Friday was Bradley Steinbacher's last day at The Stranger. The paper's nameplate (pictured) was adjusted this week in his honor, and the staff celebrated with a tenderly worded send-off from public editor A. Birch Steen, along with a series of blog posts too voluminous to link to, including this one, which was iPhoned in by Brad's boss, Dan.

Continue ReadingThe Stranger Honors Departing Managing Editor

After writing a couple of significant freelance pieces for the Weekly, Evan Wright embedded with the U.S. Marines' in 2003 as they crossed the Kuwaiti border at the beginning of the Iraq War. Wright wrote a book about the experience called "Generation Kill," and the creators of the widely lauded HBO series "The Wire" made the book into a seven-episode miniseries that premiered last night on the pay-cable network.

Continue ReadingFormer LA Weekly Writer Talks About New HBO Series

The "Commie Girl" columnist and former OC Weekly staffer was named editor of Los Angeles CityBeat this Spring amidst a relaunch of the paper. She says she's already receiving hate mail. One person wrote in to ask: "'Who's this inane, vulgar, rambling, trite girl who's a terrible writer and has a potty mouth'," she tells the Guardian. "And I was like, 'You live in Los Angeles, are you really that sheltered?'" Schoenkopf also says that she's now realized she willing blinded herself about notoriously conservative Orange County while she was there. "It's not the conservatism that bothers me: it's the nastiness," she says The nattering classes I'd thought were fringey were in fact the decision makers."

Continue ReadingRebecca Schoenkopf on Taking Over at CityBeat and Leaving the OC

The two papers were in San Francisco Superior Court on Tuesday to argue the Weekly's motion for a new trial and its request that the judge overturn a jury verdict in the predatory-pricing suit. Judge Marla Miller has until July 18 to rule on the motions; if she rules against the Weekly, it will take the case to the California Court of Appeals. In dueling blog posts, the Weekly lays out the four chief arguments put forth by its lawyers and pokes a little fun at the Guardian's lawyers, while the Guardian details the Weekly's "at times highly technical" arguments, which "hinged on the finer points of the definitions of words."

Continue ReadingSF Weekly and Bay Guardian Argue Weekly’s Motion for New Trial

Mayor Frank Melton and two of his bodyguards have been indicted by a federal grand jury for demolishing an alleged "drug house" in Aug. 2006, a story first reported by the Jackson Free Press in Sept. 2006. "The three men were charged in connection with a conspiracy to tear down a private home in Jackson and thereby violate the civil rights of the owner and resident of that home," a Department of Justice press release reads. They are also charged with using a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence. Melton, who is running for a second term, tells the Clarion-Ledger that he's "very disappointed, because I have worked so hard on fighting crime in this city."

Continue ReadingNearly Two Years After Jackson Free Press Story, Mayor is Indicted

Scott Jordan is leaving the Lafayette, La., paper at the end of the month to become communications director for the Louisiana Democratic Party. Prior to joining the Independent at its inception, he worked at Gambit Weekly for five years. "This fall's elections, both statewide and national, promise to be historic," Jordan says. "And after 15 years of working as a journalist and editor, I've decided I want to be directly involved in politics in a different role." Kevin Allman, blogging for the Gambit, congratulates Jordan on his new role, and adds: "We hope never to have to write 'Scott Jordan, spokesman for the state Democratic party, did not respond to a request for comment.'"

Continue ReadingThe Independent Weekly’s Editor Leaves for Politics