Yo, Philly in the News

• Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC, owner of the Daily News and the Inquirer, requested their union employees to forego a $25-a-week raise scheduled to begin September 1st, as a cost-cutting measure in the face of declining revenue that has afflicted newspapers nationwide. Members voted overwhelmingly to do so.
• Early this morning, someone called police to report a break-in at a South Philadelphia home. The homeowners were away at the Shore. While investigating, police critically wounded a young man who turned out to be the grandson of the homeowners.
• Musician and songwriter Isaac Hayes died yesterday. One of his last interviews was with the Daily News.
• Michael McMonagle, 55, of Lansdale, a veteran Catholic antiabortion activist, and two other protesters went to China last week to draw attention to the country's problems of religious freedom and forced abortions. When the protesters tried to hold a news conference with foreign reporters in Tiananmen Square on the eve of the Olympic Games, China deported them... after giving them lunch at KFC.
• Eugene Maysky, mayor of Trainer Borough in Delaware County, was arrested around 3:10AM Friday morning at Island and Bartram avenues in Southwest Philadelphia for driving under the influence.
• The Daily News also reports on a grill theft crime wave in Tacony, possibly related to the recent rise in the theft of metals to sell as scrap.
• The Inquirer profiles the Urban Tree Connection, a nonprofit group that performs unauthorized renovations of vacant lots.

Image Credit: Flickr user pwbaker