Regional Roundup: Teachers Returning to Work; Smell Linked to N.J. Fire

Check out these stories from around the region and click on a headline to read the full article.

The Neshaminy Federation of Teachers has annouced that their second strike of the school year has ended. Neshaminy students in kindergarten through 11th grade will report back to school Wednesday and their last day of school will be June 27. NFT spokesperson Bob Schiers told Patch that the teachers have ended the strike effective immediately. They offered to return to classrooms Tuesday, however the school district requested they wait until Wednesday in order to have enough time to notify parents.

: What was that smell? On Sunday evening, residents from throughout Central New Jersey and Bucks County were likely wondering the cause of a smokey smell that blanketed the area. According to reports, a fire at one of the ranges at the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst caused a smokey smell from Bordentown to Central Bucks County.

: Doylestown residents will have to wait only a few days before its newest grocery store opens, and pharmacy customers, even less than that. The former Genuardi's in Mercer Square shopping center closed on Saturday June 9 at 6 p.m. Its new owners said Monday that they reopen the store's pharmacy Monday at noon and the store as a whole on Saturday, June 16, at 6 a.m.

:  One of the stated reasons Centennial School District pulled the trigger on the massive construction and consolidation project is that the three schools targeted for closing were in bad shape, structurally. It would cost too much money to make the renovations and repairs necessary to keep Leary, Longstreth and Stackpole operational. It's a line of rationale that Kevin Deissler just does not buy. Walking through the halls of Longstreth Saturday afternoon, Deissler had a hard time finding anything bad enough to warrant closing the doors of his former elementary school. "It's not out of shape at all," said Deissler, who finished fifth grade at Longstreth in 1994. "I just don't get why they had to close it. This is where my son would have gone to school."

  Fourth-grade students at Blair Mill Elementary School and Crooked Billet Elementary School spent part of their Monday afternoon videoconferencing with a class of fourth-graders over 2,000 miles away in Mexico City. The program is part Hatboro-Horsham students' global perspective curriculum, according to Katy Krupa, technology integration specialist at the district.

: Brownie Troop #2766 from Southampton traveled to Washington, DC on Jun 9 & 10, to celebrate 100 years of scouting. They were joined by approximately 250,000 girl scouts from all over the world for a sing-a-long on the National Mall.

:  Route 1 southbound was closed for a short time Monday after a tractor-trailer hit a home in what appears to be a chain-reaction crash that also trapped several people. The crash was reported shortly before 10:45 a.m. Monday at Route 1 and Hulmeville Road in Middletown Township, according to Breaking News Network reports.