State News-Thursday, August 31st

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Census Bureau says the Philadelphia metro area is ranked 20th nationwide in terms of commuting time to work-- averaging 27-point-nine minutes each way. At the top of the list is Cumberland County, New Jersey, with 39-point-six minutes. Five years ago, the Census Bureau considered that part of the Philadelphia metro area. But now, enough Cumberland County workers are staying within the county that the Census Bureau has declared it to be its own metro area. In the nation as a whole, the average commute takes 25-point-one minutes each way. The Census Bureau says more than three-quarters of American workers drive alone to work, but the commuting times also include those who carpool, those who take mass transit and the two-and-a-half percent who walk to work.

HAMPTON, Va. (AP) - Philadelphia 76ers star Allen Iverson has been hit with a multi-million-dollar lawsuit. It's amid claims he helped hire a security team that allegedly assaulted four people at a nightclub in his hometown of Hampton, Virginia, last year. The four plaintiffs claim they were assaulted by members of a security team known as "The Horsemen," a group they say was hired by Iverson, his business manager and promotional company. Two of the men named in the lawsuit as assailants faced criminal charges. Iverson's attorney and agent did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A proposed overhaul of state coal-mining safety laws has languished in Harrisburg as legislators try to bridge disagreements between the administration of Governor Ed Rendell, mine workers and mine owners. A two-month-old federal law requires improvements in how mine owners respond to accidents. That law is designed to address concerns that arose in the wake of January's Sago Mine accident in West Virginia, in which 12 miners died. But state mining regulations, which are designed to prevent accidents, remain stuck in the 1960s, when most of them were written. The state Legislature will have an election-shortened fall session, which may leave little time to bring the sides together, a Senate aide says. But state Department of Environmental Protection officials,whose own proposal has been introduced into legislation, say a new law should not wait on whether the union and mine owners can agree.

RANSHAW, Pa. (AP) - The president of a Northumberland County fire company says the remains of the burned-out firehouse will be knocked down and a new firehouse built. Brady Fire Company President Tom Sayles says the accidental blaze at the firehouse in Ranshaw inspired the community to pull together. For now, the fire truck and ambulance are kept in a storage building next to the old firehouse. Sayles says it's unclear where the new firehouse will be built.