Briefly... CITY/REGION

No bomb found at Penn State

in Abington following threat

Police with bomb-sniffing dogs searched every building on Penn State's Abington campus yesterday because of a bomb threat, but found nothing and said classes would be held as scheduled today.

The threat, discovered two days before the Virginia Tech massacre, had been spray-painted on a bathroom wall and mentioned yesterday's date, according to Chuck Marsh, director of university relations. The university said it would provide extra security on campus today.

Williamsport jury to decide

penalty for Philadelphia killer

Jurors today will decide what penalty to give Jonathan Mitchell, of Philadelphia, whom they convicted Friday of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Idreis Jones, 28, also of Philadelphia, in Williamsport in May 2005.

Lycoming County prosecutors said Jones had been one of several men who assaulted Mitchell, 24, in a drug-related incident in 2000.

Pols want task force set up

to deal with Shore evacuations

On Jan. 30, the New Jersey Assembly passed legislation to establish a task force to set up evacuation routes from seashore areas in the event of a hurricane. But nothing has been done because the measure has been tied up in the budget process.

But now South Jersey legislators are pressing for action. "I'm anxious to see this task force off and running," said Assemblyman Brian E. Rumpf, a Republican from Atlantic, Burlington and Ocean counties who co-sponsored the bill. "There is nothing more pressing in the state than a hurricane bearing down on us."

Pennsauken man admits

he made heroin with fentanyl

Jaime Castellar, 31, of Pennsauken, has pleaded guilty to manufacturing large amounts of heroin that authorities say was laced with the powerful painkiller fentanyl, a potent mixture thought to have caused almost 100 deaths in the Philadelphia region last year.

Castellar's home heroin-manufacturing operation came to the attention of authorities last July, when a naked man ran out of the house yelling that gunmen were inside. Cops went in and seized large quantities of heroin and fentanyl, and arrested Castellar. *

- Staff and wire reports