at Delaware Valley Medical Center in Falls Township of an apparent heart attack. Since January, he had owned and operated Mannello's Italian Garden Restaurant on Bustleton Pike in Feasterville. Before that, he owned and operated the Anchor Inn, a historic restaurant in Wrightstown, and the Red Lion Inn in Bensalem. Mr. Mannello was born in the Italian province of Calabria and came to the United States at 15 with his family.

With net income down 26.7 percent for the first quarter of this year, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. said Thursday that it would close its Bucks County manufacturing plant in 2017. The plant is on Cathill Road in West Rockhill Township and has a Sellersville address. About 450 people work there, according to a company spokeswoman, down from 472 as of Dec. 31, 2012, as noted in Teva's 2012 annual report on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. About 40 people were notified in April that they would lose their jobs because of reduced demand for products made at the plant, according to the spokeswoman.

In the 1840s, Benjamin "Big Ben" Jones of Baltimore was a fugitive slave living in Bucks County. The mountainous Jones - nearly seven feet tall, according to historical accounts - made friends in the region, but in 1844, he was caught by his slave master and forced to return to Maryland. Those friends from Buckingham, however, helped him return. After raising about $700, they bought Jones' freedom, bringing him back to Bucks County, where he lived until his death. Jones' dramatic life has been recounted in books and historical exhibits, and now will be brought to the screen in The North Star , a biopic set to debut at theaters in Doylestown and Newtown this week.

Almost a year to the day after Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, a majority of Bucks County voters cast their ballots for his opponent in the 1864 presidential election, Democrat George S. McClellan. Lincoln won Pennsylvania by 52 percent but was outpolled in Bucks County, 7,235 to 6,197 - indicating that many there favored ending the war, according to Cory Amsler, vice president for collections at the Mercer Museum in Doylestown. The history of Bucks County during the Civil War, Amsler surmised, "is not all neat and tidy.

The campus of a Bucks County alternative-education program being investigated by Pennsylvania authorities has been put on the real estate market. The firm that owns the building housing Delaware Valley High School in Warminster is offering the facilities and grounds at 299 Jacksonville Rd. for sale or lease. The move comes as the state Department of Education continues to review operations of Delaware Valley's Bucks program, which serves students with academic and disciplinary problems from districts in Bucks and Montgomery Counties.

A SHOTGUN-WIELDING man fatally shot a mother and injured her daughter in Feasterville on Thursday before he fled and was later killed in a shootout with police. The women were sitting in their car on Bustleton Pike near Franklin Avenue in Lower Southampton when a man knocked on their window and fired three shotgun blasts into the vehicle, authorities said. The unidentified man took off but was corralled in his car by police in Northampton, where he was shot during an exchange of gunfire, PhillyBurbs.com.

Massachusetts state police will bring criminal charges against a Philadelphia bus driver who crashed a coach full of Bucks County students into an overhang on a Boston road in February. The crash injured dozens, including Matt Cruz, 17, a Neshaminy High School sophomore, who remains paralyzed from the chest down and is continuing to recover from spinal injuries at Magee Rehabilitation Center, according to his lawyer, James Ronca. Samuel J. Jackson, 67, of West Philadelphia, will be charged with criminal negligence as well as civil charges of failing to obey signs and driving a bus on an unauthorized road, according to police.

Massachusetts state police will bring criminal charges against a Philadelphia bus driver who crashed a coach full of Bucks County students into an overhang on a Boston road in February. The crash injured dozens, including Matt Cruz, 17, a Neshaminy High School sophomore, who remains paralyzed from the chest down and is continuing to recover from spinal injuries at Magee Rehabilitation Center, according to his lawyer, James Ronca. Samuel J. Jackson, 67, of West Philadelphia, will be charged with criminal negligence as well as civil charges of failing to obey signs and driving a bus on an unauthorized road, according to police.

The three members of the Black Flag Family gang - including a former volunteer firefighter - knew exactly what they were doing when they allegedly tried to burn down a 237-year-old piece of Bucks County history, police said Tuesday. Fortunately, they didn't succeed. While the interior of the unique Croydon Lodge - once home to a Revolutionary War-era British officer - is damaged, the outside of the structure is still sound, said Bob Pritz, president of Holland Enterprises, a developer.

  A state Supreme Court decision overturning a 2011 law that permitted counties to abolish the post of jury commissioner, an elected position that oversees jury selection, has sown confusion ahead of the fall elections. The problem: Counties that had planned to abolish the posts after the current commissioners' terms expired this year found they had no candidates filed to run for the suddenly available positions. With many counties now relying heavily on computers to manage jury selection, the legislature two years ago gave local jurisdictions the option of doing away with the position.