Nec

Early in September, an odd thing began happening in toy stores across the country - anxious lines of customers began forming, although the crush of the Christmas buying season was still several months away. The reason? The arrival of a new Nintendo video-game system, more powerful than the one already in many youngsters' hands and expected to be scarce come the holiday season. With the introduction of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Super NES), Nintendo is hoping to repeat the success it has enjoyed since 1986, when it began selling its original game system, NES. But first, the gamemaker must persuade consumers to trade up to a new system costing $199.

Over the objections of three board members, the Southeast Delco school board on Tuesday awarded a $218,163 telecommunications contract to a Glen Mills firm whose owner wrote the bid specifications. K&D Communications of Glen Mills was hired, 6-3, to install a computerized phone system for the district. The school board had earlier paid K&D president David Lafferty $5,000 to write specifications that some members said were so narrow as to prevent other companies from bidding. K&D later submitted the lowest bid, with only one other company bidding.

Holy Cross running back Myles Pressey has committed to St. Francis University on a football scholarship. Pressey ran for 1,280 yards and 13 touchdowns last season. He helped the Lancers to a 7-4 record and a berth in the Non-Public 2 state semifinals. St. Francis is a Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) program in Loretto, Pa. The team competes in the Northeast Conference. "It was a great fit for me," said Pressey, who also seriously considered Assumption and Merrimack, both Division II programs.

Amtrak has cancelled five trains because of Hurricane Sandy, with more cancellations possible as the storm progresses. Six trains were originally scheduled for Sunday service, according to a bulletin sent at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, and a seventh train was scheduled for Monday. Cancelled Sunday trains are Northeast Regional Train 99 between Richmond and Newport News, Va.; Capitol Limited Train 30 between Chicago and Washington, D.C.; Silver Star Train 92 between Miami and New York; and Silver Meteor Train 98 and Crescent Train 20 between Washington, D.C. and New York.

As of shortly after 8 a.m. SEPTA was still reporting that "ALL Service to Trenton and Chestnut Hill West has been temporarily suspended due to power problems. " But Amtrak and N.J. Transit were reporting that power was restored for trains into New York City, though delays could be expected. "Service restored between (PHL) Philadelphia & (NYP) New York City with residual delays possible. Thank you for your patience," Amtrak posted on Twitter. N.J. Transit's alert mentions possible one-hour delays, but mostly affecting North Jersey commuters.

Another rout by Tiger Woods, more record television ratings. Even though Woods didn't make a birdie over the last 15 holes and built a nine-stroke lead in the third round of the NEC Invitational in Akron, Ohio, CBS Sports had its highest local overnight ratings from Saturday at Firestone since 1986. Sunday's final round, meanwhile, was 5.3 with a 12 share, down 4 percent from 5.5 with a 13 share the previous year. A storm delay lasted nearly 3 hours, during which CBS mainly showed highlights from last year.

The Coatesville Area School District has put a moratorium on buying computers, including 11 that have been ordered, until its finance committee completes a review of all computers in the school system. "There's been a number of questions about the computers we have now," said the school board's finance committee chairman, Maynard E. Lichty. "We want to see where they are and how they're being used. " Lichty asked the other five board members at Thursday's meeting to support the moratorium until the committee meets in January to study the computer setup.

Looking for something new? Just not getting the same jolt from your 8- or 16-bit game system? Check out the TurboGrafx CD-plus system from NEC. Start with the basic TurboGrafx 16, which is a great system in itself (the price has dropped to $99). Connect the specially made CD-plus player ($299) and you've got what amounts to a home arcade. Since the audio and video are both stored on a compact disc, and you route the sound through your stereo system, you get a soundtrack that'll blow your ears out. How about a full orchestra wailing away while you're on a role- playing quest?

Rancocas Valley coach Bill Turner's goal was for his golf team to play well in tournaments and against the best teams in South Jersey. So far, so good. The Red Devils are 7-0 overall this season, and are staring at their biggest challenges of the season. Rancocas Valley will play Lenape at Ramblewood Golf Course on Tuesday and Cinnaminson at Riverton Country Club on Wednesday. Then the Red Devils will compete in the prestigious Carl Arena Tournament next Thursday at Valleybrook Golf Course.