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SEPTA COPS and police from the Special Victims Unit are warning women to keep on the lookout for this man, shown in a surveillance photo, who is suspected of groping women in subway stairwells in South Philadelphia. Story, Page 15.

Posted on Fri, Jul. 10, 2009

Briefly... CITY/REGION

House fire kills woman, 79

An elderly couple's home caught fire in Germantown last night, killing the woman, 79, and injuring the man, 84, fire officials said.

The fire erupted shortly after 9 p.m. on the second floor of the house on Washington Lane near Chew Avenue, said Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers. The man and his son tried to get the woman, who used a motorized chair to get up stairs, out of the bedroom where the fire started, but they were unable, Ayers said. Firefighters responded and found the woman dead in her bed. The man was taken to Albert Einstein Medical Center with smoke inhalation. The victims' identities were not released. The woman was the 16th fire death this year, Ayers said.

Yankees fan robs bank

The FBI and Philadelphia police are looking for the New York Yankees fan who held up the Wachovia Bank branch at 17th and Market streets yesterday afternoon. The man, who made a threatening demand to a teller, fled with an undisclosed amount of cash. He is described as black, late 30s or early 40s, wearing a light-blue Yankees cap, large-framed sunglasses with a dust mask hanging around his neck. Tipsters should call the FBI at 215-418-4000.

Carbo acquittal overturned

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia yesterday reversed an August 2007 post-trial order to acquit a businessman who schemed to conceal a former Norristown borough administrator's conflicts of interest in the awarding of contracts to his firm. A jury had convicted the businessman, paving-company owner Thomas D. Carbo,of conspiracy and honest services fraud in June 2006, but U.S. District Judge Mary A. McLaughlin had acquitted Carbo on grounds that prosecutors had not produced sufficient evidence of his intent to defraud. The appellate panel yesterday ordered McLaughlin to reinstate the verdict and sentence Carbo.

IS. Phila high school honored

Sports Illustrated has chosen Saints John Neumann and Maria Goretti Catholic High School as having the top high school athletic program in Pennsylvania.

The magazine said the selections in each state were based on tournament results for the 2008-09 school year.

Also, the magazine contacted athletic directors from top programs, examined success rates and weighed a school's production of star athletes and teams that excel. *

- Staff and wire reports

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