Briefly ... CITY/REGION

Ex-middle school honcho guilty of child porn

A former Delaware County middle school principal has pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.

Prosecutors said 42-year-old Troy Czukoski, of Exton, pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Philadelphia. He possessed between 150 and 300 images of children engaging in sexually explicit conduct, authorities said.

Czukoski, who had been the principal at Springton Lake Middle School, faces up to 10 years behind bars.

Boy, 11, shoots friend, 12, while playing with gun

A 12-year-old boy was shot in the face yesterday morning by his 11-year-old friend in a Camden apartment, authorities say.

The boy was taken to Cooper University Hospital and is expected to survive.

Authorities say the 11-year-old was playing with the gun and accidentally fired it about 8 a.m. yesterday at an apartment on the first block of Hunter Street in the Crestbury Apartments.

The victim's sister told NBC 10 that the gun belonged to her 19-year-old brother.

Pa. Turnpike spends big $ on outdated call boxes

At a time when the Pennsylvania Turnpike is facing more than $7 billion in mounting debt, an investigation found that turnpike officials are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to maintain a system used by a small percentage of drivers on the toll road.

When drivers enter the turnpike, signs alert them to the fact that emergency call boxes are every mile on the toll road. There are more than 1,000 of the boxes, originally installed in the 1980s. But now that more drivers have cellphones, the boxes are being used much less.

A spokesman said the turnpike spends about $200,000 each year maintaining the 25-year-old system. The agency employs several workers to primarily service the call boxes.

- Staff and wire reports