Yo, Philly in the News

• Despite the presence of a large number of very excited Phillies fans at the game, the Rays won the second game of the World Series last night. The problems are the same: the big players on the offense are not getting big hits. That doesn't mean it's easy to get Series tickets.
• Yesterday City Councilman Darrell Clarke moved to lift a little known, almost four-decades-old city law that bans men massaging women and women massaging men.
• Existing-home sales in the eight-county region fell just 12 percent in September, the lowest year-over-year monthly decline in 2008. Meanwhile, Philadelphia-area banks bucked the national trend and boosted their lending in the third quarter.
• Police said yesterday they were searching for the man who raped a woman in her home and who might also have assaulted three other women in Center City and South Philadelphia in the last week.
• Family and friends of the fifteen-year-old victim of a hit-and-run incident are upset that the woman responsible received a sentence of only one to two years in state prison, followed by three years' probation. Meanwhile, a suspect in another hit-and-run incident has just been arrested.
• In a move that surprises no one, the Daily News endorses Barack Obama for president. Meanwhile, a coalition of Pennsylvania voters and civil-rights groups has sued to seek emergency paper ballots for voters if electronic machines fail. Finally, Scranton could be the key to the election! Sort of.
• Vincent Fumo's estranged son-in-law testified against him yesterday, saying he was hired to work in the state senator's legislative office but spent much of his time overseeing renovations at Fumo's mansion.
• Two gunmen intent on assassinating a well-known drug dealer doing business in an open-air market along SEPTA tracks in North Philadelphia let loose with a hail of bullets yesterday afternoon that left two men dead and merchants and their customers scrambling for their lives.
• Mayor Nutter barred reporters from budget talks he held with City Council yesterday, and the Daily News is a little bitter.
• A 36-year-old man accused of raping a frail, elderly woman in her Hunting Park home last year waived his preliminary hearing in court yesterday, and may eventually plead guilty.
• The awesome story of a bad-ass bartender from Upper Darby and what he did when he recognized one of his regular customers as a suspect in that beating and robbery of an 83-year-old man in the Gallery last month.
• Police are investigating six shootings between Tuesday afternoon and yesterday that left five people dead and two injured.

Image Credit: Flickr user WordRidden