Chester County

Displayed behind the antique stove in the corner of Mary Lou King's kitchen in rural Chester County is an oversize check for $100,000 bearing the words Unstoppable Mom! in large block letters. But the diminutive woman to whom those letters refer still can't understand what all the fuss is about. In front of a national television audience on ABC's Live! with Kelly and Michael , she learned on March 15 she had beaten out three other finalists in the show's "Unstoppable Mom" contest and won the grand prize.

The 2013 annual nationwide count of homeless people, taken on the night of Jan. 30 and 31, found fewer individuals in Chester County and more in Bucks County than were tallied in January 2012. Comparable figures for the nation, as well as for Philadelphia and for Delaware and Montgomery Counties, are not yet available, officials there said this week. The 625 people counted in Chester County this year compared with 666 found there in 2012. But the 476 recorded in Bucks County on the same January night this year were more than the 422 in the 2012 survey, due to a change in how information is gathered.

In the beginning, when the war in Iraq was still making headlines and CNN was still showing footage of the air strikes in Baghdad, the Chester County Peace Movement could draw crowds as large as 700 to its weekly protests outside the county courthouse in West Chester. These days, the group is lucky if more than a dozen show up. But every Saturday for the last 10 years, they have never missed a protest. And though the war in Iraq is technically over - U.S. troops pulled out in December 2011 - for the members of the peace movement, the protest never really ends.

A Chester County man already accused in an alleged Ponzi scheme faces additional federal charges that include stealing two cars while out on bail. Istvan "Steve" Merchenthaler, 42, of Coatesville, first arrested in May, allegedly stole more than $2 million from about 200 investors. He claimed to be founder of PhoneCard USA, a prepaid phone-card and cellphone distributor, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia. Merchenthaler told investors that he had "lucrative contracts" with Walmart, 7-Eleven, and BJs Wholesale Club, and that they would see a generous return on their investments.

Evidently, 17-year-old Kevin Calvin Allen was killed for $350. The Norristown teen was stabbed 20 times in the head, back, and neck with such force that the butcher knife used in the attack was bent. His throat was slit and his body set on fire in a Chester County apartment. "He fought for his life," Chester County District Attorney Thomas Hogan said, adding that robbery was the motive in the slaying. On Wednesday, Shakeem Lavar Carter, 20, of Norristown, was arrested and charged with murder, abuse of corpse, robbery, arson, and related crimes in Allen's Feb. 12 death.

For about two weeks, it seemed that Chester County sheep owner Gabriel Pilotti would not have to worry about charges for shooting and killing two dogs belonging to a neighbor after he found them on his property. Now, he does. Amid a growing uproar, Chester County District Attorney Thomas P. Hogan on Friday charged Pilotti, 72, of Chester Springs, with two counts of cruelty to animals and one count of recklessly endangering another person. He did so, he said, after further investigation concluded that Pilotti's actions were not shielded by a state law that permits the execution of dogs attacking domestic animals.

When court skills stood tallest After close to 60 years, Hal Lear's No. 6 jersey at last has been retired by Temple University. The 5-foot-10 double-pump jump shot artist, who soared in the air like Michael Jordan and accumulated 1,472 points in three years, earned his just reward. Lear, better known as "Baldy" at Overbrook High, was a deadly, unstoppable shooter and as quick as a bird. As a freshman, I saw Lear play, and was in awe as the "King" shot the eyes out of the basket, practically each and every time.

When she was 8 or 9, in the 1960s, Jen Bryant learned to type by copying obituary material on the desk of her father, a Flemington, N.J., undertaker. In 2004, having already published more than a dozen books, she happened on a painting at the Brandywine River Museum by Horace Pippin, the late African American artist from West Chester. Bookend events. From her first childhood taste of writing to her latest children's book, A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin, published by Alfred A. Knopf in January.

Backyard hens have been ruffling residents' feathers in a quiet corner of Chester County just north of Coatesville. Wayne and Natasha Kearns, who bought their home on 1.84 acres in West Brandywine Township in 2003, began raising chickens six years ago to supply their eggs. Eggs for their kitchen table, chickens as lessons for their five children, whom Natasha, 39, home-schools. "We believe it's a quality-of-life issue," said Wayne Kearns, 50, a railroad-equipment mechanic.