News in brief from eastern Pennsylvania

SCRANTON, Pa. - One man pleaded guilty to a role in a sports bookmaking prosecutors said he and four others operated at an Old Forge location they referred to as "The Joint." The operation took bets on football, basketball and baseball, and netted at least $500,000 over five years, according to a federal indictment returned Feb. 24. Gaeton Toraldo, of Old Forge, pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to a count of conducting an illegal gambling business. Prosecutors, who agreed to drop two related counts, said Toraldo would face a maximum of a five-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine. Senior Judge William J. Nealon scheduled sentencing for Oct. 27. Prosecutors said Toraldo became involved in the operation in 2001, and handled bets from eight gamblers. U.S. Attorney Thomas Marino has said four others arrested with Toraldo on Feb. 6 also were seeking to negotiate plea agreements. --- BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) - National Museum of Industrial History organizers said they failed to raise the $2 million necessary to start construction and open a $16 million Exposition Hall by next summer. Instead, executive board members cited "steady progress" Wednesday and said they hoped a community fund-raising campaign to begin next month would raise enough to start building by the end of this year. "We'd had a goal to be open by summer of 2005, but that schedule is probably going to slide a little," said Stephen Donches, president and chief executive officer of the museum. "We're making steady progress. Success doesn't come overnight." Museum organizers have been trying for seven years to build a fitting monument to the impact of the industrial revolution and Bethlehem Steel, the company that dominated the Lehigh Valley economy for a nearly century. Organizers announced a plan in April to raise $2 million by this month to start building a 37,000-square-foot Exposition Hall in the former Bethlehem Steel electrical repair shop. While crews replaced the roof and windows, the Leadership Council would raise the remaining $3 million to finish the interior. But Donches said council members had contacted more than half of 200 potential big donors and hadn't reached the $2 million goal to begin the exterior work. Donches said while members continue to approach potential big-spenders, a consulting firm will begin mass-mailing informational packets, followed by a September membership drive. --- EASTON, Pa. (AP) - The state Liquor Control Board has approved a wine and spirits store for a shopping plaza anchored by a Giant food store in Forks Township. The newly approved store is scheduled to open in the spring. It won't replace a downtown Easton store, officials have said. The shopping center also features a variety of other businesses, including restaurants and a sandwich shop, a card and gift store and a movie rental store. "This new store will make wine and spirits shopping more convenient for residents of Forks Township and the College Hill section of Easton," said Liquor Control Board member Thomas Goldsmith, a former Easton mayor. Northampton County has a dozen of the 636 wine and spirits stores statewide. --- QUAKERTOWN, Pa. (AP) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will provide free water connections for about 35 Richland Township homeowners with wells contaminated with chemicals from the Watson Johnson Landfill. The EPA is negotiating easements from property owners to run water lines from the Richland Township Water Authority to the affected area just north of Quakertown, said Jack Kelly, the EPA's on-scene coordinator. Some wells in the area have unsafe levels of trichloroethylene, or TCE, a solvent used to remove oils and grease from metal parts. Kelly said the construction work will cost about $600,000 and could be put out for bids in a month. Homeowners won't have to pay for the connections, which Tim Arnold, executive director of the water authority, said normally cost at least $7,000 per home. The water authority will oversee and inspect the construction.