Briefly... CITY/REGION

Interfaith service for Nutter

The Religious Leaders Council of Greater Philadelphia will hold an interfaith prayer service in honor of Mayor-elect Michael Nutter at 10 a.m. Thursday in the Cathedral Basilica of Ss. Peter and Paul.

The service will be lead by Cardinal Justin Rigali, archbishop of Philadelphia; Imam Anwar Muhaimin, of the International Muslim Brotherhood; and Rabbi David Straus, past president of the Board of Rabbis.

It will feature scripture readings from the Jewish, Muslim and Christian religions.

Man wounded in leg

An unidentified man was shot in the leg shortly before 7 last night on Ontario Street near I in Kensington.

Police did not release the victim's age or disclose why he had been shot, but said he remained in stable condition at Temple University Hospital.

A record number of mentors

Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Southeastern Pennsylvania announced that 4,025 young boys and girls were mentored by a big brother or sister during 2007.

The agency said it was the largest number of at-risk youth the agency has ever paired with mentors in a single year.

A hearing for mass murderer

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ordered another hearing to determine whether mass-murderer George Banks is too mentally ill to be executed.

A state court ruled in February 2006 that Banks, who killed 13 people in a 1982 Wilkes-Barre-area shooting rampage, was delusional, psychotic and had no capacity to assist in his own defense. But the justices ordered the lower court to "expeditiously" conduct a hearing to allow the state to "present a meaningful case" on Banks' competency.

Fugitive shot in Montco

A man barricaded himself in a Pottstown home for about eight hours before fleeing early yesterday and was later shot in West Norriton Township after a police chase and gunbattle.

The suspect was treated at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Authorities said the man led police on a 25-mile chase before the shootout in West Norriton. He was not immediately identified.

Cleaning woman dies

Yolanda Carias, 26, a house cleaner using a gas-powered generator at a vacant house in Reading, has died of carbon-monoxide poisoning. Authorities said Santos had been using the generator because the power in the Muh-lenberg Township house had been shut off.

They said the only ventilation was a partly open window. *

- Staff and wire reports