Erstwhile Observer Music Editor Zac Crain confirmed to his former employer: "Yes, I'm running, and I'm very excited. I'm not high, and it's not a joke." The current mayor of Dallas, Laura Miller, wrote a column for the Observer before launching her political career. The Observer describes Crain as a "great writer" and "nice guy" and jibes, "On balance, among former Observer staffers, Dallas could do worse for mayor -- not that we have anyone particularly in mind when we say that." Crain, now an associate editor at American Way magazine, plans to make an official announcement on April 24.
The public reaction to the alt-weekly's Feb. 2 issue, which contained a recipe for methamphetamine, dominates this week's issue. In the cover story, Jim Mullin, the paper's new editor, apologizes for provoking community outrage and laments lost readers, distribution points and advertising. Mullin, who was editor of the Miami New Times for 18 years before joining the San Luis Obispo paper, says the meth story "strained to the breaking point a trust that had steadily developed over two decades." He says the paper chose not to use a "scolding" tone in order to avoid alienating young readers, but the "use of sarcasm, designed to hold reader interest, alienated some who believed the subject was too serious to be treated flippantly." This week's issue also includes dozens of angry letters, including those sent by the city's mayor and chief of police.
According to the Dallas Voice, the civil suit stemmed from a Dec. 4, 2003 article on financial mismanagement within a Dallas church, in which the Observer named an HIV-positive volunteer who it claimed was on the church's employee health plan. The volunteer, who filed the lawsuit under the name John Doe, alleged that the Observer had violated the Texas Health and Safety Code, which prohibits the disclosure of HIV test results. The court's written opinion rejected the lawsuit on the grounds that the newspaper did not have access to test results or other confidential medical information; the newspaper had learned of the plaintiff's HIV-positive status through another member of the church. The Dallas Observer's Feb. 2 issue reported the "happy ending to a silly lawsuit" and again named the plaintiff, who still may request a rehearing or appeal to the Texas Supreme Court.
Contrary to a Feb. 8 report in the San Francisco Bay Guardian that was linked from our Web site yesterday, AAN has learned that California Attorney General Bill Lockyer announced on Feb. 6 (PDF) that his office has closed its investigation of the merger without taking any enforcement action. In addition, the Bay Guardian article was in error in stating that "the two chains were caught in 2002 in an illegal market-allocation agreement." In fact, New Times and Village Voice Media signed a consent degree without admitting guilt in that case. Lockyer's letter stated that his office "will continue to monitor" the merged company's compliance with the settlement.
To read the Bay Guardian's Letter to the Editor in response to the item above, click here.
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