Delaware County

A dream had carried the boys so far from home, some 5,000 miles across the ocean to a cramped and dingy apartment in Philadelphia: a hope that ice hockey could change their lives. Ivan Pravilov could fulfill that dream, they were told. He could take them from the daily grind of post-communist Ukraine to the gleaming ice of the NHL. He'd done it before. He'd done if for Andrei Zyuzin, who went on to play for six NHL teams. He'd done it for Konstantin Kalmikov, a third-round draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1996.

So many parents and alumni of St. Denis Catholic School in Havertown supported merging with friendly CYO rival Annunciation B.V.M., the marriage should have gone off without a hitch. Instead, parishioners hoping to embrace the past and future in a name were told the regional school would honor the late Cardinal John Foley. The decision was, in their pastor's words, "nonnegotiable. " Children voted on a mascot, only to have their choices (Cardinals, Falcons, or Phoenixes)

ON A TRIPLE A baseball diamond somewhere in Louisville, Ky., Mike Costanzo stood among a throng of kids and felt his stomach churn as a lifetime's worth of jubilation and disappointment flashed through his head. An hour earlier, the 28-year-old third baseman had phoned home to Delaware County for his usual pregame chat with his father. "I'm batting cleanup," Costanzo told Mike Sr., who knew that his son had been waiting for such a promotion. The conversation ended, but not for long.

A 22-year-old woman was struck and killed by a vehicle as she attempted to cross West Dekalb Pike on foot late last night in Upper Merion, Montgomery County. Police say Amber Marcinowski, 22, of Collingdale, Delaware County, was trying to cross the road about 10:20 p.m. Monday near Town Center Road when she was hit by a vehicle driven by Eber Noriega, 38, of Norristown, Montgomery County, who was driving south on the pike. No further information was available early this morning.

An unidentified man was shot in the chest Friday night in Chester Township, Delaware County police reported. The shooting occurred shortly before 10 p.m. in the 1000 block of Powell Road near a 7-Eleven store, police said. A person answering the telephone at the 7-Eleven said the shooting did not involve anybody from the convenience store. A police dispatcher did not have immediate information on the condition of the shooting victim. No arrest was reported. The assailant reportedly fled in the direction of Toby Farms School.

In Delaware County, where Republicans have had a lock on the county council for 30 years, the Republican Party's stamp of approval seems to go far with voters. Yet this year, one Republican candidate is wearing her "un-endorsement" proudly. Barbara Murray, 53, of Upper Darby, hopes to defeat the endorsed candidates - a council incumbent and a 29-year veteran of the state House - in Tuesday's primary for two council seats. Democrats also have a race, with three candidates in the primary.

What makes the people of Middletown tick? Photographs of families and their homes. A year-end issue of Time magazine. An Acme supermarket sales receipt. Diaries. A National Football League schedule. Wedding invitations. Newspaper clippings. Calendars. Family trees. A Frisbee. These items are stacking up at the Middletown Free Library as families and businesses in the community prepare to cap off their 1986 tricentennial celebration by placing a burial vault - a township time capsule - six feet underground.

SOME GUYS are way too liberal with their use of the word neighbor. Sorry, a half-mile away doesn't qualify. And then there's Ronnie Scull. When he mentions that Frank Saviski, a baseball teammate at Monsignor Bonner High, is a neighbor, he's as serious as a 90-mph fastball under the chin. "He lives right across the street from me," Scull said. "I met him when I was 5 years old. I walked out of my house. He walked out of his. We sat down by the sewer and had a talk, and we've been best friends ever since.

It happened again. There has been another big-cat sighting in Delaware County. On Monday, Folcroft Borough police received a call about a bobcat running through a neighborhood. "Upon arrival, the animal was gone," Folcroft Police Chief Robert Ruskowski said. Is it the power of suggestion that keeps the calls coming? Or could there be a bobcat? "It is very, very possible," said Gary Stolz, manager at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge. "They are native here.

A 22-year-old woman was struck and killed by a vehicle as she attempted to cross West Dekalb Pike on foot late last night in Upper Merion, Montgomery County. Police say Amber Marcinowski, 22, of Collingdale, Delaware County, was trying to cross the road about 10:20 p.m. Monday near Town Center Road when she was hit by a vehicle driven by Eber Noriega, 38, of Norristown, Montgomery County, who was driving south on the pike. No further information was available early this morning.

SOME GUYS are way too liberal with their use of the word neighbor. Sorry, a half-mile away doesn't qualify. And then there's Ronnie Scull. When he mentions that Frank Saviski, a baseball teammate at Monsignor Bonner High, is a neighbor, he's as serious as a 90-mph fastball under the chin. "He lives right across the street from me," Scull said. "I met him when I was 5 years old. I walked out of my house. He walked out of his. We sat down by the sewer and had a talk, and we've been best friends ever since.

ON A TRIPLE A baseball diamond somewhere in Louisville, Ky., Mike Costanzo stood among a throng of kids and felt his stomach churn as a lifetime's worth of jubilation and disappointment flashed through his head. An hour earlier, the 28-year-old third baseman had phoned home to Delaware County for his usual pregame chat with his father. "I'm batting cleanup," Costanzo told Mike Sr., who knew that his son had been waiting for such a promotion. The conversation ended, but not for long.

The Darby Creek Valley Association will hold its 28th annual spring cleaning of Darby Creek from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. Volunteers will gather at 30 sites from Haverford Township to Tinicum Township, Delaware County, where the creek flows into the Delaware River. The 26-mile stream meanders through some of the region's most highly developed and populated areas. For more information, visit www.dcva.org/upcoming.html - Inquirer staff

Crozer Keystone Health System in Delaware County laid off 30 employees, including 22 managers and eight staff members, as part of an effort to trim its workforce by 325, spokeswoman Kathy Scullin said. Most of the cuts were made through early retirement, which accounted for 196 of the full-time-equivalent positions that were eliminated. In all, 216 people took the buyout offer, Scullin said. The balance of the cuts were made through the elimination of vacant positions. — Harold Brubaker

Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square hosts thousands of golfers who hit thousands of balls into water hazards each year. This week, four people from Michigan decided to retrieve some of those strays - by diving into the ponds. According to Willistown police, the four were arrested at the club early Wednesday. In their white van and trailer, police found scuba equipment and about 8,000 golf balls, some marked "White Manor Country Club. " Police said the four claimed they had permission from White Manor to retrieve the balls from the murky water hazards and resell them.

YOU WOULDN'T think it would be a smart move if a man's intended told him she didn't like his red shirt and he went ahead and wore it anyway on an early date. But Regina Beers must have been the forgiving kind because she tolerated the red shirt and wound up marrying James E. Kearney anyway. Jim Kear-ney, a retired National Football League official who was active with Holy Cross Parish in Springfield, Delaware County, an Army veteran of the Korean War and a "Pop-Pop" to 18 grandchildren, died of pneumonia on Sunday . He was 79 and lived in Glen Mills.

The last time Torah No. 586 was read during services probably was a few days before the Jews from a small town in Czechoslovakia were rounded up and sent to a Nazi concentration camp. The sacred scroll was one of 1,564 left in Czech synagogues when the people who used them were taken away to die. But Thursday, the 130-year-old Torah from the town of Lipník nad Becvou will be rededicated at the Martins Run senior living community in Marple Township while a survivor who read from it during his bar mitzvah watches via Skype from the Czech Republic.

A former FBI agent from Bucks County is Pennsylvania's new homeland security chief, Gov. Corbett's office said Tuesday. Thomas Minton III, 52, of Pipersville, spent 22 years with the FBI and specialized in investigations of national-security issues and terrorism. A Delaware County native, he is a graduate of Lycoming College and holds master's degrees from St. Joseph's and Princeton Universities. - Associated Press

There's a case to be made for replacing state Sen. Dominic F. Pileggi, the Senate majority leader from Delaware County. But his opponent in the Republican primary isn't the right candidate to move Pileggi aside. With tea-party leanings, retired Chester County executive and Vietnam-era veteran G. Rogers Howard would make Pileggi's conservative, limited-government approach to his job look almost left-wing. In the view of Howard supporters, for instance, the majority leader's votes in favor of hard-fought budget deals with former Gov. Ed Rendell were a sign of fiscal weakness.