Briefly... CITY/REGION

3 ex-cops win retaliation case

Three former Philadelphia cops won a $10 million civil judgment in federal court Wednesday after a weeklong trial. Brothers Michael and William McKenna, and Raymond Carnation, will get $5 million, $3 million and $2

million, respectively.

The ex-cops, all of whom are white, filed a complaint in federal court in March 1999, alleging they had been retaliated against after they told their superiors that they opposed discrimination against black officers on their squad at the 25th District.

The McKennas were later discharged from the department, and Carnation, who was given restricted duty, left the force.

Man charged in bank fraud

A federal grand jury yesterday charged Arthur Jenkins, 58, of Philadelphia, with bank fraud and passing counterfeit securities. Authorities said Jenkins contacted small-business owners and religious leaders who placed newspaper ads seeking business investments.

Authorities said Jenkins defrauded banks, including Wachovia, to the tune of $98,000. The indictment said Jenkins told clients he was a broker for investment companies that specialized in making loans to people with poor credit. He gave his clients counterfeit corporate checks which they deposited, and then withdrew the cash before the fraud was discovered.

Slain SW Phila. man ID'd

Police identified a man slain Wednesday night in Southwest Philadelphia as Sokoni Meachum, 29, of Shields Street near Elmwood Avenue. He was shot multiple times in the chest on 66th Street near Elmwood - a block from his home - just before 6 p.m. He died a half-hour later at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Police have no suspects, and a motive is unknown.

Annual survivors block party

The 12th annual Police Survivors Benefit will be held at 3 p.m. tomorrow at Finnigan's Wake, 3rd and Spring Garden streets. Nine bands will perform and a block party will be held outside on 3rd Street. Money raised benefits the Police Survivors Fund.

Broadcasting women's issues

Gov. Rendell, actress Morgan Fairchild and Leslie Stiles, executive director of the Pennsylvania Commission for Women, have launched a multimedia Women's Vote Campaign.

It incorporates billboards, transit ads, television and radio. Messages on affordable health care, child-care funding, equal pay for equal work, gun control and strong national security will appear from Erie to Scranton, Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, and everywhere in between, the sponsors said. *

- Staff and wire reports