An envelope mailed to the News & Review last month contained a CD, a threatening note, and a metal aerosol can marked "anthrax," reports the paper. After notifying the authorities, the weekly's offices were visited by local police, hazardous-materials experts, G-men and assorted officials associated with the local Joint Terrorism Task Force. The sender turned out to be a local crank/activist named Marc Keyser, who had been the topic of a 2002 News & Review cover story on his efforts to protect a local water system from terrorist attacks. Keyser, who claimed the package was meant to alert the paper to the anthrax threat, was not prosecuted. "The FBI showed up at my door and said it caused a bit of a scare," Keyser tells the alt-weekly. "We had a nice chat. They and their families are not vaccinated. But they carry guns."
GetMobio enables users to "find nightclubs, make restaurant reservations or find alternative flights via cell phone," reports Online Media Daily. The new service was unveiled yesterday by Mobio Networks, a mobile-lifestyle application provider that is partnering with Open Table and Kaboodle, and has raised $9 million in venture capital funds.
Media General has pulled the plug on its struggling Orange magazine, reports Creative Loafing Tampa. The closure comes one week after the faux-alt's editor, Mitzi Gordon, was fired for running an article about a fashion designer and her online store, The CUNT Shop. That issue hit the streets a day late after company executives decided to scrap a full run and reprinted the paper with the offending article removed. Orange's publisher says the newspaper, which had shrunk to 20 pages in recent weeks, "didn't meet our business expectations." Gordon tells CL that Media General was never clear about what they wanted from the paper or why they hired her. "I was idealistic," she says. "I was trying to create something that was going to create a buzz. I should have known that Media General wasn't going to stand for my hijinks."
Diane Mermigas says that a consensus has been reached among media executives that newspapers "must undergo the costly process of dismantling and replacing legacy operations and business models with those completely new and untried." Although she acknowledges how terribly difficult it will be, the Hollywood Reporter columnist argues that the transition will require "not just a comprehensive understanding but an acceptance of and quick response to digital consumers' sophisticated curiosity, use of and interest in devices, platforms, content and transaction options. That alone will provide the foundation for constructing new, productive business models online."
The syndicated political columnist passed away Wednesday evening at her home in Austin. Ivins, whose column was syndicated in over 400 newspapers, including several alt-weeklies, served as co-editor of AAN member Texas Observer from 1970 to 1976. Even after leaving the Observer for a larger stage, she remained an ardent supporter of the perpetually insolvent bi-weekly, donating speaking fees and book royalties and continuously helping to raise money for the not-for-profit magazine. For the time being, the Observer has dedicated its entire Web site to remembering Molly.
Music City Mayor Bill Purcell announced last week that he has hired Liz Garrigan's husband Curt as his number two, a post he will fill for eight months. To avoid conflict of interest, Liz Garrigan says in an editor's note that she will recuse herself of all writing and editing duties involving stories "dealing specifically with Purcell, my husband or the mayor's office." She will not shy away from city politics altogether, however, and will continue to weigh in on subjects such as "the upcoming mayor's race, pieces about development and growth, [and] the Metro Council." MORE SCENE NEWS: Former staffer Jeff Woods will rejoin the paper after a stint as an editor for Scripps Howard News Service. Woods, says Garrigan, "will be covering pretty much whatever he damn well wants."
While he was still the governor of Arkansas, Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee arranged for the release of rapist Wayne Dumond, who murdered a woman in Missouri after getting out of jail. When Huckabee appeared on Meet the Press this weekend, he initially denied talking to the parole board about Dumond, but amended his statement when the host (pictured) responded incredulously. "(Russert) obviously had an Arkansas Times article detailing the meeting that led to Dumond’s release," reports the Arkansas Leader in an editorial urging Huckabee to exercise a little "humility." MORE HUCKABEE DISSEMBLING: The ex-governor lies about a report in the Arkansas Times about missing statehouse furniture.
Duke University senior Jeffrey Stern has been awarded the Melcher Family Award for Excellence in Journalism for a cover story he wrote for the North Carolina alt-weekly, reports Duke News. The story described the lives of three homeless men living in the woods on the outskirts of Durham, NC. Stern hatched the idea for the Indy piece after editor Richard Hart spoke to his journalism class. "Jeff is a monster, and I mean that in the best sense of word," says Hart. "Just as Michael Jordan uses every muscle in his body when he is focused on playing basketball, every ounce of Jeff is completely geared to going out and getting the story."
The Richmond, Va., alt-weekly marks the occasion by looking back at a quarter-century of pivotal moments in the city's arts scene. The Landmark Communications paper, which was admitted to AAN in 2005, won first-place for best Cover Design in the 2006 AltWeekly Awards.
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