"These days, compliments about City Pages are as rare as pro-R.T. Rybak stories during [Steve] Perry's 13-year tenure as editor," Brauer writes on MinnPost.com. But he thinks that despite the paper's "obvious problems" in the Village Voice Media era, the piling-on is unfair. "The beat-down has become so relentless that the good things aren't being acknowledged," he writes. The most recent staffer to depart, reporter Paul Demko, agrees. "I see people here doing a lot of good work and hard work and -- whatever the failings of the paper -- that also needs to be acknowledged," he tells Brauer. "It pisses me off when I think about some jackass on [the local blog] MnSpeak talking about how worthless the paper is." In the rest of the nearly-3,000 word piece, Brauer looks at everything from the recent City Pages stories that have generated the most web traffic to what he sees as the paper's remaining weaknesses.
The Burlington, Vt., alt-weekly explores the world of complex and often contradictory fair housing laws through its own story: The paper has been accused of violating fair housing laws several times, and was fined $45,000 for doing so on one occasion. "'Single occupancy only,' 'Not Section 8 approved' -- these are terms we thought described physical attributes of the property, as in occupancy limits for fire code," notes publisher Paula Routly. "In fact, the pamphlet we were given for reference said that language was OK. Turns out it was designed for landlords, not publishers." The paper also notes the different legal standards for websites like Craigslist and print publications, which has put an even larger burden on alt-weeklies, already facing stiff competition from web-based classifieds. "Even when their users violate state and federal fair-housing laws, the websites themselves are held faultless," Seven Days reports.
The reports provide background information on the companies and individuals who hold ownership stakes in the 12 papers that have applied for AAN membership in 2008; they are now available in the Resource Library. The Membership Committee is meeting this weekend in Washington, D.C., to discuss the applicants, and will issue its recommendations prior to the Annual Meeting, which will be held on Saturday, June 7 at the AAN Convention. The applying papers must be approved by two-thirds of the members voting in order to be accepted into the association.
The Maricopa County sheriff "reacted with bluster" to the news that he was named in a suit filed yesterday by Phoenix New Times, the Arizona Republic reports. "They can't take their own medicine, so they have to be like crybabies and file a lawsuit against the sheriff and the county attorney," Arpaio says. "So you know what? I welcome the lawsuit. I welcome being sued. They're going to have to answer a lot of questions." Arpaio also defended the rationale behind the original probe. "It became a problem when they put my name illegally on the web," he says. "And that became a problem for me and my family. A big problem." New Times founder Michael Lacey defended the suit, calling the actions of Arpaio and the other defendants "unprecedented. ... They locked up journalists for something they've written, not for something they've withheld," he says.
The Madison alt-weekly has won seven awards in Milwaukee Press Club's 2007 Excellence in Wisconsin Journalism competition, including first-place finishes in Critical Review of the Arts, Feature Story over 30 inches, Sports Story and Topical Column. Winners were honored at a dinner last weekend.
Bob Bierman, whose "Bierman's Corner" was a "staple feature" in Monday Magazine, died in the hospital on April 17, four days after suffering a massive stroke, the Globe and Mail reports. He was 86 years old. Bierman was best known for being sued for libel by a British Columbia cabinet minister in the late 1970s. He leaves his wife Angelina, two sons, and two grandchildren.
The lawsuit, filed today in Maricopa County Superior Court, says defendants Sheriff Joe Arpaio, County Attorney Andrew Thomas, lawyer Dennis Wilenchik and two county agencies subverted "the grand jury process" and committed other wrongdoing in their probe of New Times, which led to the arrests of the paper's founders. The 34-page lawsuit also accuses the defendants of retaliatory conduct in falsely arresting Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin and in maliciously prosecuting New Times. The lawsuit does not ask for a specific amount of money, but seeks general and punitive damages, and requests a jury trial. Read more on the Phoenix New Times' blog.
The city's Board of Aldermen is currently considering an ordinance that would require news organizations to obtain permits to place news boxes in public areas, the New Haven Advocate reports. Publishers would pay $25 for a three-year permit, and $12 per box. "In this climate, every dollar counts," Advocate publisher Josh Mamis says. He says that the new fees could lead to publishers having to pull distribution in areas with the least pick-up. "It's an issue of getting information to all the people of the city," says Mamis. Under the proposed legislation, the power to remove boxes deemed "obstructions" to the right of way would fall to the Public Works Department, which also worries Mamis. "You have to be concerned with the implications of that, should you be aggressively covering the Department of Public Works or the administration," he says.
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