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The news coming out of Santo Domingo yesterday was only occasionally accurate and consistently confusing regarding the Phillies' interest in 37-year-old pitcher Pedro Martinez, which, quite naturally, didn't make the Dominican Republic media reports much different than our own.

Baltimore Avenue´s new pedestrian-scaled sidewalk lamps cast a cozy luster. Other neighborhoods want the better lighting. But the city is ambivalent about giving up its harsher, car-focused cobra lights, especially in the current budget crisis.

Changing Skyline: Let there be pedestrian light

The right lighting does wonders for an old city like Philadelphia. Just look at Baltimore Avenue, where a column of new street lamps is positioned among the fledgling sidewalk restaurants and secondhand shops. Come nightfall, the aspiring hipster hangout is dusted with a fairy glow that makes even the vacant storefronts look good.

Annette John-Hall: Ugliness in the water at Valley Club

I thought I had fallen into a time warp. Like a lot of people, I had to pinch myself when I heard that the Valley Club, a predominantly white Montgomery County swim club, had disinvited a group of predominantly black and Latino city children from using its pool.

Actress Hope Davis will play Hillary Rodham Clinton in HBO/BBC´s "The Special Relation- ship." The actress first cast has a conflict.

Sideshow: Brüno goes in for a Matt cuddle

Dressed in his trademark sexy silver lamé jumpsuit, famously flamboyant Austrian jet-setter and fashionista Brüno yesterday fell into the possibly loving - but certainly shocked - arms of Today journalist Matt Lauer.

Cheat Sheet: Usually, buying is better than building bookcases

Until Amazon's Kindle makes physically purchasing individual books online or at the bookstore a thing of the distant past, voracious readers who would rather buy than borrow from the library will continue to need vast spaces for storing their tomes.

"There should be a choice for Pennsylvania," says Congressman Joe Sestak when speaking of the Senate seat held by party convert Arlen Specter.

PhillyDeals: Rep. Sestak contemplates run against Sen. Specter

U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak is only half-done with his exploratory tour of Pennsylvania's 67 counties but he's talking like he already has decided to challenge Sen. Arlen Specter (D., Pa.) next year.

Garden Q&A

Question: What causes trees and perennials not to bloom? We have a seven-year-old Styrax japonicus (Japanese snowbell tree) in a relatively small West Philadelphia backyard. It is now 20 feet tall and wide, appears to be quite healthy, and has bloomed for

Power Up: Grid games are going to college: The pace of life slows down appreciably in the summertime and so does the flow of new video games. Thankfully, a pair of college-football titles shipping later this month will stir up some excitement among fans of sports and music games. NCAA Football 2010 rushes into stores on Tuesday for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable, while Black College Football Xperience (BCFx): The Doug Williams Edition takes the field on the 360 on July 20.
Daniel Rubin: Behind bars, a Pa. think tank: Getting Ed Rendell's attention isn't easy in these days of multibillion-dollar budget wars, which is why the cost-cutting suggestions of an unlikely group of constituents is to be commended.
Sideshow: In feminist forefront: Kate: Forget Susan B. Anthony. Forget Simone de Bouvoir and Hélène Cixous. Throw out your Andrea Dworkin and Susan Faludi books. There's a new avant-garde feminist leader in town, and her name is - Kate Gosselin.
Summer of '69: A snooze in Philly: This is a remarkably rich anniversary summer. Even now, from the distance of 40 years, 1969's seems a little unreal. There was simply too much jaw-dropping news to digest:
Inqlings: 2 Phila. chefs on TV contest: It'll be Jenn vs. Jenn on TV later this summer as two Philly chefs are among the 17 contestants announced yesterday for the sixth season of the Bravo kitchen series Top Chef.
Tell Me About It: Wife leaves, wanting to be lonely by herself: Question: My wife of nearly 30 years walked out and moved away, leaving me and a teenage son. She had nothing bad to say about me except that when she was with me she was lonely, and she'd rather be lonely alone. I honestly don't know what she means. Can you state the problem in words I can understand?
PhillyDeals: Geithner preps for committee appearance: When Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner goes before the House Financial Services Committee tomorrow about preventing more financial abuse and taxpayer bailouts in the loan-sale markets, he'll see a lot of familiar faces.
Ex-Voorhees resident fancies U.S. Women's Open: A lot has happened for Meghan Stasi since she last competed in the U.S. Women's Open in 2007, such as winning a second U.S. Women's Amateur championship, making the 2008 Curtis Cup team and qualifying for her second Women's Open.
On the Side: At the home of soda's pop: South by a few blocks of the lines for the Liberty Bell on the day after the Fourth a sign hand-lettered on orange construction paper directed you to turn east off (coincidentally) Fourth Street into the lovely, brick-walled back garden of the Physick House.
Table Talk: Black Bass Hotel reopens after a revamp: There's a new driving force behind the restoration of the Black Bass Hotel, a rustic, circa-1745 landmark along the Delaware River north of New Hope (3774 River Rd., Lumberville, 215-297-9260).
Monica Yant Kinney: To serve, protect . . . and park illegally: Police get a free pass from the otherwise unyielding Parking Authority.

It's become fashionable to blame the Philadelphia Parking Authority for just about everything that's wrong with this city, from drops in tourism to the failing schools. Aggressive ticket writers have even gained reality-TV fame, joking to the cameras as they prowl the mean streets taking no prisoners.