ROCHESTER — A New Jersey man is facing charges, including assault, after he allegedly drove the wrong way on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, causing three crashes that injured himself and three others.

Police say 31-year-old Robert Walthour of Hopatcong, N.J., drove about 10 miles the wrong way in the westbound lanes of the Turnpike near Rochester, Beaver County, on Wednesday.

State police say troopers tried to pull Walthour over but he refused to stop even after tire-deflation devices flattened his tires.

Officials say two people were slightly hurt in crashes while trying to avoid Walthour, who was finally forced to stop after a head-on collision with a van. The van's driver was treated for minor injuries.

Walthour was hospitalized with minor injuries following the crash. A phone listing for him could not be located.

PITTSBURGH — Police in Western Pennsylvania say a brawl involving several dozen people resulted in six teenage girls and women being injured and five people arrested.Police said the fight broke out shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday on Pittsburgh's North Side. Paramedics said four people were taken to hospitals for minor stab or slashing wounds, while a fifth was treated for a cut on the hand and a sixth said she would go to the hospital on her own for treatment of a head injury.Sgt. David Kreuger said charges of assault, disorderly conduct and failure to disperse were pending.

HARRISBURG — Gov. Ed Rendell is disbanding a special unit of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation that a grand jury said exists only to expedite paperwork for legislators seeking to win favor with voters.The panel that investigated the state legislative corruption scandal criticized the 35-person unit in a scathing assessment of the Legislature released this week.Rendell spokesman Gary Tuma said Wednesday the unit will be disbanded in the next few days and the employees reassigned elsewhere in PennDOT. However, he said PennDOT will continue to help legislators with constituent requests through "normal administrative channels."The report also says the House Democratic and Republican caucuses employ — at a cost of nearly $900,000 a year — dozens of people to expedite processing of mostly routine PennDOT paperwork for businesses and other constituents.

PITTSBURGH — An outbreak of bear sightings in Pittsburgh and nearby neighborhoods has game officials setting traps.The game commission is using doughnuts to bait the traps after residents in and around Pittsburgh reported seeing black bears over the last week.The latest sightings happened in Pittsburgh's South Side and the Greenfield neighborhood. Many residents of the town of Natrona Heights also have reported seeing bears.Wildlife officials say they're trying to trap the bears and move them to less populated areas.Game commission officials ask residents to call 911 if they see a bear. They're also asking people to feed their pets inside and put garbage out just before pickup.