Briefly... CITY/REGION

Brady asks SEPTA to nix

bus ads touting malt liquor

U.S. Rep. Bob Brady is urging SEPTA to remove malt liquor ads from two of its buses.

He said community leaders had expressed "overwhelming opposition" to the Colt 45 ads, which are wrapped around the outside of two SEPTA buses. "Given our rising epidemic of violence," he said, "your promotion of especially dangerous malt liquor is extraordinarily counterproductive."

N.Y. investment firm buying

Deb Shops Inc. for $395M

Deb Shops Inc., a 75-year-old national retailer that started out as a humble hosiery store in Philadelphia, said yesterday it will be acquired by an investment firm for $395 million in cash.

An affiliate of Lee Equity Partners LLC of New York will pay $27.25 a share to take the chain of clothing for teen girls private. Deb Shops operates 337 stores in 42 states under the names DEB and Tops 'N Bottoms.

Pa. magistrate suspended

9 mos. for unruly behavior

A district judge who punched an off-duty police sergeant at a birthday party then swore at the officer's wife must serve a nine-month suspension from the bench without pay, a state disciplinary panel ruled yesterday in Harrisburg.

Willow Street District Judge Maynard A. Hamilton Jr. must also serve a year's probation for the June 2006, altercation at the Cross Gates Golf Course in Lancaster County, the Court of Judicial Discipline said in an order. *

- Associated Press