Not so fast!

News yesterday that Knight-Ridder had been sold was thought to end the ownership phase of the Inquirer/Daily News fate quest (switching us over to "what will become of our papers now?" mode), but it turns out that the buyer of the larger company wants to spin off its Philadelphia papers (along with close to half of Knight-Ridder's holdings) to somebody else. Other chains may be interested, and there's talk of a possible bid by a group of union employees of the papers or by other local folk. Meantime, reporters and others at Phillypapers, Inc., are feeling a bit of whiplash at all these shifts (see also the forlorn take here), especially those at the Daily News who've been wondering whether their paper will still exist by the end of the year. Will Bunch gives you the chance to enter a pool for March madness buyoffs. More chat about all of this at PhillyFuture here.