Chesco

A 32-year-old cyclist from Exton, Chester County, was struck and killed this morning in West Goshen Township. Kirsten Higley was hit by an eastbound car as she rode on Boot Road near Mary Jane Lane at 6:44 a.m., West Goshen Police said. She died a short time later at Paoli Hospital. The driver of the vehicle, Susan McClain, 54, of Downingtown, was not injured and is cooperating with police. The case is still under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call the West Goshen Police Traffic Safety Division at 610-696-7400.

One hundred thirty four acres in Chester and Delaware Counties has been set aside for preservation, the Natural Lands Trust announced. In Chester County, a 10-acre conservation easement in West Pikeland Township owned by the Yellow Springs Foundation was acquired. In New Garden Township, a 12-acre conservation easement along the East Branch of the White Clay Creek identified as "critical" by the National Wild and Scenic River was finalized. A 10-acre conservation easement in East Brandywine Township adjacent to the Bondsville Mill Park was also finalized.

The Chester County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday elected Ryan Costello as its chair and reelected Kathi Cozzone as vice chair. Commissioner Terence Farrell, chair last year on the three-member board, nominated both Costello and Cozzone. The votes were unanimous. Costello, a lawyer, was chairman of the Board of Supervisors in East Vincent Township from 2004 to 2007 and has been a county commissioner since 2011. Cozzone, an accountant who joined the Chester County Workforce Investment Board in 2012, has been a commissioner since 2008.

SHE SPED OFF into the darkness more than three years ago from the home of a Philadelphia 76er, drunk, angry and alone, and only those closest to Toni Lee Sharpless believe she'll ever be seen again. But a recently mailed anonymous letter could provide ominous clues to the Chester County woman's disappearance - or turn out to be a cruel hoax. "What happened to [Toni], I don't really know. All I know is she had a run-in with the police and I was paid much-needed cash to get the car to a shop in Boston," the author wrote on a piece of yellow legal paper.

His ludicrous lawsuits against people ranging from Kim Kardashian to Jerry Sandusky have earned Jonathan Lee Riches a reputation as a gadfly of the federal court system. But the 36-year-old West Chester man's recent escapade in Newtown, Conn. - days after a gunman fatally shot 20 children and six educators there - may earn Riches a stint behind bars. West Goshen Township police arrested Riches on Dec. 19 on an apparent probation violation after he returned from the Connecticut town, where he posed as the uncle of gunman Adam Lanza.

For the first time in four years, the Chester County commissioners voted Thursday to increase real estate taxes. Taxes in 2013 will rise 5 percent, by $32.86 for a home with the median assessed value of $165,760, according to a county news release. Under the state's formula, that assessment converts to an estimated market value of about $280,000. The millage in the 2013 budget will increase from 3.965 per $1,000 of assessed value to 4.163, the county finance office said. The tax increase, the first since the 2009 calendar year, will help cover a $5.75 million funding gap in a planned overhaul of the county's emergency system, officials said.

For the first time in four years, Chester County commissioners voted today to increase real estate taxes. Taxes in 2013 will rise 5 percent, by $32.86 for a home with a median assessed value of $165,760, according to a county news release. Under the state's formula, that assessment converts to an estimated market value of about $280,000. The millage in the 2013 budget will increase from 3.965 per $1,000 of assessed value to 4.163, the county finance office said. The tax increase, first since the 2009 calendar year, will help cover a $5.75 million funding gap in a planned overhaul of the county's emergency system, officials said.

Their pit bulls were trained to kill, and if the dogs didn't perform, they would be hanged or electrocuted. Officials said that the dogs' owners, Laura Acampora and Shane Santiago, both 33, for several months operated Chester County's top dogfighting ring out of their West Brandywine Township home, where five children lived. The two have been charged with cruelty to animals and endangering the lives of children, county authorities announced at a news conference Wednesday. According to an affidavit, the couple set up a fighting arena in their basement and had planned to turn the dogfighting operation into "a family business.

A Chester County couple was charged this morning with operating a pit-bull fighting ring out of their home - where five children lived -- torturing and killing dogs that "quit" during their matches. After finding two dead dogs, one of which was burned alive in its cage, officials said, they arrested Shane L. Santiago and Laura Acampara, both 33, of the 1300 block of North Manor Road in West Brandywine Township. Santiago acknowledged killing 10 dogs, according to the affidavit of probable cause.