Youth Commission to meet

Mayor Nutter and City Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown will host the first meeting of the Philadelphia Youth Commission today in the caucus room on the fourth floor of City Hall.

Judge C. Darnell Jones will administer the oath of office at 5 p.m. to the 21 young people who will review legislation and policies that affect youth and advise the mayor and City Council on those issues.

West Phila. El closings set

Beginning at 8 p.m. tomorrow, SEPTA will shut down the Market Street El on 13 weekends into the summer, and run shuttle buses between 40th Street Station and the 69th Street Terminal as it continues rebuilding the 100-year-old railway and its stations.

The closings will take place from now through June, except for Easter, Mother's Day and Memorial Day weekends, when the Market-Frankford El will operate normally.

Information: www.septa.org or 215-580-7800.

Cambodian group fundraiser

The Cambodian-American Senior Association will hold its annual fundraising dinner at 6:30 p.m. March 15 at the Saigon Maxim Restaurant, 612 Washington Ave., South Philadelphia.

The organization helps the needy in the Asian community with health services, as translators and to provide help in completing documentation.

For information, call 215-218-

0585.

Shaved heads for cancer kids

Drexel University fraternity brothers are shaving their heads today as part of a goal to raise $25,000 for children with cancer.

Sigma Phi Epsilon is raising the money on behalf of St. Baldrick's Foundation, a national organization that calls for volunteers to shave their heads in symbolic empathy for chemotherapy patients.

More than 40 fraternity members and 20 alumni have volunteered to shave their heads.

Cops: Teens shot zoo animals

Two teenage boys are accused of shooting a bear and a tiger with a pellet gun at the Cohanzick Zoo, in Bridgeton, Cumberland County.

Witnesses called police Sunday to say the boys were firing at the Asiatic black bear and a white Bengalese tiger.

The animals were unhurt. Prosecutors say each boy also faces weapons charges.

If convicted, they could be ordered to undergo mental-health counseling.

Coast guardsman charged

Petty Officer 1st Class Wilson Medina, a gunner's mate at the Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May, has been charged with abusive sexual contact and forcible sodomy.

The alleged incident occurred off base, and Medina was off-duty at the time.

The victim is also in the Coast Guard.

A preliminary hearing under the Uniform Code of Military Justice is scheduled for April 2 to review charges and to recommend whether there are grounds to proceed to trial. *

- Staff and wire reports