Pennsylvania

Freight train engineer stops in intersection

A freight train conductor who said he had exceeded the number of hours he could work stopped his train in a downtown intersection for two hours and refused to move, police said.

The engineer, whose name was not released, told police he was instructed by his supervisor to stop the train after passing the intersection Friday. But he didn’t pull the train far enough forward to raise the intersection’s crossing gates.

He told officers he had passed the limits set by federal law, which restrict the maximum hours engineers may operate a train without being replaced, police said.

New York

Kidnapping related to terrorism case

Two men have been charged with extortion for allegedly kidnapping a man and demanding a $1 million ransom from a relative of one of the men in the “Lackawanna Six” terror case.

Authorities said Brett Bigelow, 29, of Boston, N.Y., and Timothy Fisher, 26, of Angola, kidnapped a man Thursday and demanded a $1 million ransom from a close relative of Yasein Taher — one of six Yemeni-American men from Lackawanna convicted of providing material support to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network.

Taher’s relative called police after receiving the ransom demand, authorities said. FBI agents arrested Bigelow and Fisher on Friday after Bigelow went to pick up the ransom money, U.S. Atty. Michael Battle said. The victim was freed at Bigelow’s automotive garage in South Buffalo.

Pennsylvania

University drops opposition to move art

The trustees of Lincoln University voted Saturday to approve a deal with the Barnes Foundation to allow one of the world’s most significant private art collections to be moved from a suburban gallery to downtown Philadelphia.

Trustees of the historically black school voted to drop opposition to a court petition from the cash-strapped foundation to move the collection to a spot near the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The move is forbidden by the will left by Dr. Albert Barnes in 1951, and the foundation had filed the petition to break the will.

Pennsylvania

Bank robber charged in 1991 in threat case

A pizza deliveryman who robbed a bank and was killed by a bomb locked to his neck was once arrested after allegedly threatening neighbors and a judge, according to a police report.

Brian Wells apparently called a judge in 1991, saying he wanted his neighbors evicted from their home in Erie or he would “put a bullet in their heads,” the Erie Times-News reported Saturday, citing a police report.

Wells, 46, died Aug. 28 after robbing a bank near Erie. Before he died, Wells told police he had been forced to rob the bank by someone who locked the bomb to his body. Investigators have been unable to figure out whether Wells was a willing participant or was duped or forced into taking part.

Wells was charged with harassment by communication, but the charge was later dropped.