Chesco

Columbia Gas Transmission will hold open houses Monday and Tuesday in Exton and Swedesboro to outline its proposed expansion of high-pressure natural-gas pipelines in the area. Columbia's East Side Expansion project involves installing an 8.9-mile pipe in Chester County and a 7.4-mile pipe in Gloucester County. Both routes largely follow existing pipelines but would necessitate acquiring additional right of way. The Pennsylvania open house will be held from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Monday at the Wyndham Garden Exton Valley Forge at 815 N. Pottstown Pike in Exton.

La Comunidad Hispana, the nonprofit health-care and legal-aid clinic in Kennett Square, wanted to reach out to Hispanics beyond Chester County. The Mexican Consulate in Philadelphia wanted to be known better to the folks served by La Comunidad, those beyond the city. "The consulate wanted to partner with us because we understand the population we serve, the same population they serve," La Comunidad president and CEO Margarita Queralt Mirkil said in an interview. So on Monday, a nurse from La Comunidad will begin the clinic's monthly presence at the consulate office in the Bourse Building on the east side of Independence Mall.

A Philadelphia Common Pleas jury awarded a $20 million verdict to a Chester County man whose left leg was crushed by a 10-year-old boy allowed to operate a five-ton machine at a work site. Ruick Rolland was working as a contractor at the estate of Bruce Irrgang on a project to replicate the Hogan Bridge from Augusta National Golf Course in 2009 when his leg was injured by a track loader operated by the 10-year-old son of Steven Senn, a construction company owner. Rolland's leg was amputated above the knee.

Bryan Byrd, the 23-year-old Newark, N.J., man who confessed in 2011 to helping his cousin kill and saw apart a 16-year-old high school student in Coatesville in 2008, has been sentenced in Chester County Court to 20 to 40 years in state prison. Byrd's cousin Laquanta Chapman, 33, was convicted on Nov. 9, 2012, of the murder of Aaron Turner, a Coatesville neighbor, in a trial that ended on Nov. 14 with the jury's sentencing Chapman to death. Judge William F. Mahon, who presided at Chapman's trial, sentenced Byrd on Wednesday on charges of third-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

A New Jersey man has been sentenced to a 20-40 year term for his role in the murder and dismemberment of a Chester County high school student in 2008. Bryan Byrd, 23, pleaded guilty in November 2011 to third-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, abuse of corpse and other offenses in the death of Aaron Turner, 16. In 2008, Byrd was visiting his cousin Laquanta Chapman, 33, of Coatesville, when Chapman killed Turner, a neighbor and Coatesville Area High School student. Chapman took Turner, to the basement, stripped him naked, and shot him dead over a drug deal gone bad. A few days later, Byrd helped Chapman cut up the body with chain saws and threw the remains into trash bags.

A 72-year-old Chester County man accused of killing two of his neighbors' dogs has been the target of threats, police said, so more than a dozen law enforcement officers - and three police dogs - were present when he showed up in court Wednesday. Along with a public uproar and hostile Facebook postings, the shootings last month led to criminal charges against Gabriel Pilotti of Chester Springs. But no protesters were present for Pilotti's appearance before Pottstown District Judge James V. DeAngelo, and no incidents occurred.

Weekly wages fell in Camden, Gloucester, and Burlington Counties in the third quarter of 2012 from a year earlier, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday. They also fell in Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery and Delaware Counties, with only Chester County seeing a modest increase, at 0.3 percent. The steepest wage declines, 2.4 percent, were reported in Burlington County and Philadelphia. The report showed that Gloucester County has the lowest weekly wage at $798, with wages at $893 in Camden County and $949 in Burlington County.

Committing a crime close to home can be hazardous to your freedom. Especially when you live nearby, wheel a trash can full of loot to your home, and then go back for more. A mother and her daughter returned to their Birmingham Township, Chester County, residence Tuesday afternoon to be confronted by two teenagers pointing guns at them, authorities said. When the mother ran outside, and called 911, the teenagers fled. Their freedom was short-lived. Only about 150 yards from the women's home, police found Daniel K. Walston and Alexander W. Granger at Granger's home, Chester County District Attorney Thomas Hogan said in a news release.

Committing a crime close to home can be hazardous to your freedom. Especially when you live nearby and wheel a trash can full of loot to your home - and then go back for more. A mother and her daughter returned to their Birmingham Township residence in Chester County on Tuesday afternoon to be confronted by two teenagers, pointing guns at them, authorities said. When the mother broke free, ran outside and called 911, the teenagers fled. Their freedom was short-lived. Only about 150 yards from the women's home, police found the suspects, Daniel K. Walston and Alexander W. Granger, at Granger's home, Chester County District Attorney Thomas Hogan said in a news release.