Briefly... CITY/REGION

Blockson collection at Temple names Diane Turner as curator

Diane D. Turner, a historian and archivist, has been named the new curator for the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection at Temple University. Turner will start on Sept. 10 and will succeed Blockson, who retired as curator on Dec. 31, 2006.

Turner is the former curator of collections and exhibitions for the African American Museum of Philadelphia. The Blockson Collection is one of the nation's foremost collections of African-American art and artifacts.

FBI seeking two bank robbers, including 'Bad Tooth Bandit'

The FBI is looking for two bank robbers wanted for several heists in the city, including one Tuesday at Wachovia Bank, 3400 Aramingo Ave.

One is the so-called "Bad Tooth Bandit," who is described as a black man of medium height and build who has noticeably crooked and yellow teeth. The other is a black man in his mid- to late-40s. They are suspected of acting together and separately in at least six robberies. Anyone with information on the robbers is asked to call the FBI at 215-418-4000.

Woman shot on July 22 dies; man gunned down Monday ID'd

The city's murder rate jumped when Doreen Williams, 31, of East Germantown, who was shot last month, died Aug. 8 of her wounds, police said. Williams, of Norwood Street near Church Lane, was shot in the jaw just before 2 a.m. July 22 on Jefferson Street near Broad in North Philadelphia. She died in Albert Einstein Medical Center.

Police also identified a man gunned down Monday at 58th and Ludlow streets, West Philadelphia, as Garvin Matthews, 33, of Haverford Avenue near 63rd Street.

Appeals court upholds ruling in case of murdered toddler

A federal appeals court yesterday upheld a lower court decision last year in the case of Porchia Bennett, the 3-year-old toddler who died in August 2003 from multiple beatings by a man Porchia's mother, a drug abuser, had paid to look after Porchia.

Porchia's estate sued the city and a Department of Human Services social worker under a legal theory called "state-created danger." But a federal district judge ruled in May 2006 the estate hadn't proved the city created a danger for Porchia that would not have existed "but for" the social worker's intervention.

3 men charged in beating, shooting in Gloucester Twp.

Three men have been charged in an attack on a man outside the Lakewood Manor Apartments on Lakeland Road in Gloucester Township Aug. 14.

They were identified as Abdul Kabia, 24, of Clementon; Adam Pizzo, 26, and Basil Zachary, 23, both of Sicklerville. Police said they beat the victim and shot him as he was fleeing. He is recovering from his wounds. *

- Staff and wire reports