Briefly... CITY/REGION

Man in van shot to death

A 22-year-old man was shot to death in a van while his friend slept in the back seat about 6 a.m. yesterday in Wissinoming, police said. The man had just left a house, not his own, on Keystone Street near Comly and slid into the driver's seat of a minivan when he was ambushed and shot multiple times. His friend, who was sleeping in the back seat and claimed not to have seen anything, jumped into the driver's seat and drove the victim to St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, where he was pronounced dead at 6:41 a.m.

Man wounded in N. Phila.

A man in his 30s was shot in the chest in North Philadelphia yesterday. Police said that the victim, whose name was not released, was wounded near 8th and Tioga streets about 8:30 p.m. and admitted to Temple University Hospital in stable condition. No arrests were made, and the motive was unclear.

Slaying victim is identified

A 30-year-old man who was fatally shot early Sunday in South Philadelphia has been identified as Gjon Goods, 28, of 12th Street near Carpenter. Goods was with a 21-year-old female friend when the two were shot on Marshall Street near Oregon Avenue about 2:25 a.m. He was shot in the chest and pronounced dead at 4:48 a.m. at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. His companion was treated for a gunshot wound to her hand and released.

Someone won at Powerball

One winning Powerball ticket in the Dec. 26 drawing was sold at Shop N Go, 7370 Frankford Ave. The winning ticket matched all five white balls, 32-36-37-41-53, but not the red Powerball, 30, for a $200,000 second-tier prize, less 25 percent federal withholding.

Pennsylvania Lottery Powerball winners have one year from the drawing date to claim prizes.

Court to Rendell: You can pay

Pennsylvania's highest court ruled yesterday that the state Constitution does not prohibit the governor from continuing to employ and pay state employees during a budget impasse.

The state Supreme Court sided with state workers' unions and against the position that Gov. Rendell had taken in the months leading up to the July 2008 budget deal.

The unions had argued that the federal Fair Labor Standards Act trumped a section of the state Constitution that requires an appropriation to be passed, in most cases, before money can be paid from the state treasury.

PATCO fare hike postponed

South Jersey commuter rail passengers are getting a break from the Delaware River Port Authority.

The bistate agency announced yesterday that it has postponed a 10 percent fare hike on its PATCO rail line that was scheduled to take effect in September 2010. The fare increase is now scheduled for January 2011.

The 14-mile PATCO rail line carries about 38,000 passengers daily from the South Jersey suburbs to Center City Philadelphia.

- Staff and wire reports