Commuters warned of extreme delays because of cracked bridge

Engineers will need at least two weeks to get a handle on the repairs required to fix a heavily traveled bridge between Pennsylvania and New Jersey after one of its steel supports fractured cleanly into two pieces, a highly unusual event that had some experts suspecting a flawed, 6-decade-old weld.

The Delaware River Bridge, which connects the Pennsylvania and New Jersey turnpikes, was closed indefinitely after workers discovered the broken steel truss last week. Tens of thousands of motorists were told to expect “extreme delays.”

Heavy traffic was reported at other river crossings in the area Monday, with one span reporting backups of up to 6 miles.

Photos posted on the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s website showed a massive truss under the bridge’s westbound lanes sheared in half. Officials believe the 14-inch truss failed recently and suddenly.

“It’s incredibly unusual for steel to break like that,” said Joe Martin, an engineering professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia. “Pieces don’t break. They stretch, they twist, they give you some warning to get out of there . ... Fractures are the bridge engineer’s nightmare.”

Ex-mayor pleads guilty in Wild West museum artifacts case

HARRISBURG >> A former mayor pleaded guilty Monday to 20 counts of receiving stolen property related to his ill-starred effort to bring a Wild West museum to his central Pennsylvania city.

Former Harrisburg Mayor Stephen Reed, 67, faces serious health problems and felt pleading guilty was the right thing to do, his lawyer said.

“We think this is an opportunity now to move on with his life and get the treatment he needs for his illness,” said attorney Henry Hockeimer Jr.

The plea came before jury selection was scheduled to get underway for Reed’s trial on 114 counts. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss the remaining 94 charges.

“We think that this achieves justice for not only the commonwealth, but the city of Harrisburg,” said Joe Grace, spokesman for the state attorney general’s office.

Hockeimer said all 20 counts to which Reed pleaded guilty involve photos or documents. Reed, who led the city of Harrisburg for nearly three decades, had also been accused of receiving stolen property for other items, including stagecoach equipment and firearms.

Sentencing was scheduled for Friday.

Police responding to burglary kill homeowner, not burglar

PITTSBURGH >> Police officers responding to a burglar alarm fatally shot a homeowner, who had grabbed a gun when he spotted an intruder, after shots were fired in their direction as they arrived at his house.

Until ballistic and other evidence can be reviewed, police said they couldn’t say who fired the shots while officers were on Christopher Thompkins’ front porch. But police Acting Chief Scott Schubert called what happened “a horrible chain of events.”

Thompkins, 57, died in the gunfire before dawn Sunday. Police did not report finding a gun on the intruder, identified as Juan Brian Jeter-Clark, 23. JeterClark was charged with criminal trespass but could face additional counts.