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The Warminster Township Zoning Hearing Board voted unanimously to approve the three applications it heard this week. The board Tuesday granted the request of Thomas Bayes of Ramsey Road for a variance to permit installation of an above-ground pool on his property. The pool already had been installed but was improperly located on the property. Bayes was threatened with a $500-a-day fine by the township unless the pool was removed or a variance was granted. The board also voted to approve the application of Carl Emilius Jr. for a special exception to add 500 square feet of space to the Warminster Manor Restaurant at York and Street Roads.

Mount Laurel Township Council last night approved an ordinance authorizing the New Jersey-American Water Co. to construct a water pipeline that will serve Mount Laurel and several other communities in Camden, Burlington and Gloucester Counties. The pipeline, which officials said will serve between 50 and 70 municipalities, is scheduled to be completed by 1994 at a cost of about $65 million, according to Mike Battaglia, a pipeline design engineer. A water treatment plant to be built in Delran will cost $65 million to $70 million more.

City election officials said yesterday that the absentee ballots already cast for the late controller candidate Max Weiner will be counted for him and not for his widow, Besse Weiner, who replaced him on the Consumer Party ticket. About 5,200 absentee ballots were mailed out with Max Weiner listed as a candidate, according to Edward V. Schulgen, deputy city commissioner. The remaining 1,000 ballots were caught in time to substitute Besse Weiner's name before they were mailed, he added.

The Westampton Township Zoning Board of Adjustment unanimously voted last night to grant a zoning variance to William Denning, owner of Denning's Garage on Rancocas Road, to construct a 30-by-50-foot, one-story concrete block addition. The variance was granted with the stipulation that Denning enclose his junkyard with a 6-foot fence and maintain an existing fence of trees. Residents surrounding the 38-year-old business have been protesting the addition and requesting that Denning clean up the business and fence in the junkyard, which they say is unsafe.

The owner of a motorcycle sales and maintenance store on Easton Road in Warrington has been given permission to continue displaying vehicles outside his building. Anthony J. Arminio, president of Tony's Cycle Sales Inc., a Kawasaki dealership at 566 Easton Rd., sought permission from the Warrington Zoning Hearing Board to continue to display about four vehicles on a grassy plot about 20 feet from his store. Board members approved the special exception by a 2-0 vote Monday night; member Sanford Oxman was absent.

Birmingham supervisors have allocated funds to spruce up the area around the Colonial-style township building on Route 926. At Monday night's meeting, they voted to spend $660 to finish the landscaping around the building and to use $890 per year from the capital- expense budget to maintain the grounds and plantings. The supervisors also approved a resolution accepting a deed of dedication for Heartease Drive in the 20-lot, 44-acre Heartease development on Wylie Road, west of Birmingham Road.

The Brooklawn Borough Council amended several ordinances Monday night in an attempt to beautify the borough. Under the amended laws, auto-parts dealers will be required to clean up their lots, tractor-trailer parking in the borough will be limited to four hours, and any existing portable advertising signs and new billboards will be prohibited. Auto-parts lots littered with junk cars are an eyesore throughout Brooklawn, said Mayor Marion Conover, adding that slatted fencing or some other enclosure would be required to hide the lots from public view.

A subdivision request to preserve a wooded area on Pheasant Drive and Long Lane in Lower Moreland has been approved by the township planning commission. At a meeting Monday night, the commission approved, by a 5-1 vote, a four- lot subdivision of a 4 1/2-acre wooded tract. According to the application, Robert Van Naarden of Long Lane, who lives behind the property, and a neighbor, David Rosen, plan to purchase the land and, in an effort to preserve the area behind their properties, will add portions of the tract to their existing properties.

The township supervisors have voted unanimously to restrict residents from building commercial greenhouses on properties of less than 10 acres. James J. Garrity, township solicitor, said the new ordinance, which takes effect immediately, was needed because two residents wanted to build two large commercial greenhouses next to homes. "We don't want a huge greenhouse on a real small lot," he said at the Wednesday night meeting. The vote was 3-0. Garrity said the supervisors reduced the restriction from 25 to 10 acres after James Boswell, who owns a nursery on Kriebel Mill Road, complained at the July hearing.

The Narberth Borough Council voted, 6-1, to proceed with plans to expand borough hall Wednesday night, despite residents' objections. Councilwoman Mary Jo Pauxtis voted against the measure. The plan, presented at a public hearing Oct. 15, includes a single-story addition, to be placed on the empty lot north of borough hall on Conway Avenue. In addition, the proposal includes a new public works garage, to replace the current garage, which is in disrepair, and a new home for the Narberth Ambulance Company, which is in need of extra space.

The Neshaminy school board gave final approval Thursday to a teachers' contract that increases pay but removes now-rare perks - such as full coverage of health-care premiums - and ends the longest stalemate between teachers and a district in recent history. The board's vote was unanimous. The union overwhelmingly approved the agreement last week. Ritchie Webb, the school board president, said before the vote that the contract acknowledges the most recent economic downturn as well as the district's rising costs for pension contributions and health care: "We have a contract that is based in reason and financially doable.

MANAGUA, Nicaragua - A proposal to build a massive rival to the Panama Canal across the middle of Nicaragua was overwhelmingly backed by lawmakers Thursday, capping a lightning-fast approval process that has provoked deep skepticism among shipping experts and concern among environmentalists. The National Assembly dominated by President Daniel Ortega's leftist Sandinista Front voted to grant a 50-year concession - to study, then possibly build and run a canal linking Nicaragua's Caribbean and Pacific coasts - to a Chinese company whose only previous experience appears to be in telecommunications.

A special U.S. Senate election to replace the late Democratic Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg can be held in October as scheduled by Gov. Christie, a New Jersey court ruled Thursday. The ruling could be appealed, and while it keeps an election on course, it does not seem likely to chill criticism of the popular Republican governor for how he chose to replace Lautenberg, the last World War II veteran to serve in the Senate and its oldest member, who died last week at 89. The election is to decide who completes Lautenberg's term.

NEW YORK - Generic versions of emergency contraception can be sold without a prescription or age restrictions while the federal government appeals a judge's ruling allowing the sales, an appeals court said Wednesday. The brief order issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan permitted two-pill versions of emergency contraception to immediately be sold without restrictions, but the court refused to allow unrestricted sales of Plan B One-Step until it decides the merits of the government's appeal.

On North Delaware Avenue, one big real estate project - the SugarHouse Casino expansion - got a green light Wednesday to proceed, but another development - the conversion of the old Ajax Metal Works into a concert venue - remains on hold. At its monthly board meeting, the state's Gaming Control Board quickly approved a $155 million expansion of SugarHouse that calls for far less parking than originally planned. But for the project across the street, it was a different story. The city's zoning board heard five hours of testimony, mostly on whether the Ajax project near Frankford and Delaware Avenues has enough parking.

  Philadelphia City Council passed a bill Thursday to allow advertising on municipal property - an idea championed by President Darrell L. Clarke to raise money without hiking taxes. The bill is just the first step, giving zoning permission and setting up a task force that would explore which buildings and other property would be appropriate for advertising and what kinds would be allowed. Ultimately, Mayor Nutter would have to sign a contract with a vendor that would seek and manage advertising.

TRENTON - Hours after telling lawmakers that fired basketball coach Mike Rice was "not entitled to any severance," Rutgers University president Robert L. Barchi said Thursday night that Rice would receive $475,000 to settle the remaining two years of his contract. Rice was fired April 3 after a video went public showing him verbally and physically abusing players. Rutgers and Rice's representatives began negotiations two days later, a school spokesman said. "Tonight's agreement is in the best interests of the university, and I am pleased this issue has been resolved," Barchi said in a statement.

DOVER, Del. - The Delaware Senate narrowly approved a bill Tuesday repealing the death penalty. The 11-10 vote came after lengthy and sometimes emotional debate from lawmakers on both sides. Before debating, senators voted overwhelmingly to remove a provision to spare the lives of 17 killers on death row, a point of contention for some lawmakers. The measure, opposed by Attorney General Beau Biden, now goes to the House. Gov. Jack Markell has refused to say whether he favors it.  

The Haddonfield Board of Education unanimously approved a $31 million budget Monday evening containing a nearly 2 percent tax increase for next year. That translates to about $140 more on the average tax bill for 2013-14. Superintendent Richard Perry said the extra revenue was needed to finance a teacher-evaluation pilot program, state-mandated core-curriculum requirements, and new security measures for elementary schools. "What we discovered with the pilot program is we have very few administrators," Perry said in an interview Tuesday.

WASHINGTON - Injecting a rare bit of bipartisanship in the nation's health-care overhaul, the Obama administration Thursday cleared four Republican-led states to build their own consumer-friendly insurance markets. With open enrollment for millions of uninsured Americans just nine months away - Oct. 13 - the four GOP-led states became part of a group of 17 states plus Washington that have gotten an initial go-ahead to build and run insurance exchanges. Seven were approved Thursday. The list also included California, which has nearly 7.5 million uninsured residents, more than any other state.