Briefly... CITY/REGION

Cops are seeking a burglar who broke into an East Germantown store by smashing a hole through a side wall. The Hulk-like burglar then stuffed an unknown sum of cash and several cartons of cigarettes into his backpack before leaving the way he came in.

And he did it twice, at the same place.

Police are asking for the public's help in identifying this cigarette-loving brute before he strikes again.

The burglaries occurred Oct. 8 and Nov. 18 at the Progressive Food Market, on Germantown Avenue near Collum Street, police said. He was described as black, medium build, medium complexion, late 20s to 30 years old with a light beard and wearing a black ski cap, a dark-colored hooded jacket with a white logo and wings on back, and a dark-colored backpack-style bag.

Anyone who knows who this burglar is urged to call 9-1-1 or Northwest Detectives at 215-686-3353 or -3354.

Police have identified the man shot to death Thanksgiving morning in a West Philadelphia hotel as Samuel Vanderhall, 33.

Vanderhall, of 55th Street near Thompson in Carroll Park, was shot in the groin and back inside the Blue Moon Hotel on Westminster Avenue near 51st Street and was pronounced dead at 11:11 a.m. at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Police say the shooting may have resulted from an argument over drug money. Court records show Vanderhall was a repeat offender with multiple drug-related arrests.

The Philadelphia metropolitan region leads the state in the number of texting-while-driving citations written during the first six months of Pennsylvania's new law.

AAA Mid-Atlantic said Friday that 796 tickets were issued across the state during that period, 355 of them in Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties. The five-county region has about a third of the state's population.

A Philadelphia man who was killed after being struck by a train Thursday night in Montgomery County has been identified as Frederick Washington, 68, of College Avenue near Polar Street in Fairmount.

According to police, the incident occurred at 9:40 p.m. on the train tracks between the Merion and Overbrook stations in Lower Merion. The operator of the eastbound train reported the accident immediately.

Pennsylvania veterans affairs officials say they no longer have to limit taxpayer-paid military funeral honors to burials within 100 miles of Philadelphia and central Pennsylvania.

Two state senators protested the policy in a letter this week asking Adjutant General Wesley Craig to reverse it. But a state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs spokeswoman said Friday that a commitment of additional federal money this month by the National Guard Bureau resolves the need for the limit.

Black Friday began with a bang in New Jersey - literally.

The U.S. Geological Survey's website says a 2.1-magnitude earthquake was measured near Clementon, Camden County.

The quake was felt at a little after midnight. On Nov. 5, a 2.0-magnitude quake struck Passaic County.